NMIMS, Mumbai
“Innovation is in the DNA of the institute,” says Rajan Saxena, Vice Provost - Management Education and Dean-School of Business Management at Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies. That is why NMIMS is different from other management schools. He gives the example of the first ever PGDM programme with a focus on international business which was launched in 1993. “This was subsequently followed by programmes in advertising and communication management, rural management and other sectoral programmes,” he adds.
After receiving Deemed to be University status in 2003, the institute has grown tremendously, and at present has 10 schools offering courses across various disciplines such as management, technology, science, pharmacy, law, business, economics, architecture and commerce at graduate, postgraduate and doctorate levels. “The programmes offered are a mix of core courses such as MBA and BTech and innovative industry-oriented courses like MBA Pharma Tech., MBA Pharmaceutical Management and MBA HR. The institute also has highly flexible distance learning programmes in which the emphasis is on self-paced learning,” informs Saxena.
NMIMS is one of India’s most respected private B-schools. It ranks among the top 10 business schools in India and boasts of over 12,000 students and 450 faculty members. For over three decades now the institute has been playing a pivotal role in the augmentation of corporate-management studies. It has also actively engaged with industry, alumni, global management schools, accreditation agencies, management consulting firms, forecasters etc., to bridge the gap between knowledge and application of knowledge.
Academics
At its commencement, NMIMS offered only two courses — Masters in Management Studies and Diploma Programmes in Management. Today it offers more than 130 programmes across various disciplines.
“Recognising the need of every industry in the market, we have innovated our programmes and now offer students a variety of options,” says Saxena adding that NMIMS is focusing on emerging needs of the country through programmes like, Entrepreneurship & Family Business, Intellectual Property, Sustainability Management Automation Technology, Artificial Intelligence, Stem Cell and Cancer Research, and, Urban Design and Town Planning.
Industry Tie-ups
“We strongly believe in experiential learning and have collaborated with the industry to make this learning process available to our students,” says Saxena. The institute conducts a programme called “We Care” which is a civic engagement internship project to socially sensitise MBA students. A total of 571 students were placed in 223 organisations across the country. Of these 16 were government organisations, 14 were private companies and the rest were NGOs. During the internship students undertook various projects such as animal rights, child welfare, community development, corporate social responsibility (CSR), work with differently-abled people, disaster management, environment management, health, livelihood support, micro finance, management of NGO/social enterprise, resource mobilisation, rural development, skill development, women’s empowerment and others.
This is just one example of the many student-centric initiatives by the institute.
Campus
The upward graph of the institute can be noticed not only by the increase in the student and faculty strength but by the sheer expansion undertaken by the management. From its temporary location at Bhaidas Auditorum in 1981, the institute has moved to a large complex of 40,000 sq feet at NMIMS Tower.
The Mumbai campus has 9 Schools and 1 Centre of Excellence, the IIPS. Each school operates like an independent business unit and has its separate infrastructure. The institute now has campuses across the country as well. NMIMS Bangalore, is located in the heart of the city at the 80ft Road. The campus at Shirpur is located in Dhule, Maharashtra, and one at Tarnaka, Secunderabad, Telangana. “We are looking at having campuses in Kharghar (Navi Mumbai), Indore (Madhya Pradesh) and another one at Chandigarh,” informs Saxena.
Saxena concludes that along with continuous innovation and industry academia partnership, “The institute will strive to provide the nation with good quality trained manpower that is socially sensitive, has an inquisitive mind and the persistence to change its own and the organisation’s lives and contribute to making India a knowledge super power and the world a better place to live.”
The author is a Mumbai-based education journalist
(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 14-12-2015)
