Interview-Dr. Sanjiv Marwah Director at JK Business School, Gurgaon|Collegedunia

Interview by Yash Panchal

Dr. Sanjiv Marwah is Ph.D. in Customer Relationship Management. He is an expert in the area of Strategic Management. He has published two-course books: Research Methodology and Project Management. He has more than two decades of experience in Industry, academics and administration of academic institutions. Academic Leadership as Director at MM University, Mullana, Era Business School and now at JK Business School. As Founder Dean of School of Management and allied departments at MM University, he expanded undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral level programmes.

He has been a Professor and Head of Marketing at Apeejay School of Management while spearheading the CRC which was developed and nurtured as a Business School Innovation. Chaired the Centre for Entrepreneurship and management development under AICTE grant. Management Trainee till Regional Head from DCM to Onida writing success stories in the corporate sector in India before leading to academic life at the age of 32 after 10 eventful years.

Dr. Marwah on what it takes to be ranked amongst the Top 100 institutes in India

A top-rated institute would reflect:

Strong Industry Connect
Industry oriented course curriculum
Value-added study programmes

Most of the renowned ranking bodies in India have a similar set of parameters to rank the institutions and the focus is on Delivery (Course Curriculum & Pedagogy) and the Outcome (Placement and Industry exposure) of the programmes offered at these institutions.

Ensuring the best practices of the industry through an updated curriculum

The involvement of industry experts directly in the planning and strategizing for the institution’s curriculum and various academic & non-academic areas is a prerequisite to be ranked amongst top 100 institutions in India.

The curriculum should reflect the adoption of latest practices and technology advancements, with a student focussed learning pedagogy, resulting in better placement opportunities across domains. Discussing & designing the latest trends and conceptualizing new practices with the subject matter experts and Industry leaders should be a regular affair.

Organising several outcome-based Industry-Institute partnership programmes, conferences and workshops to understand the Industry requirement and bridge the industry-institute gap should be a mandate. Inviting Alumni and Industry leaders on the board of studies across departments to formulate the annual curriculum of various courses would help introduce industry relevant curriculum.

Business Analytics, Digital Marketing Analytics, and Supply Chain Analytics are the latest addition to our course curriculum and are being received very well in the Industry.

The concept of the value-added programmes and its role in helping in Industry orientation

The Value-added programmes are the need of the hour. Offering professional and application based courses equip the young minds to curate and build necessary skills that make them corporate ready. We at JK Business School, have introduced several VAC like ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants), CAPSTONE (Business simulation programme), IIM Bangalore foundation certification programme, Live projects with the Industry and several other certification programmes that allows our students to stand out from any other management graduate.

These professional and industry oriented courses allow the students to keep up with the latest industry trends and requirements.

Dr. Marwah on whether it is required to be linked with a corporate giant/ big corporate house to have profound industry linkages

Sharing the link with a big corporate house may certainly help but to an extent, however, creating new Industry links and continuously scoping out new avenues can never be overlooked. The focus of any reputed B-school would always be to promote the diversity across domains, job profiles and industry to get their students placed.

Despite leveraging the legacy of J.K. Organization; the promoter of JK Business School, our focus had always been into placing our students with other Top Brands, Multinational companies, promising start-ups and even encouraging the entrepreneur in our students.

A rewarding experience in the education industry

Education isn’t an industry. It is a noble profession which gives you the satisfaction of giving back to the society. The joy of giving gets reflected in everyday life at the campus which is most rewarding. The students give you respect for every advice and contribution you make to their life.

Participative leadership style

In academics, the leadership style is participative in nature. The decision making is mostly done in team meetings. Meetings are regular in nature and expectedly all participants are mature in nature to put forth their view and let the overwhelming thought process take its course.

Challenges for the Director at JK Business School

The Director’s role is challenging as being Head of the institution involves ownership of all decisions taken under your leadership. The challenges from the external environment include regulator compliances, ranking reviews, media coverages, besides managing the relationship with industry for management development programmes, consultancy assignments, and live projects. Internally, the relationship paradigm is from Governing board, faculty colleagues to the last staff member who contributes to the institutional building.

Open door policy for the students

We have an open door policy in the office of Dean, Registrar, and Director and all three of them are always accessible. This residential campus is managed largely by student committees and general administration is minimal in nature.

There are different WhatsApp groups comprising of student representatives where Dean/Registrar or Director or their nominee are present to support student expectations. There are Open house sessions referred to as Townhall meetings where I am always present.

Future plans for JK Business School

We are progressively working towards improving our Industry alignment, and continuously improving to cater to the evolving industry requirements. We strive to be the platform for nurturing future leaders and social influencers and become a premier business school which is recognized globally for its excellence in academics, research, inter-cultural solidarity and its valuable contributions to the industry, society, and students.

The institute is now turning completely residential with all students staying on the campus under the academic supervision of faculty most of which are from top business schools like IIMs. We are already touching and celebrating the milestones!