We have a strong industry connection through membership of Mumbai FinTech Hub, says Professor

In a conversation with Shiksha.com, Professor Dr Jyotirmoy Dasgupta at ITM Business School, Navi Mumbai talks at length about the salient features of his teaching methodology of the PGDM FinTech programme. He elaborates on various practical aspects involved in imparting quality education to the students such as internship opportunities, live projects, guest sessions webinars and workshops facilitated by industry experts. The curriculum in itself plays a bigger role, which is regularly updated as per the industry requirements in joint efforts with business experts.

Dr Dasgupta had a distinguished International professional career spanning over four decades. He had the unique opportunity of consulting with global financial giants such as JP Morgan, Citi Bank, various insurance multinationals, as well as technology companies.

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: ITM Group of Institutions believes in imparting quality education to students through a blend of theory and practical sessions. Our PGDM FinTech curriculum is used to describe new technology that seeks to improve and automate the delivery and use of financial services.

The ITM PGDM-FinTech course is a blend of Finance and Technology that equips students to be a master in the Finance and latest technology field covering topics of corporate finance, investment management & Robo Advisory, FinTech, FinTech Applications, Banking and Banking Technology, InsurTech, RegTech,  Fixed Income & Forex Markets, Commodity & Technical Analysis, Design Thinking, Payment Infrastructure, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, etc.

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

A: We strongly believe that industry-readiness as a skill can not be facilitated within four walls. It needs students to be trained on various practical aspects. To achieve the same, we:

• Give students the opportunity to carry out live projects with Fintech firms during their second semester. This gives them real-time exposure to getting training and working on certain projects
• Also, the regular five-month industry internship adds to this real corporate work experience
• PGDM-FinTech also facilitates certifications on FinTech by Uday. We are looking for certificates from CISI, Hongkong University and likewise (MOOC)
• The course also gives exposure through Industry-Academia Interface involving Industry Visits, Guest Lectures and so on. The course-specific workshops are also conducted on subjects of ‘SAS’, ‘Blockchain’, ‘Python’ and likewise

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

A: The PGDM Fintech course is best suited for those aspirants who are passionate about finance and technology. 

For students who wish to excel in the curriculum must be regular in the class and must also maintain a habit of self-practice. There are various roles in Finance Technology that students can take up in the future such as Fintech Analysis, Innovation Analysts, Fintech Design Thinker,  Business Analysts, Data Scientist, Risk Analyst, InsureTech Analyst, Research Analyst, Investment Banker, Financial Analysts, Banker, and related roles for which they need to stay updated of all latest happenings and updates in the industry.

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

A: We have a strong industry-academia connection. The renowned business experts and dignitaries who are a part of this network help us in updating the curriculum at regular intervals. Alongside,

• The curriculum and pedagogy is developed with strong support and collaboration of the Maharashtra Government FinTech cell
• We also have a strong industry connection through membership of Mumbai FinTech Hub
• We conduct two Board of Studies in addition to the regular Faculty Meet to discuss the various aspects of the course including the need for updating curriculum and syllabus, gap-finding in the current curriculum, pedagogy review, assessment review
• Areas of improvement for the coming years and also for the current year
• We conduct various guest sessions & webinars and workshops as mentioned earlier

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

A: ITM Group of Institutions, as a whole, is receptive to Innovation, Technology, Science and Entrepreneurship, as:

• It provides hands-on experience in Quant and FINTECH through systems with enabling softwares such as Python, GRETL, R, SPSS, etc. These tools help them to better understand subjects of quantitative techniques and research methodology to carry out analytics
• The Business Simulation Lab facilitates learning in a real-time, live market environment simulation in various asset classes, giving a chance to the students to get a first-hand experience of live analysis along with Cogencis (Newswire software) for getting Live News feeds on global & domestic economy and financial markets
• Also, at ITM we have an Entrepreneur and Incubation cell that encourages and helps students to be an entrepreneur.