Paths to excellence

The Centre for Development of Advanced Computing. -

Pune's world class institutes offer education in newly emerging fields, turning out professionals who are dedicated and innovative.

EDUCATION today is not just about classrooms, academic schedules and theories. It is about acquiring the knowledge and skills that allow the pursuit of careers which, in turn, lead to rewarding lives. In a situation where changes take place rapidly, it also means imparting education of high standards in a competitive orbit and striding ahead with the kind of flexibility that ushers in foreign modules. This is the driving principle of Training and Advanced Studies in Management and Communications Ltd. (TASMAC), the only institution in the country to be recognised by the British Accreditation Council for Independent Further and Higher Education, United Kingdom. TASMAC has made available to students in India programmes of one of the biggest and best universities in the U.K., at fees that are comparable with any good Indian management school. Giri Dua, chairman of TASMAC, says: "Students today don't have to spend 20,000 pounds to gain an MBA [Master of Business Administration] degree in the U.K. They can do it at only 3,000 in India."

Further, having realised the importance of correct processes and systems within the organisation, TASMAC went in for ISO 9000: 2001 certification and it can now lay claim to being the first management institute in the country to do so. "We also realised that there is very little research carried out in Indian business schools and to achieve this we bring out our own journal called the TASMAC Management Review to contribute to management thinking," Dua said, TASMAC's emphasis on giving admissions to those with prior work experience is explained by Dua as "a factor that facilitates the learning process". "Participants become more focussed and serious about the entire exercise. The ambience thus created instils a feeling of a mini-corporate house in the institute. Experienced participants can handle roles without much hand-holding or mentoring. They are also clearer on the specific expectations from any organisation and have a good combination of not being raw and yet being fresh from the campus. They usher in diversity of thought and bring benchmarks from different institutes."

On the direction of management education in the country, Dua said: "There are some very good, high-quality management schools in the country and these can be compared to the best in the world. Having said that, there are some not-so-good management schools as well. I know of institutes and universities that have not changed their programme content for over five to ten years and have been running the same programme batch after batch. A management programme should be dynamic and changes should take place at least once every year, if not more often." TASMAC has now launched its third full-fledged campus in Kolkata and is also actively looking at a possible presence in Mumbai. There is also a plan to start postgraduate programmes in advertising, public relations and journalism at all its campuses.

The Indian Institute of Modern Management (IIMM) has carved a niche for itself through three `D's - discipline, dedication and determination - that act as commandments to its student fraternity. What makes the IIMM's credibility remarkable is that although it was established as recently as 1999, it is being counted among the top-ranking B-schools of the country. This achievement is no doubt due to the vision and planning of Professor (Colonel.) A. Balasubramanian, president of Sri Balaji Society, who is directly responsible for the functioning of the IIMM and its sister institutions such as the Indian Centre for Telecom and Management, the Indian Centre for International Business, the Indian Centre for Management and HRD and the Indian Centre for Media Communications. One of the USPs of these institutes is that every fresh student undergoes a 10-day induction programme that provides a curtain-raiser to the challenging days ahead.

"Any industry expects its management executives to be prepared for long hours of work and be resourceful. Through various activities, the IIMM prepares students for this. At least 100 workshops, management games and training programmes are organised in a year to help the student develop the killer instinct and adopt the right attitude. These exercises, which stimulate the mental faculties, propel them to develop into adaptable and creative managers," Balasubramanian says.

Placements are equally important. "Over 200 companies, many of them leading ones in different spheres of the corporate world, have recruited students from this campus and are very satisfied. The IIMM is a treasure-chest of future leaders." The institute is spread over 20 acres of land with Internet facilities and other infrastructure.

WHILE one talks about sunrise industries such as insurance, biotechnology and of course IT, it comes as a surprise to find that the sugar industry merits as much attention. One institute that has played a prime role in the research and development of sugar and sugarcane is the Vasantdada Sugar Institute (VSI) headed by its director-general V.P. Rane. "The R&D in the production of sugarcane and sugar in our country is a difficult proposition because sugarcane is cultivated here in a wide variety of soil and under different climatic conditions. Hence, problems of seed, agronomical practices, quality of sugarcane and its processing vary from place to place. A key need of the industry would be the reliable and continuous supply of cane of good quality and reduction in the processing costs," he says. The VSI's research and development programme aims at assessing and meeting the current as well as future needs of the sugar industry.

