VESIM's Goal Is To Have International Accreditation: Dr. Modh

How is Vivekanand Education Society's Institute of Management Studies and Research different from other management schools?

VESIM’s success as one of the leading business schools in Mumbai is due to its humanistic approach to management education. The approach is complemented by a state-of-the-art infrastructure, world-class faculty and transformative pedagogic practices like the Flipped Classroom. The visionary management aims to make VESIM, a world-class institution for business education and research. It has kept up with the corporate world by focusing itself in the emerging area of Business Analytics. Acquiring knowledge through experience rather than classroom teaching is the crux of Experience Based Learning method. These participative activities include:

Parichay - The Outbound program: The outbound program at VESIM aims to bring together a disparate group of students to work together as a team so as to facilitate them to manage themselves and others. This program is scheduled on day one of their program. Even before the students are exposed to the existing systems and people, they are taken to an isolated training retreat where they undergo various activities that makes them aware of themselves and their place in ‘working’ teams. The exercises are designed by trained behavioral experts within the institution. Learners, in groups, experience the thrill of competitive games and enhance their emotional intelligence. Interspersed within the games, a relevant video is played to heighten the impact of the exercise.

Sell-On - A challenging approach of Learning: VESIM Business School has introduced, “Sell-On”, a mandatory activity for students that introduces them to real life situations and makes them better prepared for their corporate journey. Sell-On creates a sense of accomplishment in a student and he/she feels involved in the learning process. It takes meticulous planning, disciplined implementation and thorough analysis of the outcomes. Learning Objectives of Sell-On is that students should be able to identify and explain customer needs and wants, be able to apply various selling techniques, explain and describe the management principles learnt, demonstrate public speaking skills, identify and suggest role of Social responsibility in business and practice and evaluate team building skills. In the year 2018-19 Sell On had sold goods worth Rs 7,50,000.

This participative way of learning was highly appreciated in the 9th Indian Management Conclave (IMC) held at IIM Bangalore, and VESIM bagged the bronze award in the category of “Pedagogy for Developing Job Competencies in MBA’s”

Yuva for Seva - Social Sensitization: Is another one of its kind distinctive program at VESIM, where students devote their services to the under-privileged sections of the society. This program exposes them to the real social issues affecting the nation and sensitizes them towards such communities. The bigger purpose behind such an exercise is that when these students become industry leaders, they are able to make business decisions not only for the bottom line but in the interest of the society at large. In tune with VESIM’s mission to create socially responsible managers, the Yuva for Seva program makes positive intervention by incorporating community service as part of the course curriculum. The assessment of the individual performance goes into the credit scores of the students.

Learning by Doing: We adopt pedagogy of involving students learn through activity. “Bob the Builder” was a fun filled activity of Operations Dept, where the students had to be creative in developing concept layout planning and designing, which was very engaging in nature    

How important is ‘research’ for VESIM? Can you put light on the current projects that the school is involved in?

The strongest pillar of the Institute- Faculty members are highly motivated to create an ever growing pool of knowledge. Faculty development is given prior attention, and every faculty is encouraged to attend FDP, Workshop and Conferences of both national and international repute. The Institute in its strong determination to have the best intellectual talent pool, funds all the above mentioned faculty development activities. The quality publication in ABDC & Scopus indexed journals, and books published calls for cash reward.

We have grants  under the plan scheme, CDM, MCA, Govt of India, amounting Rs3.3 lakhs under principal researcher Dr. Hema Santhanam- “ Research project “ Impact assessment of CSR disclosure on Corporate Governance Mechanism.” Research project by BSE – “Smart Inverstors perception, with a grant amount of Rs 2 lakhs. Principal researcher Dr. Nisha Pandey- “Does the National Mission of Women empowerment, promote social entrepreneurship” grant by ICSSR- amounting 3.5 lakhs.

There is a gap between ‘what the academia trains’ and ‘how the industry expects to perform’, how VESIM is working towards bridging this gap?

VESIM Business School Excellence (VBX Series): The campus provides a vibrant environment for learning and creates an eco-system to connect with the world of work. The aim of the Institute is to bridge the gap between conventional theatrical teaching and Industry expectations. Industry leaders are welcomed regularly to talk to students on platforms like VBX – The Leadership Series and coach them during mock group discussions and personal interview sessions.

