Mr. Abhijit Malakar has been working as a Professor of Swami Vivekananda Institute of Management and Computer Science, Kolkata, West Bengal. He delivers education to aspiring management professionals in the areas of Marketing Management, Strategic Management, General Management and Research. He has an amazing 9+ years of academic experience and 20+ years of industrial experience where he has worked as a Chief Global Officer, Chief Marketing Officer, Chief Mentor, Global Marketing General Manager, Manager, Associate Manager, Consultant, Senior Consultant and Marketing Executive in different domains like Software/ IT, Computer Science, Telecom, Retail, Media Advertising, Digital Marketing, Entrepreneurship and E-Commerce etc. As part of his academics, he has done B. Com (Hons.) from Heramba Chandra College (University of Calcutta) in Commerce, M. Com from Vidyasagar University in Accounting & Finance, PGACS from CMC Ltd., Kolkata in Computer Science, PGDBA from Graduate School of Business Administration, Ghaziabad in Marketing & Information Technology, MBA from IISWBM, Kolkata (University of Calcutta) in Marketing and Finance. He has sound knowledge of subjects like Business Administration, Marketing & Analytics, HRM & IB, Entrepreneurship, Digital Marketing, Retail, CRM & SCM and E-Business. Before Joining Swami Vivekananda Institute, he has worked in different reputed institutions as Full time Assistant Professor, Lecturer, Visiting Faculty, Consultant and as a Subject & Project Guide. He is also an Annual Member of Calcutta Management Association, All India Management Association and Sri Aurobindo Institute of Culture. He is proficient in using MS-Word, MS-Excel, MS-Powerpoint, G-Suite Applications, Trello, SaaS & SF CRM, Manymoon , Retail Business Intelligence & Business Analytics. He has received 20+ awards for his exemplary work in the corporate and education sector.

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Being a dignitary of the Swami Vivekananda Institute, what are your responsibilities towards the students?

"Teaching students, organizing relevant events and training programs for them is my responsibility"

The teaching-learning has to be a continuous process for a faculty member for their own as well as their students' growth and development. And being a Professor, I am responsible to complete the assigned duties on time and also to organize presentation, seminar, GD-PI and all other associated training to help students be an eligible management professional with job readiness. Strengthen students' subject knowledge, provide them required study material, address students academic needs, clarify their doubts, and help them to solve the cases also comes under the scope of my responsibilities. Last but not the least, I need to coordinate with the students to help them understand their learning objectives and handhold them to resolve their queries/ issues/ learning obstacles while assuring them to regain confidence by delivering finest quality knowledge.

How do you establish healthy relations with the students and fellow faculty? 

"By working as a team with fellow faculties and addressing and resolving students doubts on time"

I firmly believe that coordination and cooperation are two very important and effective techniques to ensure a cordial relationship with everyone. Hence I work as a team with my fellow faculties to stay in sync with each other's work and issues. And when it comes to my dear students, I ensure that I remain easily accessible to them and whenever they need my help, support and guidance to clarify their doubts I am there. And this is how I establish good relationships with them.

How do you bring in a practical and industry oriented approach towards subjects?

"We use an amalgamation of different teaching pedagogies and regularly conduct expert sessions"

My 21 years of industry experience has helped me to gain significant insights on how theoretical concepts are applied to figure out solutions to actual issues in the industry. And to enforce the practical and industry oriented approach towards subjects, we use blended methods to educate students and also organize interactive talk sessions and live video classes. This ultimately helps them to relate their classroom concepts with industry practices. And by working as a Lead in numerous cross-functional teams and across various domains, I have gained deep knowledge of how Management Principles works in the industrial world. 

How do you strategize and update the curriculum to make it more befitting for the students?

"By regularly updating our skills and subject knowledge so that industry expectations could be analyzed"

The curriculum of the UG and PG Management courses is well structured and well developed by the MAKAUT. Also, the topics covered in the chapters are reviewed in frequent intervals to ensure its relevance in the modern context and accordingly the latest topics are included thereon. And as a faculty member, we keep ourselves updated with the latest updates and trends of the industrial and academic sector for the continuous research and knowledge enhancement. Lastly, to meet the expectations of our students, I try to logically divide the total number of classes allocated on the subject (based on the credits) in the chapters/ modules/ topics to be covered as required.

How do you prepare your students to deal with the outside competitive world?

