Bhavesh Patel, the newly appointed director at School of Petroleum Management (SPM), Gandhinagar plans to expand the scope of energy management at the institute and develop strong interaction between the industry and the students. As per his plans, he wants to host a ‘World Energy Forum’ for all the people involved in the energy industry at SPM in the next five years. The following is what he has to say about the petroleum sector and an MBA in oil and gas.

What are the unique propositions that School of Petroleum Management stands for? How is it different from B-schools in the same league?

There are very few institutes that offer an MBA in the Petroleum Sector in India. Our program is certainly different and unique and even the Petroleum Ministry and the Regulatory Ministry recognize this fact. The authorities from both these places visit us quite often and we are involved in the formulation of policies. As an institute we do not have any restrictions with the curriculum. You can see more tailor made elements in our course concerning the petroleum industry if you check out the energy courses in universities abroad. Our curriculum is less theoretical and more application based and students from our institutes are more exposed to the industry as compared to students from other institutes.

We are also planning to extend collaboration to foreign universities regarding teaching and research and talks are already going on with University of Houston and Tulsa for this.

What is the general profile of the candidates that are called for GD-PI at your institute?

Candidates who score 85 percentile and above in CAT are called for GD-PI at the institute.

What are the qualities that you look for in a candidate at the GD-PI stage?

Some of the qualities that we look for in the candidate are domain knowledge, communication skills and the passion of the candidate for the petroleum Industry. By domain knowledge I mean the knowledge of the candidate from the sector he comes from and not necessarily the petroleum sector. Apart from these qualities, we also look for good communication skills and leadership skills in a candidate. We want students who can create an environment of leadership; the environment creation is very important. The present MBA students act as a mentor to the engineering and undergraduate students and we want that trend to continue.

How have the admissions been affected this year in light of the recession? Has the number of applications reduced? If yes, then what steps are you taking to counter that?

Recession is taken as the best time by the students to start studying. Hence, the number of admissions has not been reduced in the present scenario. Admissions are only increasing as now people know us better than before. We have a batch of alumni in the market so people know the quality of our students.

Petrol/oil is one of the most sought after resources today; consequently the industry is a dynamic one. How do you ensure that your curriculum will prepare the students for the latest in the petroleum or the energy sector?

The Curriculum at School of Petroleum Management is revised periodically to meet industry demands. We have two types of curriculum reviews at our institute; one that is done once every four years (so presently one is in the process) and the other which is initiated by the faculty where members of the faculty initiate a change in the curriculum following the current trends in the industry. Hence, our curriculum is very dynamic and one will prepare the students for any situation when they step out of the institute.

How do you think an MBA in petroleum is different than an MBA in HR or Marketing and the likes? What are the skills that petroleum MBA needs or has that such MBAs do not possess?

MBA in petroleum is certainly different than all the other MBAs listed above as the challenges faced by this industry are unique and one that requires intensive understanding of the industry. Although other MBAs can also be hired in this sector, they will need a lot of training to understand the working of this sector. For example, HR practices in petroleum is different than other MBAs as the challenges faced by an HR in hiring and retention of employees for this sector (at places where not many people would want to work and stay) is not faced by any other industry.

Do you think the MBA in oil/gas sector constraints the students into the energy industry?

A lot of students in my knowledge have switched careers after working for sometime in the petroleum industry, hence it can be safely said that area specific knowledge does not constraint the student. However, we are planning to design our curriculum in such a way that a student is independent to make his career choices. Above all this, I doubt if students will want to switch careers as this industry is growing and the demand for business graduates in this sector will definitely go up.

What is the average size of the PGP class? What would be the region wise mix of a standard class at your institute?

The present PGP class consists of 60 students and there is a single section comprising of all the students. Students from all over the country study at our institute so there is no specific region domination.

What is the faculty to student ratio in the college?

Adding all the visiting as well the full time faculty at our institute, the ratio would stand at somewhere around 1:8, which is one faculty to every eight students.

How have the placements been affected because of the economic situation? Have all the students from last year’s batches been placed?

The placements were affected in recession although not as much as the recession in the petroleum industry was not as prominent as other industries. It took little more than the normal time but all the students in the last years batch have been placed. One thing that helped placements last year was the banks who hired in a big way. Hence banks and consulting companies hired our students for their energy verticals which helped in placements.