We encourage continuous learning environment to make students future-ready, says VESIM Associate Professor

In this Take 5-Series with Shiksha, Associate Professor Human Resources at VESIM - Vivekanand Education Society Institute of Management Studies and Research (VESIM) Dr Seema Sant talks about how the institute is preparing the students to become industry-ready. She also elaborates about the various events and workshops held to give the students a hands-on market experience. 

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

A. We at VESIM provide an academic environment that fosters learning by doing. We encourage experiential learning and flipped classroom room teaching which involves student centered learning methodology.

Flipped classroom provides an active learning environment to engage students in the content. It helps students to develop skills such as problem solving, collaboration, work in group, research, and construct knowledge with assistance from faculty and peer.

Hence our methodology is blend of all forms of learning such as presentation, visual, listening, hands on experience, problem solving, etc., which gives us an edge over others, as we know that each student has different learning style.

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

A. Holistic development is integral part of our system. And, for every student we define a development path. It starts from career assessment to preparing students for mock interview and group discussion. We encourage students participation in various committees so as to develop leadership, communication skill and confidence among them. Mentoring “Guru Shisha” program at VESIM helps them develop and  nurture their future.

Continuous learning environment helps them prepare for future as we organise several extra-curricular activities that allow students to interact, compete, experiment, and discover their inner strengths, overcome their inhibitions, and grow into socially-responsible corporate citizens with a global outlook. Every student undergoes social projects, summer internship and live projects for application-based learning which prepare them for career enhancement and to be industry-ready.

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 generally look for attributes such as ambition, creative thinking, intellectual curiosity, analytical, social consciousness and passion.

We require students with ability to think and work independently and with a positive mind.

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

A. The board of studies is an advisory body in our institute to enhance our academic delivery. It consists of experts from industry and academia to support our efforts in raising academic standards so as to bring industry perspective to academic delivery. Expert interact with subject faculties to discuss emerging trends in their respective domain. Having good industrial contacts, they bring opportunities of live industral projects for students, reviewing the existing course syllabus for our programmes and suggest changes in the curriculum.

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

A. VESIM provides students cutting-edge knowledge and advanced learning skills in business analytics, the institute has SAS platform, a leading analytics software company in the world. We have academic partnership with SHRM, a platform for HR professionals, to support students of HR domain .

Entrepreneurship cell and incubation center to encourage the students with the aim to accelerate the speed of self-employment and entrepreneurship development, VESIM has established Center for Excellence – Entrepreneurship MSME. This center caters to the business needs and requirements of the young student entrepreneurs having backgrounds in Management education.

At VESIM, we have students cell that inspire students in building a VESIM commune with vigour and passion. All cell activities are developed to bring out creativity, innovation, and expressiveness in students. These cells are entirely managed by students, who learn and help others to learn through various hands-on activities such as summits, workshops, and intra-college events.

We have also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Helen O Grady International - The Edu Drama Academy, for engaging our students to stretch their imagination and exhibit their creativity.

Examples such as SHRM Master Certification, creating awareness on entrepreneurship workshop, e-chai (Mumbai Chapter), organised National Seminar on Social Entrepreneurship: A Tool for Women Empowerment, Design Thinking Workshop. Workshop on Entrepreneurial Finance and Business Plan, outbound training programmes and international conference on business analytics and smart cities, Literati and many more.