We conduct weekly dialogue with students on emerging issues for managerial development, says Director KSRM

In a conversation with Shiksha.com, KIIT School Of Rural Management - KSRM Director Prof. Nishith Parida talks about experiential learning and up-to-date curriculum as per the emerging needs of the sectors. He also talks about three internships (one each at the end of the first three semesters) offered to students to practice the lessons learnt.

Prof Nishith Parida has done his BSc Agri from G B Pant University, Pantnagar and PGDM from IIM Ahmedabad. He has a rich industry experience of more than 22 year spread across Agri Input, FMCG and Financial Services sectors.

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

A: KSRM is doing many things to differentiate itself from competition.

1. It offers experiential learning (students are being groomed by practitioners turned teachers).
2. It provides three internships (one each at the end of the first three semesters) to practice the lessons learnt through classroom segments and shape their attitude to work on rural issues.
3. It offers up-to-date curriculum as per the emerging needs of the sectors.

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

A: Following are the top three initiatives undertaken to help students become industry ready:

1. We conduct weekly dialogue by students on emerging issues with managerial perspectives.
2. We introduced Live Projects, especially for MBA (Agribusiness Management) students, in different semesters so that students get exposed to practical challenges in industry and explore the most relevant solution to address them.
3. As per the need of the industry/sector, few new courses and new modules in some of the existing courses are introduced.

Q: What are the key attributes that a student should have in order to

1. Qualify for your institution
2. Get top grades in your institution

A: A student should be having many key attributes which are mentioned below:

1. To qualify for our institution, students should be having interest of working in rural areas (development/business). The candidates should be a team player. They should possess thrust of learning.
2. To get top grades in our institution, they should have believe in systematic hard work. Moreover, they should be willing to interact with friends, faculty, and mentors. They should put to use the the classroom lessons learnt including concepts, principles and managerial decision making tools in field during internship and live projects. They should possess sense of conceptualisation from field experiences.

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 are doing many things to improve campus placements and jobs.

1. We (partner organizations and KSRM) mutually get engaged in various activities including placing students for internship.
2. We invite experienced professionals from potential recruiting organisations as guest faculty to teach a few courses fully or few modules of some courses.
3. We facilitate students to prepare well, and get updated systematically.

Several Indian and multinational organisations from the banking, microfinance, food and agribusiness, development and other socio-business sectors participate in the final placement process.