We believe in facilitating the learners develop their creativity rather than rote learning, says Associate Dean

Practical experience is critical to a business student's entire development. As a result, Vivekanand Business School has incorporated outcome-based learning and flip classroom approaches, recognizing the need of the hour. Shiksha.com invited Associate Dean – Quality Assurance, Dr Debjani Banerjee, for a detailed discussion to better grasp the complexities of this process. She goes into detail about the institute's other policies and projects aimed at helping students become industry-ready.

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: We as an Institute believe in facilitating the learners develop their creativity rather than rote learning.  We do not teach; we enable them to learn by doing. We have a learner-centric approach and our teaching methodology is based on ‘Outcome-based Learning.’

As we believe in the holistic development of our students we focus on not only developing their knowledge but also enhance their skills and attitude along with knowledge.

We follow a concept of ‘Flip Class room’ hence students come prepared with the session that is to be discussed. One group gives a presentation and the facilitator(Faculty) goes on adding more to the students' created body of knowledge. Since the class has a basic knowledge of the day’s session, the faculty enriches that knowledge.

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

A: We focus on enhancing our students' employability skills like developing their confidence, helping overcome their inhibition of presentation, along with knowledge development. They are prepared for both their hard as well as soft skills. Apart from teaching we are focused on the holistic development of each student, which helps in shaping their knowledge, skills as well as attitude increasing their employability.

We are very keen on taking industry input to update our curriculum and enhancing scope by organising additional workshops and motivating and guiding our students for certification courses.

We have a strong industry interface and encourage students’ participation through live projects, which familiarises students with Industry requirements and grooms them with required skills.

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 entire admission process, we look for a strong desire to learn, focus towards career building and fire in their belly.

And, to perform well in the curriculum, they should be committed, sincere and motivated – rest we nurture and shape.

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

A: We conduct a Board of Studies meeting twice a year, where we have an expert from every domain specialisation- both Academic and Industry person.  This helps in scanning the curriculum thoroughly to understand the deliverable pedagogy in class and additional input through the workshop.

We also conduct Academic audits by external experts of leading B-schools, to get input and keep including the best practices as per Industry requirement and as adopted in leading B-Schools.

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

A: We are very open to adopting innovative practices. Understanding the need for data analytics in the current time, we have included analytics in all our specialisations, so that our students can be prepared to meet the current requirement. We are training them on the open-source R-Platform, so that they can get access everywhere.

Our objective is to nurture global leaders and not managers so that they can excel in every field whether in their corporate field or as a start-up.

We have an entrepreneur cell, and we have an official tie-up with the Wadhwani group to promote entrepreneurship. We organise business plan competitions, and also bring in venture capitalists to get help towards starting projects.

We also conduct a workshop in Intellectual property rights so that students come to know the nuances of protecting their innovative idea and converting them to entrepreneurial opportunities.