The VSI's ability to provide intellectual inputs and technical back-up along with a multitude of short-term and long-term academic programmes has won for it the confidence of sugarcane growers and sugar mills within the country. The institute has now embarked on what it terms as ORP (Operational Research Programme) and other user-friendly training packages. These programmes aim to identify and appreciate the problems at the local level, tackle them successfully at the central level and establish a strong link between the users and the institute. An advantage of this approach is that it brings about significant integration and coordination between the farm and factory technologists. The VSI has also undertaken an ambitious programme to develop sugarcane seeds. During 2002-03, it supplied 43 lakh, three-eye-budded good quality sets of different sugarcane varieties to the sugar industry in Maharashtra. The supply of tissue cultured plantlets and production of biofertilizers are its other achievements in recent times.

POULTRY management has emerged as another significant sector. Catering to the demand of this industry's manpower needs is the Dr. B.V. Rao Institute of Poultry Management and Technology, located close to Pune. Dr. B.V. Rao, often referred to as the "father of the Indian poultry industry" established this institute in 1985 as a service extension of Venkateshwara Hatcheries Limited. Following his death in 1996, his daughter Anuradha Rao has been running the Institute. Over the years, the institute has grown into a full-fledged, specialist body meeting the needs of poultry farmers and poultry professionals. The institute is able to generate its own resources by tapping the commercial potentials of its training, education and research and development facilities. Dr. N.K. Praharaj, formerly a Senior Scientist at the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, is the Director of the institute. Originally trained as a veterinarian, he holds a doctorate in genetics from Virgina Tech (United States).

The institute provides hands-on job training at different levels, with courses lasting from two to 48 weeks. The primary objective is to train people who will ultimately become poultry farmers, supervisors or consultants. Praharaj said: "Classroom time is limited to two hours a day with the remainder spent working in the poultry houses. The farm has both broilers and layers in close proximity. This breaks one of the important rules in farm management but then to every rule there is an exception." The institute has a full-service veterinary laboratory nearby, which makes it possible to hold short courses in poultry disease diagnosis and laboratory work. It has a feed mill on site and can offer feed formulation and analysis training. The institute has been providing training to government officials and to people drawn from the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations and delegates from Bangladesh, Vietnam, Malaysia, Nepal and countries in Africa and West Asia.

IN the IT hub that Pune now is, the Advanced Computing Training School (ACTS) of the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) holds a prime position. It was established in March 1988 as a scientific society of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Government of India. C-DAC is an R&D (research and development) institution of national and international repute, involved in the design, development and deployment of electronics and advanced information technology products and solutions. It works in advanced areas of electronics and IT. Among the technologies that C-DAC has dealt with are: high-performance computing, including scientific modelling and visualisation, multilingual computing, applied artificial intelligence and speech processing, open source software (Linux), multimedia, graphics and database technologies, strategic and power electronics with agri-electronics, real time systems, embedded systems and VLSI design, health informatics, geomatics, cyber security, digital/broadband and wireless networks, e-governance and ICT for digital divide.

Sharad Purohit, director of C-DAC, said: "The ACTS plays a key role in the education and training programmes of the organisation. The courses are designed to build and mobilise skilled human resource to serve the needs of the IT sector and its in-house requirement of diverse development projects." The programmes offered by C-DAC include postgraduate and advanced diploma programmes in advanced computing, embedded systems design, geo-informatics, emerging information technologies, computer arts and so on. ACTS has recently announced the launch of a new course on wireless and mobile computing, taking into account the exponential growth in mobile and wireless technology in recent years and the demand for specialised manpower in the mobile and wireless industry. This is the first course in the country to offer such an exceptional training module.

