We teach skills that students need today and tomorrow, says Director

In a conversation with Shiksha.com, Founder & Director of Praxis Business School–Charanpreet Singh talks at length about the institute’s success factors. He goes into detail talking about the institute’s pedagogy, curriculum and initiatives taken to help students become industry-ready.

Charanpreet has over two decades of experience working in the corporate world in organisations such as British Oxygen (now Linde), Tata Steel, PwC and Hewlett Packard, working as a Country Manager, Marketing, before embarking upon a project to set up a business school of the highest quality.

Read the complete interview below:

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

A: The word Praxis derives from the Greek for translating theory into practice – and Praxis is an institution where students learn to think and apply (put into practice) what they are taught in the classroom. Our differentiation finds its source in the fundamental force that drives Praxis - our intent to do whatever is necessary to equip our students for lifelong career success. This is why we exist.

• We teach different things: We are leaders in adapting our curriculum to the changing needs of the industry. We teach skills that students need today and tomorrow - we have the capability (quality of our faculty), deep industry-connect and agility to introduce new courses and new content so that our students are equipped with the skills that are in demand. This is particularly true when you look at how quickly we took a leadership position in the country in introducing content that develops ‘digital’ skills (hard skills like analytics, data science, fintech, digital business management, digital marketing etc. and soft skills like critical thinking, problem-solving, collaboration, communication etc.). In addition to the regular areas, we offer specialisations in Business Analytics and Digital Business Management – two areas that open up very exciting career opportunities.
• We teach differently: The Praxis programme is designed to offer a rich student learning experience. We believe in ‘learning by doing’ which means that the professors facilitate learning by creating opportunities for students to solve business problems, execute projects and participate in lab-work. Our assessment tests the ability of students to think and apply their knowledge and skills to solve real-world business problems. This strengthens students’ conceptual understanding and hones their skills for better performance in the jobs they take up in the industry.
• Impact - internships, placements and alumni network: The Praxis Placement Programme runs a well-oiled campus placement engine that creates exciting and appropriate career opportunities for its students across programmes. The industry loves us - they like what we teach and how we teach, and the way our students perform. That is why, while we add new recruiters every year, we have a very strong community of loyal recruiters as well. As a result, we have a strong and successful alumni network primarily in India but with increasing footprints abroad.

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

A: Industry-readiness is a crucial factor that not defines the quality skills student has but also defines the success factor of any institute. In the VUCA world, the corporates tend to spend as little time in training students as possible. And, this can only be achieved, if students are made industry-ready during the curriculum itself. Following are the initiatives taken to help students become industry ready:

• Our curriculum has been ‘digitally transformed’ in collaboration with industry practitioners; as a result, our students learn and acquire the skills that are relevant and in-demand in the industry. Skills like data, critical thinking, problem-solving, communication etc. are transferrable skills – no matter where the world goes, our students will be ready for it.
• We ensure impactful summer internships and industry projects for our students through our campus placement programme - the two-month experience gives them an insight into how the industry works. Our students have executed consultative projects for Canadian start-ups under the Canada India Centre for Excellence (Carleton University, Canada)
• Praxis collaborates with the industry at various levels: Industry professionals teach full courses at Praxis; we have guest lectures as part of the curriculum; we have workshop sessions by senior industry executives as part of the Distinguished Speaker Series (DSS) and the Industry Speaker Series (ISS); students do live projects for the industry, especially in the area of market research.

Q: What are the key attributes that a student should have in order to qualify for your institution and perform well?

A: We look for students who have the ability to learn, the ability to think and the ability to judge. The students need to demonstrate these attributes through their past academic and industry (if applicable) records, their performance in the written tests and in the personal interviews.

To help them perform well, we reward the ability to apply knowledge and understanding of concepts learned in class to solve near real-world problems. Many of our assessments are ‘open-book’ - which means that we are not looking for the ability to remember and reproduce - but to think and create. Students who participate actively in class discussions, are passionate about learning, and sharpen their ability to think to tend to do very well at Praxis.

Q: Which programme/s would you say is/are your best? What is it that helps your institution differentiate itself for this programme?

A: Our flagship programme is the AICTE approved PGDM which is ranked second in Kolkata and sixth in Eastern India by TOI.

We run a nine-month full-time postgraduate programme in Data Science from our Kolkata and Bangalore campuses with batches starting in January (Spring) and July (Fall). The Praxis PGP DS is ranked second among full-time data science programmes in the country. This programme is differentiated thus:

• The most comprehensive data science curriculum in the country covering tools, techniques, technology and business imperatives
• An average hike of over 100% in salary, in the most exciting career in the globe, through a well-established campus placement program
• The most powerful data science alumni network in the country

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 university/college (observed over the past five years at your institute)?

A: Praxis is a student-centric institute - we place better because we teach better. Placements are a direct fallout of the efforts students put in at their time in Praxis. We have been able to consistently achieve over 94% placements since inception. Some of the steps students go through in their two years at Praxis:

• The PlaceCom (placement committee run by students) conducts aptitude tests, GD sessions, General Awareness Sessions, Sectoral Presentations right from the second month of the start of the programme. This helps students in converting the first qualifying rounds.
• Praxis conducts a weekly talk series - Distinguished Speaker Series and Industry Speaker Series- this provides students and industry leaders the opportunity to come together, and for the industry leaders to share their knowledge and learnings with the students.
• The strong Alumni network of Praxis chips in every year with career counselling sessions and contacts in their organisations. Several of our alumni have been part of the recruitment teams from their organisations.

Most jobs for the PGDM batch would be in the following areas: Market Research, Category Management, Merchandising, Branding, Consulting, Sales, Product Management, Financial Risk Management, Corporate Finance, Digital Banking, Banking Operations, Equity Research, Wealth Management, Data Science, Business Analytics, Digital Business Management.

Over the past five years the major change that we have seen is that most companies want students who can think in numbers and translate the same into English. Companies are also looking for tech-savvy digital literate candidates.