We imbibe organisational and leadership skills in the students from the beginning of the programme, says HOD

In a conversation with Shiksha.com, HOD-JIMS Rohini - Jagan Institute of Management Studies Deepika Saxena talks about the importance of industry connect for students’ development. She referred to various industrial visits, live projects, internship programmes and guest lectures that institute regularly organises to give students a sense of the corporate world. Dr Saxena has over 14 years of rich experience, which includes 12 years of teaching and research. She has received ‘Best Paper Award’ from IIM-Bangalore for her research paper titled ‘Technology-based Initiatives by Indian Commercial Banks towards Financial Inclusion’.

Read the excerpts of the interview below:

Q: What is the difference between the teaching methodology in your institute and others?

A: The teaching methodology at JIMS is unique in itself which focuses on the industry-academia connect and emphasises on beyond-classroom learning. The classroom teaching and learning approach emphasises on the conceptual clarity and theoretical build using audio-visual aid, presentations, role-plays, case studies and articles discussions, and environmental scanning through newspaper analysis. At the same time, specific emphasis is given to link the theory with real-world scenarios using live projects, internships and on-job training. As management education should be highly industry-focused, we ensure that students are provided substantial corporate interaction while learning. We focus on outbound experiential learning of the student and imbibe such practices in the current teaching methodology. Various new teaching-learning approaches followed at JIMS are:

• Activity-based learning where students conceptualise, plan and execute various club activities, including developing and implementing simulation games and exercises
• Teaching through social sensitisation (self society and organisations) where we focus on imbibing social values and individual’s social responsibility and create connect with society through various ngos and at the same time work on the solutions of social problems and try to bring the change for societal benefit
• Learning through MOOCs, online quizzes, teaching through YouTube channels
• Project and assignments-based learning
• Lectures by industry practitioners through guest lectures and workshops
• Integrating theory and practices through mall/store visits, industrial visits, warehouse visit, port visit and stock exchange visit
• Integrating theory and practices through industry research projects where students work with the corporates and find solutions to the business problems
• Learning through social and community projects where students work on community issues with social entrepreneurs and develop a business model/revenue model for them;
• Learning through research papers publications and conference presentations
• Case-based group discussions where students brainstorm and analyse the situation using critical thinking, analytical and problem-solving skills

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

A: Students at JIMS are regularly exposed to the corporate culture and work environment through live projects, internships and on-the-job training. We at JIMS create industry interface for the students through guest lectures, workshops, seminars/conclaves, panel discussions on a regular basis. Our students regularly engage themselves in industry research projects with the corporates which provide exposure in terms of solving real-world situations and developing analytical, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills. The students at JIMS are also involved in social projects with various organisations and social entrepreneurs and have developed new business models for them. Apart from providing these learning platforms, we regularly work on each student for their overall development in terms of knowledge, attitude and skills throughout their journey at JIMS. Environmental scanning is an ongoing part of the classroom learning where real-world problems are discussed and analysed using newspaper reading and discussions. We regularly conduct group discussions and personal interviews for their industry readiness.

Q: What quality do your students have which other college students lack?

A: We, at JIMS work on each student in terms of knowledge, attitude, skills and personality development. As every student has different abilities and potential, we handhold each one of them through a mentorship programme and guide them in the right direction through faculty, corporate, alumni and placement mentors. We imbibe organisational and leadership skills in the students from the beginning of the programme. Managerial skills are inculcated in the students from day one. Various events, seminars/conferences, club and class activities are managed and organised by students. We highly believe in ‘learning by doing’ approach, so we give them the opportunity to deal with real-world situations and provide possible and feasible solutions. Most of the colleges focus on classroom learning only, but at JIMS get the opportunity to learn beyond the classroom.

Q: Do you think the curriculum of the courses taught in your institute fits in the requirement of the industry?

A: Yes, the course curriculum at JIMS definitely fits the requirement of the industry. The course curriculum is regularly revised and upgraded as per the need of the corporates. It is developed in conjunction with the experts from the industry and regular feedback and inputs are taken from them in order to match-up the subjects and syllabus in the course curriculum as per their requirements. It helps meet the growing demand for professionals with the practical skills and intellectual ability to succeed in this fast-paced and global business environment. Detailed discussions with the industry professionals are regularly conducted for designing the course curriculum of all the three programmes at JIMS, including PGDM, PGDM (Retail Management) and PGDM (International Business). Regular interaction with industry professionals is organised to give them exposure and connecting theory with real-world scenarios. Each and every aspect of learning which is given to the student is keeping in mind the fitment of the student in the industry.

Q: Is your college receptive to innovation, technology, science & entrepreneurship?

A: JIMS is a place for innovation. We always encourage our students to come out with new ideas and out-of-the-box thinking in whatever they do. We have JIMS Innovation Cell where various events are organised to find innovative solutions to the problems. Smart India Hackathon, an initiative of Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), is a part of this cell where students find solutions to the given problems. We imbibe in them the use of the latest technology as a learning platform, not only for IT students but also for all management students. Entrepreneurship has always been an encouraging area for the institute and for this, JIMS supports the new innovative ideas, provides mentoring and funding through JIMS Incubation Cell.