A visionary, thought process leader and an academician, Dr. Vijay Page is the Director General, MET Institute of Management for over a decade now. He has over 3 decades of industry experience both in Public and Private sector. He has been in senior leadership assignments like General Manager of Delhi Cloth Mills, CMD of Konkan Development Corporation, Managing Director of Gondwana Minerals. He has worked as a Consultant and Entrepreneur in Agri-Business Ventures, Strawberry and Gherkin processing, Rubber and Oil Palm plantations, Dairy Development and Cattle Breeding etc. He is an alumnus of JBIMS (MMS 1968) and holds a Doctorate in Special Economic Zones. He is also a Guest Faculty with Michigan State University (East Lancing USA).
Campuswalkin.com chatted with this dynamic trailblazer on MBA and what should students look out for, if they choose to be in this domain.
How has been your journey in the education sector so far?
There have been three phases of my interaction and involvement in the education sector: First being my own education process. Second being joining the professional work place, this is a continuation of the learning experience. The urge to share my learning with younger, dynamic generation brought me back to academics and I joined the B-school again, only this time, I was on the other side.
Two decades down, I am still amazed at the new challenges and the new pool of talent around. Believe me, with the kind of challenges faced by the new generation of professionals, every day seems as good as new - to acquire, accumulate, assimilate and share the learnings with them and continue the journey. I would like to sum up my experience in Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s words, “A journey is always worth making, though the end may not be in sight” – what one seeks is just the response from students to continue the journey regardless!
What are your observations on teaching in the Indian higher education sector?
As innovations in IT spreads its roots deep and wide in every sector of the economy and as society transforms itself into a digitized global village, it is inevitable that education transforms into an e-empowered learning and skill development platform. As the speed and outreach of networks multiplies applications of new technologies, it is estimated that youth will spend almost entire span of their waking hours, enmeshed in the cob webs of the e-world.
This has resulted in a paradigm shift in delivery of learning systems affecting the pedagogy and content of the academic programs. Since the higher education sector forms the apex of the education system in the country, this is an apt case for application of transitional management tools and techniques focusing on excellence at the application level to the satisfaction of students and the society – the ultimate stakeholders.
So the optimum teaching methods of B- Schools include:
- Heady mix of e-learnings tools and techniques
- Video based academics
- Online study and assessments
- Deeper involvement of recruiters in shaping the students future
What are the major challenges in the education sector that you think need immediate attention?
Firstly, the book and PPT based delivery of learning systems need to be replaced. Instead more focus should be made on case study approach and on business simulation, role play and experiential learning.
Leading B-schools internationally are integrating laboratories like a market laboratory or installing dummy financial markets in the institutes to help students rapidly connect with business realities.
Industry and academics should walk together to create opportunities for students and make them job ready. Your thoughts?
There is no denial of the fact that classroom academics and field work must go hand-in hand to ensure development of skill sets critical to the success of the professionals. I envy the medical colleges, which have the facility of an anatomy laboratory or cadaver to work with before the students experiment with live patients. Similarly, if B-schools are able to closely network with industry, then the students will have more opportunities to sharpen the skills before they cross their the corporate threshold.
What according to you do students look for during admissions? What factors must a student base his/her choice of college on?
The state / central regulatory mechanism imposes its own norms controlling costs and intake which obviously puts limitations on the freedom of the institutions and issues like meritocracy, cosmopolitan composition of the students and global access are often compromised.
We are witnessing a paradigm shift in the higher education system that will continue till we reach a scholastic equilibrium.
The top-mist factors that a student should keep in mind while deciding a college include: college ranking, academic experience, past placement records and affordability. And of course, feedback from alumni.
In my experience, the students look for seeking admissions to the institutions which are able to:
- Deliver updated management inputs with balanced emphasis on theory and application
- Offer prospects of high quality internships and summer placements, which eventually would fructify into attractive final placements.
- Have centralised locations with quality pedagogy
- State of the art infrastructure
- Professional placement and mentoring team
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