1. How has your journey at SFIMAR been so far?

Ans: My journey at SFIMAR has been quite challenging and fulfilling so far. It has been challenging as I had to bring in a number of changes in order to improve the academic standards and programme delivery through the implementation of Academic Enhancement Value Chain Concept, Thought Leadership and Lead by Example Programmes, quality research through the concept of Research Development Value Chain, improve the employability of students through holistic development of students for 100% placement, and  overall functioning of the Institute through the implementation of e-governance measures. It has been highly fulfilling as we have won the Best Educational Quality Enhancement Team national award 2014 from the National Centre for Quality Management and the ‘Most Upcoming B-School’ national award for 2015 from ASSOCHAM. Our faculty members and students have also won several awards at inter-collegiate and national levels.

2. What are the key challenges that you have come across? And how did you address them?

Ans: The key challenges were in change management and capacity building. I have put in a lot of efforts in all these areas from day one. I have identified certain key practice areas to drive organizational change, which directly impact student success and the Institute’s growth. These include faculty scholarship, innovation in our academic programs, enhancing corporate connections, placement success, adopting relevant technology, institutional governance and sustainability. Each initiative is linked to a specific action agenda and communicate the Institute’s commitment to institutional excellence to both internal and external stakeholders. The Management of SFIMAR particularly our Chairman Brother Alphonse Nesamony, all faculty members, staff and students have been very co-operative with me as they have recognized the benefits that accompany the above transformation. The intended outcomes are an organizational culture of  trust and integrity, accountability and leadership, fair and transparent servicing of student and employee needs, promotion of financial and economic resilience/ stability for both the Institute and broader economic system, safeguard the Institute’s reputation, its brand of excellence and ethical service, promote an internal environment that engages in open dialogue, open to challenges, willing to escalate and address divergences from set standards.

3. One major change that you had introduced was the Thought Leadership and Lead by Example programme. How did this enhance employability and build superior research and pedagogical activities?

Ans: Under the Thought Leadership programme we equipped the students with latest information in their specialization area and challenge their debating as well as their group discussion skills. Under the Lead by Example programme, we provide advanced level knowledge and skills to small cohorts of students in different niche areas. These groups of students in turn share their knowledge and skills with their fellow students and improve their prospects as well. The purpose is to raise the level of intellectual exchange and build our students confidence so that they can compete on par with IIMs and other top B-Schools, for better jobs and packages. Both these programmes have certainly improved their employability prospects as many of them are well placed in multinational companies.

4. You have also introduced application of information technology platforms to improve functional and academic efficiencies. How does it help? And what changes has this brought about?

Ans: Yes, I have introduced various e-governance measures such as online calendar for all academic and non-academic activities, online attendance and online faculty feedback system. All these measures have improved efficiency tremendously. Both capacity building and change management are my forte and I am a natural leader in these areas. 

5. What are the USP’s of SFIMAR? What would you say is THE REASON for students to opt for SFIMAR vis-à-vis other management colleges?

Ans: Apart from providing them quality education we bring them up holistically with high moral values, ethical standards and an inclination towards societal good. Concepts such as compassion, stewardship, are not just words but qualities ingrained in our students.  I am sure with these qualities our students will build sustainable businesses, lead with better business practices for a better planet. I have tremendous faith in what I am doing, and in my students. 

6. How important is Research in management? What are the options available to students career-wise?

Ans: Management is all about techniques and their applications for concurrent and future use. Hence there is a very strong orientation for applied research in management. Our students do two research projects during their Masters, one is through corporate internship and the other through project work. In both the cases, the orientation is towards applied research.  Our students have been praised and called back by companies to train other interns. I am sure they have plenty of options which are very much research focussed. Our students are with Neilson which is into market research, with CMIE which is into economic research and they are into almost all the top banks, investment banking companies and information and analytics providers such as Nomura, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan, HSBC, Thomson Reuters, etc. where market research, data analytics, investment research and information dissemination are the major services.

7. Creativity & innovation – these are two requisites to be successful in business/ entrepreneurship or even a management career. How do you ensure that it is inculcated in students at SFIMAR?

