When Sri Krishna College of Engineering, School of Management was set up in 2001, the promoters’ intent was to focus on training people to become managers of dedication and competency.Fifteen years on, after taking stock of the education environment and from the feedback from industry experts and its own alumni, the management school is has started to initiate corrective steps to ensure that SKCET–SoM (Sri Krishna College of Engineering and Technology, School of Management) stands tall among Indian B-schools.
Excerpts from an interview with the Chief Executive of Krishna Group of Institutions, K Sundararaman
In your perception, why MBA at SKCETSoM?
The two-year full time autonomous programme designed by the SoM strives to meet the academic needs of various stakeholders by offering two domain specialisations, with five electives and domain-specific subjects.
The programme is recognised by AICTE and the curriculum carefully crafted to reflect the interdependency of various functional areas. The sprawling campus with a central library, an exclusive library for management students, conference hall, well-ventilated class rooms, canteen and shopping area is a mustsee delight. A visit to the campus will say it all.
What is taught in the 2year programme?
Basic management and functional subjects are taught in the first year of the programme. At the end of the first year, all students are required to undertake internship. This gives them an opportunity to understand the work environment. During the fourth and last semester of the course, students are required to work on live assignments at various organisations to sharpen their knowledge and skills. The effort is aimed at getting them industry ready.
What is your intake?
We started with a batch of 60 students, but have in the last three years doubled it to 120 seats in two batches of 60 each.
What are the placement opportunities?
The number of companies visiting the campus for placement has increased significantly from across industry verticals like FMCG, consulting, manufacturing, financial and so on. SKCET –SoM alumni have proved themselves in various organisations. Many of them have come back with greater requirements and this is both an opportunity for our students and a challenge for us to deliver the best talent with every passing year.
During the internship, the SKCETians get a chance to be evaluated by the companies and this has resulted in a number of job offers. The quality of roles offered in campus placements stands testimony to the quality of students from this institution. Every year, the students are being absorbed at different levels in the management cadre in various functional domains.
What are the efforts taken by you to make them industryready?
The summer internship of 4 to 6 weeks helps them get an industry perspective to the learning imbibed in the first year. In addition to this, we have preparatory programmes in the form of outbound training, industrial visit, field work, industryinstitute interaction like guest lectures, CEO connect and employment readiness programmes with different modules including aptitude and attitude building exercises.
Our alumni suggest that there should be more practical orientation than classroom learning and MBA should be taught as a management executive trainee programme with more activitybased learning concepts than subjectbased. And for this to happen, we have to understand industry-requirements.
We have, in the last four years, been getting training teams from the industry, who share their experience with the student community and the design is improving yearafteryear. The experience is still young, but lot more exciting...
How many eventually take up a job?
There is no dearth of placements, but about a fourth of the students prefer to join their parent’s company or start their own venture.