Koffee with Korporate: A highly interactive event like “Koffee with Korporate” enables a strong connect between academia and industry stalwarts. The faculty members get to establish connect with the top executives of Industry and givesinsightof corporate expectations.

Alumni Connect: A growing distinguished alumni network of professionals continually support the institute and help their alma-matar. The alumni feel proud to connect with the students on various formal and informal occasions. Informally they gather with families to strengthen their network and feel the common bond. Formally they come as guest speaker, Industry mentor, participate in Board of studies and as panelist to conduct mock Group Discussions & Personal Interviews. The Alumni has a registered body called “VESMA”.

In terms of  nurturing the students with best exposure and all round development the Institute has tied up with SAS, the world’s leading Analytics Company to provide analytics tool, training and certification, so as to make the students savvy with the current trend of data analytics. The Flipped Classroom methodology forces a preset knowledge in the students, hence the faculty can act as a facilitator to increase the level and frontier of knowledge. This pattern of dissemination, is raising the bar and nurturing the students to stay alert and ready to acquire more. 

VESIM Literature Festival: The Institute has taken great strides in making its visibility felt amongst all its stakeholders. It conducts “Literati” VESIM Literati Fest inviting diverse mix of India's greatest writers, thinkers, business leaders, humanitarian, politicians, and entertainers on one stage to champion the freedom of express and engage in thoughtful discussions and debates. Over the last 4 editions VESIM Literati Fest has witnessed over 150 renowned personalities on stage.

Dignataries like Shri Manmohan Vaidya, Israel Consulate Yaakov Finkelstein, Dr. Sonal Mansingh, Ms. Nisha JamVwal, Mr. Ratan Sharda, Mrs. Shreyasi Goenka, Major Gaurav Arya, Mr. Anand Neelakanthan, and Mr. Ashwin Sanghi were some of the renowned personalities that honoured the stage of latest edition of this festival. Over these 4 years VESIM Literati Fest welcomed the crowd of over 2000 young minds from various institutions and colleges.

Where do you think we are leading and lagging behind in education? What sort of support do we need from our government?

There is too much of regulation in the country in the field of higher education, especially for self-financed educational institutions. They should be given similar freedom as has been given to various IITs, IIMs and other such institutions. We don't need any support from the government, just give freedom to educate.

According to you how is the digital era impacting the way students are trained today?

Our class rooms are well furnished with latest technology to aid lecturing and presentation. Classrooms have latest facilities like Smart Boards, Projector, Speakers, WiFi, Portable Mike System, to make the process of learning smooth and effective. The students are motivated to make audio visual presentations of the different assignments and field visits given to them. Institute use Skype and Cisco Webex (free of charge) software tools for video conferencing. This facility is available in computer labs, Auditorium, MDP rooms, and meeting room so that the students and faculties can avail the benefit of Webinar, to observe lectures of eminent personalities. The institute takes care to let their students have strong connect with the world in this era of digital connect. NPTEL, SWAYAM and EDX are introduced for MOOC’s courses. Every student has to register for at least one online course on EDX or Swayam per year. This not only adds to their knowledge base but increases the worthiness of the student.

You have spent more than half of your life in the aviation industry, how is aviation industry doing at the moment? What needful changes should be brought in?

• India’s aviation industry is currently stuck in an air pocket. The sector has been constantly plagued by mounting debt, losses, and high fuel costs, among other things. Hence, airlines will be pinning all their hopes on Feb. 01, when the annual budget, the last by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, will be presented.
• The government should create an ecosystem that recognises and supports the industry’s viability and competitiveness.
• The high expenses on aviation turbine fuel (ATF) are a pain point for most airlines which has to be considered by the govt.
• The government has to keep on providing good budgetary support to airports authority of India (AAI), which is doing a fantastic job of creating airports in the tier 2 and tier 3 towns of India thus reaching out to travelers in small towns. 
• The government has to pay special attention to rotary wing aircraft sector when it is looking to fund the directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA).

As the director of VESIM, what goals have you decided for the coming 3-5 years?

We have been accredited by Indian agencies like NBA, and NAAC and featured in the NIRF rankings. Now we have become member of AACSB and the next goal is to go for international accreditation.