"By organizing interactive learning sessions, mock interviews and GD"

I prefer taking interactive sessions for the purpose of providing students with deep insights about the latest technologies and industrial development and requirements through relevant examples. And after these sessions, our students feel much more confident and start engaging themselves in individual and team based activities. In addition to this, we regularly organize special guidance sessions, mock interviews for GD-PI sessions to make students more competent and job ready.

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Which extracurricular activities are organized by your college to enhance the skills of students?

"We regularly organize management games, extempore and presentations"

Our college understands the fact that co-curricular activities are very important along with academics. So we regularly engage our students in multiple real-time activities using both verbal and non-verbal communication methods, audio-visuals, live classes, extempore, case studies, management games and presentations etc. to break the communication barriers and also to make them more confident. These simple approaches help our students to confidently face real world challenges and develop the capability of critical-thinking and problem-solving in themselves.

When you joined this college, what was your vision for it and how are you trying to achieve the same? 

"Becoming an expert of my own subjects was my objective"

When I joined the Swami Vivekananda Institute of Management and Computer Science, my vision was to be one of the best faculties of my own subjects. Therefore, I am continuously upgrading myself with advanced learning opportunities and engaging in research activities so that I can pursue my Doctorate in Management. 

How does the curriculum of your college ensure the best practices of industry?

"It is developed after rigorous analysis of industrial requirements hence include best practices"

We design and regularly update the curriculum of our college by carefully analyzing the industrial trends and making necessary changes in our curriculum by including new courses or training programs for enhanced industrial exposure. As our main aim is to inculcate best career and life skills and hence for the same purpose I had recently developed a CLS short Module which was forwarded to HR for evaluation. And we also educate our students about Project Management, Digital Marketing, Entrepreneurship skills and Finance Management through our value added courses to make students corporate and society ready. 

How does your college enhance the faculties skills and prepare them as per industry standards?

"They are upskilled through FDPs, MDPs, seminars, conferences and industry interaction sessions"

The faculty members of our college are trained and upskilled on latest technologies through Faculty Development Programs, Management Development Programs, seminars, conferences and exhibitions. Also, in-house training and guest lectures are regularly organized by our institute in collaboration with different Industry Professionals, Entrepreneurs, Mentors, Faculties from other colleges by inviting them as guest speakers to have a cross-exchange of knowledge and ideas to create an innovative learning ecosystem. Lastly, Faculties are involved in the designing of course curriculum, publishing of research papers, delivering presentations, and networking with amazing minds of their respective fields which in turn helps them to upgrade their knowledge and become subject matter experts. 

Kindly provide some insight about your educational background?

"My educational journey so far has been wonderful and I have done HRM, MBA and M. Com"

I did my MBA from IISWBM (CU), which is positioned as India’s first B-School, M. Com from Vidyasagar University and HRM from Mizoram Central University. While IISWBM and Vidyasagar University are representative of heritage, culture and tradition in academia, MZU is following a modern approach and ICT learning techniques with advanced teaching aids. Also my educational journey has been amazing so far.

What are the biggest challenges you see for higher education in general and for your Swami Vivekananda Institute specifically?

"Inculcating NEP 2020 in our curriculum and upgrading Faculties skills accordingly is a hurdle for us"

With the introduction of National Education Policy 2020, advancements have been proposed in the educational practices and pedagogical structure which will definitely change the dimensions of learning. And more flexibility is provided for higher education both by AICTE as well as UGC and this will ultimately bring different changes in the upcoming years. One such discussion is a 4 year Graduation Degree in all disciplines. So keeping all these in mind, our faculties need to develop new skills, upgrade the existing ones, focus on research and development activities for continuous innovation and be flexible with changing teaching techniques. So this is a challenge for us in general and for other institutions as well. 

What are some of the greatest strengths of your college?

"Our amazing working-learning environment and supportive management makes us strong"

The greatest pillars of our college strength is definitely our open working-learning culture and flexible and supportive management. Everyone works as a team here to accomplish the shared goals and empower each other to ensure we all grow while educating the students, so this I firmly believe is another pillar that makes us strong. 

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Any suggestions which you would like to give to the current youth and aspiring students?

"Be a good human being and a responsible citizen of your nation"

I would like to suggest to my dear students to stay updated with the latest happenings of the outside world, and be a well-educated and responsible citizen. Also, utilize your skills and experience to help industry grow in whatever capacity you can. Lastly, be a good human being and contribute to the growth of society.