During the complete admission process, we try to analyse students’ urge to unlearn and relearn, says Professor

Practical experience is an essential component of a business student's overall growth. The same can be imparted in multiple ways such as live projects, guest lectures, internships, industry visits, workshops and whatnot. Vivekanand Business School is a cutting-edge business school that leaves no stone unturned in its quest to prepare students for careers in the industry. Professor Brijesh Sharma at Vivekanand Business School talks at length with Shiksha.com about numerous such initiatives that have been consistently helping to providing students with a superior learning experience.

Read the complete interview below

Q: What are the salient features of the teaching methodology adopted by your college? How does this differ from others?

A: VES B School practices application-based learning. This essentially means the use of –

• Use of Harvard case studies in teaching and discussions
• Role-plays for understanding the nuances of interpersonal skill development
• Video-based lectures
• Contemporary newspaper articles topical to be the subject been taught
• Interviews of business leaders - video or print
• Simulation-based learning
• Practical been done in idea labs for new product innovation
• Out of the building activities, On-field activities,
• Software-based teaching in Quant based subject
• Use of quiz and
• Fun activities like cartoons, Bollywood songs and movies are used to engage and enlighten the students

Q: How are you preparing your students to be Industry-ready?

A: Industry readiness is a crucial factor that not just defines the success and quality of any institute’s curriculum but also defines the quality by which it has been imparted to the students. To help students become industry-ready, we –

• Have faculty who have spent considerable time in the industry and know the nuances of working in the industry and these get passed to students while interaction
• Have regular guest lecture from industry experts in each subject
• Facilitate live project opportunities to students
• Encourage students to participate in various contests and these make them industry-ready
• Have a mandatory two-month summer internship programme that every student has to undergo to learn the corporate style of working
• Have compulsory engagement in social projects that helps them to get industry-ready
• Organise academic events and cultural events

Q: What are the qualities you are looking for in student applicants? What qualities do they need to do well in your course?

A: During the complete admission process, we try to analyse students’ urge to unlearn and relearn. We are always looking for students who think out of the box, are creative, have a positive attitude and courage to face failures and learn from them.

To perform well in the curriculum, one has to be open-minded and dedicated. The students must have the zeal to learn beyond classroom theories

Q: How do you ensure that your course curriculum is up to date and meets industry requirements?

A: A well-read and research-oriented faculty knows what is happening in the external environment. This throws a plethora of options to upgrade the course curriculum. Besides this,

The constant interaction of the industry experts with the students and faculty members throws option for course curriculum updation

The options and areas of improvement identified after dicussion are taken for discussion at the Advisory Board and Governing Board for incorporation in the new course curriculum along with a deliberation on their ideas also

Q: Is your college receptive to innovation, technology, science & entrepreneurship? How? Could you cite some examples of these?

A: Yes, we are very receptive to new ideas and technology. This could be illustrated by the following

• We were one of the few institutes to incorporate Analytics very early in our course curriculum and got the same approved from AICTE
• We have a full-fledged Business Incubation cell and an idea lab and we are having many promising startups in the pipeline
• We have a very contemporary application-based entrepreneurship training and one of the few institutes in India to offer specialisation in entrepreneurship
• To promote research, innovation and startup we have 90% of our faculty members who have completed their PhD