What are your top five challenges as the Dean/Director of the institution?
– The first major area of concern is in providing the best placement avenues for the students
– The next challenge is that the B-Schools are finding it increasingly difficult to invite the talent from the corporate world and retain them as faculty members
– The mismatch between the students expectation and their real standard and bring them to the requirements of the industry
– Updation of curriculum in par with the industry requirements is a huge challenge faced by the B-schools which are affiliated to Universities
Brand Positioning of the B-School is a big challenge due to the mushroom growth of B-Schools. Institutions like yours with access to good infra get marginalized because of information asymmetry and lack of diversity (with strong local audience). What’s your take on this?
Deploying several forms of campus media keeps the messaging on target and fresh in the minds of students.
How can a candidate with a national test score (CAT/XAT/MAT/etc) be considered as an “Admit” in your program? What’s the process?
Business Schools affiliated to Anna University in Tamil Nadu is required to admit students who had taken entrance exams conducted by Tamil Nadu government (TANCET) or Common Entrance Test (CET) by the association of self financing colleges.
Hence, the use of CAT/XAT/MAT doesn’t play vital part in getting admissions. Even though the students who had appeared for CAT/XAT/MAT, it is mandatory for them to appear for CET exam as per the norms of Directorate of Technical Education, Tamil Nadu.
How are you improving the employability factor in your B-School?
B-Schools can’t simply become placement agencies. The challenge is to become a place where leadership is promoted and nurtured with a long term vision. Inspite of this, we are providing the following for the students to easily grab the employment opportunity.
– Career Building Counseling/Planning
– Preparing our students to suit the requirements of the industry
– Regular special training sessions to improve their employability skills such as training for effective communication, preparation for aptitude test, group discussion, interview skills, resume preparation, body language, writing skills, business etiquette, cross-cultural training, etc.
– Membership with Professional Bodies
– Industry Institution Tie-ups
How much time to you feel you’d need to become a nationally recognizable business school brand?
May be another five years.