Problem-solving is a frame of reference in every course and session we deliver, says David Bardolet of SDA Bocconi

David Bardolet is the Dean of SDA Bocconi Asia Center. He has been at Bocconi University since 2007, where he is currently serving as the Associate Professor of Practice of Strategy and Entrepreneurship at SDA Bocconi School of Management. David earned a Degree in Industrial Engineering from Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya in Barcelona (Spain), an MBA from IESE Business School in Barcelona (Spain) and a PhD in Management from the University of California Los Angeles (the US).   

In a conversation with Shiksha.com, SDA Bocconi Asia Centre Dean David Bardolet talks about practice-oriented pedagogy with real-life situations that require deep analysis and creative solutions. He also talks about the activities designed to bring the industry perspective to students, from numerous corporate guest speakers to live projects in the field.

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

A: Our teaching methodology is a result of more than a century of experience in training professional managers at Bocconi University. It is a practice-oriented methodology, in which our faculty are constantly challenging students with real-life situations that require deep analysis and creative solutions. It is very interactive because we believe that relatively open-ended conversations between experts and students result in well-assimilated frameworks and tools that can be used forever. Those conversations are obviously followed by extensive practice in the form of case analysis, live projects, competitions, etc. Our teaching methodology, thus, is different from the one based on lecturing and memorisation of theoretical concepts.

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

A: If you look at what corporates are demanding from recent graduates, it is not primarily about having fluency in topics like finance, operations or marketing, which is taken for granted, but rather about possessing “soft” skills like creativity, problem-solving and communication skills. We prepare our students by developing those skills in particular. For instance, problem-solving is a frame of reference in every course and every session we deliver. Oral and written communication skills are enhanced not only by specific courses on those subjects but also by stressing them in the assessment of all our courses. Finally, we run a lot of activities designed to bring the industry perspective to our students, from numerous corporate guest speakers to live projects in the field.

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

A: We look for students who are smart and well-rounded so we do not reduce our assessment down to a single test score. Students who are curious, hard-working, driven with a good idea of where they want to be in five years and can have fruitful discussions with the faculty and their peers do very well in our program.

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

A: We are constantly updating our curriculum. I would say every year there is a part of it that gets refreshed, based on the feedback from our corporate partners. We keep frequent conversations with HR professionals and other functional leaders in order to identify the areas and the skills that they look for and quickly put that in the curriculum. We also count on the real-world expertise of our faculty (many of them are very active in the corporate world) to update course contents with frequency.

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

A: We are receptive to entrepreneurship from the first moment we approach candidates to the programme. As I mentioned before, people with an entrepreneurial mindset tend to do very well in our recruitment process. As a school, we are tying with many entrepreneurial hubs like IIT’s E-Cell and The Hult Prize and actively encourage our students to get involved in their activities.