We train our students to become budding entrepreneurs, says ABBS Professor

In a conversation with Shiksha, Assistant Professor Dr B Arun Senthil of Acharya Bangalore B School (ABBS) talks about methodologies school has adopted to enrich students knowledge by filling up gaps between textbooks and today's corporate scenario.

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

A: ABBS teaching pedagogy includes lectures, case study discussions and live projects. Business leaders regularly interact with our MBA students, this ensures filling the gap between textbooks and today’s corporate scenario.

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

A: We believe 60 per cent classroom and 40 per cent experiential learning. This combination helps our students to apply their knowledge through various activities and realise their potential. Faculty members are constantly interacting and mentoring the students. Alumni also play a role in mentoring the students. This process will help the students get ready when the opportunity arises. 

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

A: Initially, we look for aptitude and communication skills from the applicants. Once they have joined, we expect essential qualities from MBA students. These include leadership, ethics, decision-making skills and commitment to the entire programme.

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

A: ABBS MBA follows Bangalore University's curriculum. The curriculum is designed to enrich the knowledge of management students. As a part of the curriculum, students need to complete two projects from the Industry and submit a report to the department. Apart from this, students are also encouraged to do courses from MOOC. ABBS also provides certification courses to the students. We have different management clubs at school. It helps students learn management skills through live experiences. Many of our faculty members are part of different clubs and they also encourage students to participate. 
This set of curriculum helps us to meet industry requirements. Our Alumni are brand ambassadors of ABBS MBA Program. 

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

A: At ABBS, not only do we have guest lectures but also video-conferencing series. We have a provision to use ‘LifeSize’ at ABBS, which helps students access lectures from eminent personalities across the globe. Some of the recent video-conferencing lecture details are mentioned below:

• Importance of Artificial Intelligence in Corporate World by Founder & Chief Executive Officer, WiselyWise Pte. Ltd, Singapore Chandra Kumar Natarajan
• Timeless Management Lessons from Ancient Indian Literature by Associate Professor, Human Resource Management, Wawasan Open University, Malaysia Dr Balakrishnan Muniapan,
• Smarter Economy through Smarter Enterprises by Associate Professor, Slippery Rock University, Pennsylvania, USA Dr Senthil Kumar. M

We also have Entrepreneurship Development Cell at ABBS. Associate Professor Dr Syed Kasim acts as a coordinator of EDC. Through this platform, we train our students to become budding entrepreneurs. In fact, three of our students have started their own business this year.