Few institutes of management education have been set up with the express purpose of catering to the needs of the economically weaker sections of society. The Maharashtra Cosmopolitan Education Society's Allana Institute of Management Sciences (AIMS) is one such institute. It was established in 1998 and is governed by its chairperson Abeda Inamdar and director Dr. E.B. Khedkar. The AIMS has the approval of the Government of Maharashtra and the All India Council for Technical Education, New Delhi, and is also affiliated to the University of Pune.

Situated in the heart of Pune, it is located on the sprawling 24-acre Azam campus, known for providing good quality education. The Azam campus is home to 24 institutions fulfilling the academic needs of over 15,000 students. There are, for instance, professional institutions on law, pharmacy, medicine, management and dental sciences.

Speaking about the role and responsibility of the AIMS, Abeda Inamdar said "it was committed to equip future managers with determination, judgment and integrity in increasingly responsible positions of leadership in today's complex global business environment". Khedkar said the institute's objective was to mould managers who would serve their companies, society, humanity and the nation with dedication and total commitment. The infrastructural facilities on the Azam campus owe their existence to the generosity of the late Hussain Allana and the Allana Trust of the Allanasons Group. The institute has formulated its plans under the guidance of P.A. Inamdar, president of the Maharashtra Cosmopolitan Education Society. It offers full-time postgraduate courses in business administration, computer management and computer application. The MBA programme offers specialisation in the areas of marketing, finance, IT, production, and materials and human resource management. In the academic year 2004-05, the AIMS obtained an A grade in a survey business school conducted by Business India.

MANAGEMENT education is not without problems. Prof. M.S. Pillai, founder-director of the Sadhana Centre for Management & Leadership Development (SCMLD), said: "Other than a few institutions, management education is turning out to be a placement-centric qualification. I believe that placement must happen. But it must be an assured outcome of one's learning and competencies transferable to the professional work. It requires depth of understanding, applied insights, holistic view, authenticity in all actions, skills, capabilities, discipline and sensitivity to social, economic and ecological environment. I think that management educationists must seriously aim at inculcating these values in students."

The unique aspect of the SCMLD is that it is promoted by ex-students to carry on with the task of moulding leaders. Explaining the role of management education, Prof. Pillai said: "An MBA has become a rewarding career option for thousands of youngsters and has given them an alternative to the streams of engineering, medical and civil services. On the employment side, management education has opened up new vistas for enterprising young people. It has also accelerated economic prosperity, even with the present placement-centric approach. In this, it is the more dynamic autonomous programmes that have became more innovative and effective in meeting the market demand for professional talents." Prof. Pillai believes that management education should be privatised with regulations and audit checks to prevent frauds.

The International School of Business & Media (ISBM) is another important player in the field of management and media education, well on its way to the top in just five years. It is headed by Pramod Kumar, who has brought to ISBM his priceless experience from the hallowed precincts of IIT-Mumbai, IIM-Ahmedabad, XLRI-Jameshedpur and Symbiosis Institute of Business Management-Pune. The institute's management programme promotes innovative and independent thinking among students with a mix of theoretical, research and practical inputs. "Along with projects and theory classes, there are activities to help students develop skills in the areas of interpersonal communication, planning, negotiation, analysis, strategy formulation and implementation of leadership abilities," said Pramod Kumar. Besides marketing, finance, systems, HRD and industrial relations, ISBM also offers specialisation in retail, insurance, risk management and supply chain and operations management.

On the media front, the ISBM is aware that the media industry in India is on a growth path like never before. "As this sector gains better organisation, it requires specialised managers to run the various industries within its ambit. Media management professionals need to be dedicated and innovative. The niche and highly demanding profession requires an inquisitive mind, a capacity to read audiences, work unearthly hours and enjoy the process of creativity," Pramod Kumar said. The ISBM offers training in the fields of advertising, public relations, event management, direct mail, web marketing, corporate communications, TV production, programming, journalism (print, broadcast and Internet). "We train our students to perform under great pressure with a sense of responsibility. We nurture corporate ethics and essential attributes to meet the current expectations of the industry," Pramod Kumar said.