Ans: We conduct many co-curricular activities throughout the year in order to improve our students’ creative and innovative minds. These are conducted through various Clubs such as Nirmiti (Marketing), Finatics (Finance), Prerna (Entrepreneurship), Institute Social Responsibility (ISR), Lifelong Learning and Extension, Mindfulness Training, Appearance, Body language and Communication (ABC) for personality development. Students participate in debates, oratory, acts, dance and plays. These activities are supervised by designated faculty members and students. With all these programmes we develop their inherent skills into creativity, innovation, entrepreneurship and leadership.

8. Do you think the kind of management graduates that B-school schools are rolling out every year is directly proportional to the demands of the industry? Would you agree that there is a gap between the skill-set required by the industry VS what the students are equipped with when they graduate?

Ans: There is a direct relationship between supply of B-School graduates and the demand of the industry. As far as our students are concerned, we are very much in the know of industry demand and we train the students accordingly. I have also started a Corporate On-Boarding Programme since last year, through which companies which are hiring a large number of B-School graduates can provide job-specific training and certifications to our students. As you know, companies spend a lot of time and money on new recruits towards adapting their organizational culture such as their values, goals, roles, norms, and overall organizational environment. They also invest a great amount of time and resources into the training and orientation of new company hires. We at SFIMAR believe that our management graduates can be briefed about the organizational culture and provided with necessary training and orientation at our Institute so that they can acquire the necessary knowledge, skills, and behaviour to become effective organizational members. I am sure this programme will lead to positive outcomes for new employees such as higher job satisfaction, better job performance, greater organizational commitment, reduction in occupational stress and intent to quit.  We had one company which recruited 20 students under this programme last year and the attrition rate was just 1, i.e. 5%. They have come back to the campus with a desire to recruit more students this year.

9. How does one address this gap? Solution?

Ans: I think the best solution to bridge the gap between the skill-set required by the industry versus what the students are equipped with when they graduate, is through more industry-academia exchanges. We have started an ‘Eminent Speaker Series’ on the last Saturday of every month at our ‘Centre of Excellence’, in which the top management of companies share their knowledge and experience with our students. We have many visiting faculty coming from industry to provide their valuable insights. As I mentioned earlier, the corporate on-boarding programme that we have started is a win- win situation for both industry and academia.

   
10. How do you perceive the future of education in India? What will be the key determinants that will factor growth?

Ans: As you know, technology is changing the teaching-learning process globally and it is happening in India too, providing growing access to all.  Along with it, competitive forces will continue to increasingly challenge our educational system and institutions. Education, in order to flourish, needs to be open to market forces and brought under a voluntary and transparent benchmarking system. That’s the way educational institutions will maintain and refine their strengths in delivering relevant cutting-edge programmes and courses, engage in high-quality pedagogy, innovation and research and make the teaching-learning process outcome-based and more interesting.  
As far as the key determinants that will factor growth is concerned, we all know that India with its young population is emerging as an important player in the field of education. Secondly, India is going to be the most important knowledge economy in the next 5-10 years. Hence the largest single determinant is continuous adaptability to the changing needs of students and employers. Everything else will follow.

11. How would you compare the issues faced by India linking to the rest of the world in terms of education & the job market?

Ans: In India we have too many regulatory and bureaucratic bottlenecks which do not allow us to link to the rest of the world. These are degree or programme related, course curriculum related, duration and standardization related. While some of the established programmes run by institutions such as the IITs and IIMs are well accepted in most of the developed countries, there are many other institutions offering similar programmes facing a lot of difficulties. For example Post Graduate Diploma in Management (PGDM)  programmes offered by other institutions do not get the kind of recognition the PGDM programme of IIMs gets, though they are or should be structurally similar. The education system in India needs a makeover in terms of making programme exchange, student exchange and faculty exchange outside the country a lot easier and I hope the country’s decision-making authorities in higher education are seriously looking into these areas.  As far as the job market is concerned, you must have noticed that a large number of multi-nationals have opened their offices in India and a large number of companies are providing services to global multi-nationals on an outsourced basis for skilled jobs in order to reduce their cost. Hence as far as knowledge and skill are concerned our Indian students are not less than their counterparts in other countries.  Once there is fungibility in education, the job market will align itself to it and at some point India will be the recruitment hub of the world for skilled jobs.

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