Prof Gajendra Adil

Prof Gajendra Adil recently took over as head, Shailesh J Mehta School of Management (SJMSoM), Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay. An academician at heart, Prof Adil worked at Bilkent Universtity, Turkey and City University, Hong Kong before joining SJMSoM in 2000. Speaking exclusively to PaGaLGuY, he talks about his vision for the institute. Excerpts

Will IIT Bombay go the IIT-Madras way and broaden its admission criteria to include non-engineers in its ambit?

I personally feel that this may not make a huge difference. Even if we do this, we may still end up getting a large proportion of engineers. The diversity of other kinds like demographic factors may be equally important. This year we are giving 3 extra marks to women to bring in gender diversity.

In you short stint till now at the institute, have you identified any need gaps?

We need to work on improving our infrastructure and hire more faculties. We have 21 professors now for a batch of 240 students. We want atleast three faculty in each area. We are also looking at newer avenues to get professors from, possibly abroad. We are also looking at processing the faculty applications fast. IITs have begun to encourage that. We can start more courses if we get more faculty members.

As far as the infrastructure is concerned, the new hostel block which is coming up will help the PG students in the campus including our own to get these rooms which are based on a single occupancy. We are also looking at sharing resources with other departments wherein first year students would be able to study the core courses in state of the art modern classrooms.

How do engineering and technology-oriented institutes like IITs or NITIE get the required diversity in classrooms?

Diversity is not only about engineers and non-engineers. It could be work-ex and freshers, work experience in different sectors, rural and urban – these factors can also bring in the required diversity.

Do you think the focus on engineering and technology is also a debilitating factor for all the management departments at IITs which stops them from flourishing as much as the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs)?

We do not need to go the IIM way nor lose our sleep over size of student population. The best thing for us will be to create a niche by leveraging the fact that we are in an IIT campus alongwith other departments. At the moment, b-schools around the globe are facing challenges due to the economic scenario. We will be better off having a niche strategy for ourselves.

Do you plan to go in for AACSB accreditation?

It is still at a very early consultation stage. This is a long process which takes 5-7 years to get approval so we need to take a call if and when we should go for it.

There were also plans of a course for executives. When will the program be launched?

Discussions are going on and there is no firm commitment at this point of time.

Have you introduced any new initiatives in the admission process this year?

Not in any major way, apart from fine tuning some processes. We dropped GD and introduced written analysis and adjusted weightages of different factors. It is available on our website for applicants.

Do you support the case for a single management test like GMAT for aspirants?

I feel what we have at present is good as it offers flexibility to the applicants and colleges.

What stops b-schools from undertaking path-breaking research in India?

Lack of quality faculty and more importantly lack of emphasis for research in most b-schools.

What is the difference in the students that have been coming in with CAT scores as opposed to JMET which existed earlier?

It has been just a year. We have to wait for a couple of years to conclude anything on this.

As an educator, where does the biggest challenge lie for faculty in India?

I guess how to engage and motivate students to study is a challenge. In established b-schools, students assume assured placements while smaller b-schools lack quality students. Both the scenarios are a challenge for the faculty members.

What is your vision for SJMSoM?

SJMSoM should be known for quality students graduating from our Master of Management and PhD programs.