A good career opportunity at graduation is a critical parameter while students choose a school, says Dr Vaidyanathan

The most important considerations for every student applying to an undergraduate or postgraduate school are industry readiness and quality placements. These elements determine not just an institute's success, but also its ability to foster students in accordance with today's business demands. SP Jain School of Global Management, one of the country's most prestigious institutions, recognizes this and has gone to great lengths to provide students with a high-quality education. They strive to prepare students not only for their first job on campus but also for a successful career.

Dr. Vaidyanathan “Vaidy” Jayaraman is the global dean for UG programs that is offered across Sydney, Singapore, Dubai and Mumbai in addition to his role as Professor – Supply Chain Operations, Data Sciences & Analytics.

Read the complete interview below.

Q: What are the three things that your institute is doing that will enable it to differentiate itself from the competition?

A: SP Jain School of Global Management (SPJSGM) offers a truly international perspective wherein students study and intern not just in one country but in three amazing locations. It’s a pioneer in promoting the concept of global intelligence where the school provides an opportunity for both its undergraduate and postgraduate students to study in multiple campuses that it has set up in different parts of the world.

Second, it’s known for its disruptive innovation in business education by using technology-led approaches such as gamification and blended learning as part of its teaching philosophy and experiential learning with an emphasis on real-world applications.

Third, we have taken a student-centric approach where we place students right in the front and center of everything we do at SP Jain with an opportunity to work on real problems faced by real companies and become future-ready and lifelong learners. We’ve built processes (algorithms) that help us identify students at risk who need some guidance and mentoring to get through their course work and graduate on time.

Q: What are the top three initiatives undertaken by you that are helping your students become more industry-ready?

A: A good career opportunity at graduation is a critical parameter while students choose a school. We’ve Corporate Career Service offices in all our four campuses (Sydney, Singapore, Dubai and Mumbai) who offer assistance for students to secure internships and full-time jobs with multinational corporations.

Our key differentiators include:

• Initiatives such as Resume Writing, Mock interviews, one-on-one guided interviews, career readiness training and personality development that happens from the first day the students set their foot on campus
• As part of the curriculum, we’ve courses such as Employability and Practitioner Skills that include Emotional Intelligence, Teamwork, Global Dexterity and Leadership
• We also teach them to become good storytellers and articulate effectively in a world that is facing the onslaught of technology in its myriad ways so much so that government, politics, trade & commerce, partnerships and even day-to-day life as we know it have all changed beyond

Q: What are the key attributes that a student should have in order to Qualify for your institution and perform well?

A: To qualify for the institution, one must strike a nice balance between academics and extra-curricular activities. Our goal is to attract high-performing students who will be the best educators of one another and who can inspire those around them during their college years and beyond. We certainly look for students who show some maturity, character and leadership while being confident with a sense of humor and concern for fellow beings.

Being Focused and dedicated is an important precursor to obtaining good grades. The curriculum is quite intense, hands-on and of course practical. So it is critical to be self-disciplined and motivated to put in all the work required to get top grades.

Q: Which programme/s would you say is/are your best? What is it that helps your institution differentiate itself for this programme?

A: Besides our top-ranked postgraduate programmes, our UG programmes are a unique and of great value to the students. It includes:

• BBA four-year program (major in Finance, Marketing, Entrepreneurship)
• BDS three-year programme to train you to become a data scientist
• BEC three-year programme in Economics
• BBC three-year programme in Business Communication

A key differentiator is an opportunity for students to apply what they learn in a classroom through an Internship. In every city that they visit, the students in addition to taking classes also obtain an Internship that gives them exposure to the local organizational culture and makes them budding manager.

Q: What are you doing to improve/drive better campus placements for your current students and alumni? What kind of jobs routinely come to campus? What would you say are the key recruitment trends for your college (observed over the past five years)?

A: We believe in transforming students to become job-ready managers from day zero.

With students from over 35 countries and faculty from throughout the world, students get an amazing perspective of both the inside and outside the classroom. We also have a robust alumni network that provides the Institution great support as guest speakers, mentors and also hire students upon graduation.

In terms of recent trends, students who possess quantitative skills, coding, decision making and good storytellers are well sought after by organizations.