In a quest to nurture what they call a wholesome manager, Vignana Jyothi Institute Of Management (VJIM) in Hyderabad has taken several measures. Their Career Vision Schooling, business conclaves and experienced faculty ensure that students can put their best foot forward in the world outside. Dr Ch S Durga Prasad, the director of VJIM, gives us more insights into their methods. Excerpts:
Take us back to when you started and what has been your mission all along?
When we started, our main motto was to encourage entrepreneurs and managers. We wanted to encourage more and more entrepreneurs so that they can help build the nation. At that time, the industry was not as aggressive as it is today. But when the field did open up, we moved with the trend and tried to nurture industry-ready students. Keeping all this in mind, we even decided to take in more students and moved to a bigger campus. We went from 60 students to 240. Even today, our main aim is to develop a wholesome manager. Not only do we concentrate on subjects and the programme we also take care of soft skills, behavioural, practical learning, looking into social outreach activities, event management skills and so on. All these skills help students become wholesome managers and work independently. To do that, we started new courses which are self-learning ones and this we started much ahead of everybody. The method is to let students learn on their own, with a little guidance, and submit their assignments. When you learn on your own, a lot of connecting the dots tends to happen.
How do you ensure that the industry connect remains strong?
We conduct themed-conclaves in several areas. Around five to six speakers are invited. This academic year, we concentrated on FMCG, commerce, digital marketing, design thinking and so on. Someone from Amul was a speaker who described how Amul products were introduced to Hyderabad. Then there was someone from Natraj who spoke about introducing pens. Next year, the conclave will be about emerging technologies. As this is a discussion that goes beyond the classroom, it helps students gain exposure and improves their thought process.
We don't want to be an institute that blindly follows a premier business school structure, every year we learn and evolve. Because all students have to be brought to the same level, we customise our curriculum with the strong support of our management and illustrious board. We all have one objective, that the students must get the maximum benefit. Whenever we see this happening through a proposal, we go ahead with it.
What about your faculty members?
We have in-house Faculty Development Programmes where we invite industry professionals as well. We encourage faculty members to attend conferences like recently, a session on gamification was conducted by Deloitte and about five of our faculty members participated in it. We encourage these kinds of activities which boost industrial connect because when they hear the practice of the industry, they can deliver the same in class. Our faculty is from business as well as academics which makes for a winning combination.
What is your opinion of the changing role of teachers?
Faculty needs to be a facilitator and trigger the thought process of students. They need to ask questions which get students thinking. From the beginning, our emphasis has been on practical learning.
For more on them, Visit vjim.edu.in
Here's why KIIT has once again hit a high note when it comes to their placement record
School textbooks in Thiruvananthapuram to turn smart with QR codes from the coming academic year
Pondicherry Uni increases MBA fees by a whopping 125%, students' forums demand immediate rollback
Slow Clap: Why Holi is holy and Indians don't need detergent
