Our innovative culture and unique teaching pedagogy are differentiators, says Director-ITM Business School

Dr. Lakshmi Mohan, Director of ITM Business School talks about their PGDM programme in depth with Shiksha.com. She goes into great length on how industry preparedness is now the most important factor for any management student. ITM Business School goes to great lengths to ensure that students are industry-ready, whether through live projects, a five-month internship, or the establishment of a leadership skill lab that supports student development.

Dr Mohan, Director of ITM Business School, Navi Mumbai is a professional with more than 2 decades in teaching, training, and heading institutions coupled with half a decade of corporate exposure in companies like Elbee and DHM. She headed the ITM Chennai Campus for 3 years and was associated with Times and ICFAI in the capacity of Campus Head.

Read the complete interview below. Q: What are the three things that your school is doing that will enable it to differentiate itself from competition?

A: ITM Business School believes in creating leaders for the future and hence has taken many initiatives that have helped them differentiate from other business schools across the country. Following are a few factors that help ITM differentiate –

• Variety in students & Specialisations: The students who join ITM are from across all the states of India, we are the best example for ‘Unity in Diversity’. ITM is well-known in all parts of India and abroad too through our International Collaborations. ITM offers ten varied specialisations, thus offering multi-disciplinary learning for the students.
• Industry-Academia connect: ITM is well connected with the corporate world! Three decades is a long-standing relationship with corporates that rely on ITM’s research and management expertise. The PGDM-I Connect Programme made a mark by offering a unique five months’ industry internship for the students to strengthen and smoothen their transition from campus to corporate. We made a big difference in Management education!
• Upgradation of curriculum: Industry-relevant curriculum embedded with latest courses on analytics, digital transformation, design thinking, leadership lab, management simulations, global immersions and close to 300 hours of corporate transition, communication and competency enhancement modules have made us special in the education arena. We believe in the latest and have included wellness modules for the mental and physical health of students.

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

A: Industry readiness is the most important skill that management students must have. No corporates these days are willing to spend months training students. Rather prefer to hire students from some institute that has focused more on facilitating practical exposure to the students. To make this happen -  

We try and bring more and more Live Projects on board so students can work on real-life projects and understand the corporate culture

Internships are a great way to experience how the corporates actually work. The procedures, environment, hiererchies, and many other factors contribute towards students’ learning. Hence a five-month industry internship is mandatory for every student at ITM.

Also, Leadership is a crucial skill that management students must have. People management skills are also a great contributing factor towards students’ growth.  Leadership Lab does the task for us. The lab focuses on what leadership means to students currently, in the near future, and in the new challenges that their generation of leaders will face

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

A: Students who have scored 50% and above in their graduation can apply for ITM Business School. Aspirants of our AICTE approved PGDM Programme must appear for the entrance test (CAT/ XAT/ CET/ SNAP/ MAT/ CMAT, etc.) Reasonably good communication, a positive attitude and a passion for learning are other essential qualities to be possessed by students. We believe that every student is unique and can be molded to be the best.

To perform well, one must be consistent in studies. Teaching is mostly case study based and interactive students are quick at developing communication skills, analytical skills and creativity skills. Regular interaction with faculties, engaging in deep conversations with peers on their learnings and developing a fine mental balance can be an anchor to excellent grades.

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

A: The AICTE approved PGDM Programme of ITM is the best, highly ranked programme of ITM. The ten specialisations offered are unique in their offering. New age specialisations like Business Analytics, Fintech and Digital Marketing and Transformation have carved a niche in the industry. Our innovative culture and unique teaching pedagogy are differentiators. We have more than 350 companies on campus to select our students, such kind of industry recognition is our largest motivator.

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 college (observed over the past five years)?

A: ITM Business School has always been at the forefront of students Career Development and is accomplishing spectacular statistics of placements in the current season. As we emerge slowly from Covid-19, are still in the shadow of pandemic through the virtual placements process for most of the organisations. But the pandemic has not been a deterrent to students’ preparation for the placement season. Mentoring by alumni, mock interviews, comprehensive placement module, aptitude preparation, tale wind sessions or corporate transition modules have helped students to crack interviews.

The key trend of interviewing has been via online mode and the requirements from companies are flowing swiftly unlike the prophecy that pandemic will ruin career opportunities of students.

The reputed business leaders visiting us this season are Sprinklr , Federal Bank, Tata Consultancy Services, Care Edge Ratings, Flipkart, Decathalon , Pepperfry, EMA Partners, Cognext Analytics, Capitalvia Global, Property Pistol, IDBI Capital, UTI Mutual Funds, Rubix Data Sciences, Aditya Birla AMC, Nippon Life Insurance, Tata AIG, Transganization, Prism Johnson, Godrej Properties, Phonepe, Eureka Forbes, Logic serve , DHL and many more. 

This year we have shared phenomenal career opportunities with our students spanning across sectors like Manufacturing, FMCG, Retail, BFSI, IT, Research, Logistics, to name a few. The big conglomerates like Deloitte Tax, PWC India, HDFC Bank, Flipkart, UBS Group, Pepperfry, Xanadu Realty, Nielsen India, Runwal Group, Reliance Retail are picking our students in large numbers, speaking volumes about our industry-relevant curriculum, robust student development program, and processes being followed at the campus.

Deloitte Tax has offered Tax consultant/ Business Analyst role to 47 students and 27 Tax Associates got hired for PWC India from ITM Kharghar this placement season. Flipkart, UBS Group, Pepperfry, Xanadu Realty selected 10+ students this year from campus.

Most common job designation is Management Trainee; and others include Assistant Manager, Relationship Manager, Functional Analyst, Business Development Manager, Project Manager, Operations Manager etc.