BS Satyanarayana, Vice-Chancellor of BML Munjal University, talks about the university's school of management, the training that it provides students to make them industry-ready and the school's placement record.
What differentiates the School of Management from other B-schools?
At Munjal, students put to practice whatever is taught to them in class. The courses are a mix of creative and perspective thinking. Apart from the faculty, there are also professors from established companies and start-ups, and consultants from industry, who give students a different perspective on various issues. A strong emphasis is laid on the fundamentals. Students have access to Harvard Business Review case studies and other industry-specific knowledge.
How is the teaching methodology different? Do you follow the case-based pedagogy? Are you looking at newer methods of teaching?
Teachers try multiple methods but in the broad picture, everything is experiential learning as it is the best way to learn. The key is practical learning as that makes the difference. In the years to come, you will get an idea about what we do. Many teachers are coming up with new teaching methods but it’s too early to say what works and what doesn’t, and we do not want to make baseless claims.
How closely do you work with industry to develop your courses? What are the new courses launched by the school?
We work closely with 200 companies, where students from the university help them with projects. There is continuous engagement between the two sides. For all the courses, we have a person from an industry coming and teaching the students and they are also on our governing body.
Forensic account fraud management is a unique programme we’ve introduced. It provides students with the capability to examine risk. Not many universities have this programme.
How do you make students industry-ready?
The placement cell and faculty work closely with people from industry to understand how they can ready students for the future. The internships also prepare students for jobs. So, industry engagement is a continuous process.
How did the institute fare in its placements last year? What was the average compensation package?
There were 40 students in the last batch of management and nearly all of them were placed. Those who got placed are now working with companies such as KPMG, IBM, Fincorp and Hero. The average package that the students received was ₹6.75 lakh, which, for a three-year-old university, is not bad.