With 33 years of industry and academic experience, Dr. Asit K Barma is presently working as the Director of Bharathidasan Institute of Management, Tamil Nadu. An IIT Madras and IIM Ahmedabad alumnus, he has worked with Dr. A Parasuraman, the Guru of Services Marketing, to develop the first Index of Service Excellence in India (iSEI), in similar line with the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) and Service Excellence Index in Singapore (SEISg). He has also been instrumental in guiding and developing multiple national and international academic and industry bodies like FICCI-T.N. State Council, NASSCOM, and Society of Automotive Engineers in formulating many policy documents.

Bharathidasan Institute of Management

What are the key factors that keep you connected with the education sector? 

“Building an algorithmic pedagogy for changing business order”

I have always been fascinated by new technology, new applications, new business rules, the shift in consumers' choice, and the changing business order in the new normal. I enjoy applying these narratives to the course curriculum across specializations and build an algorithmic pedagogy that is agile enough to evolve with time, making it globally most contemporary. We have invested in a host of futuristic labs at BIM to prepare our students for the non-linear growth paradigm. This quest for new applications and innovations to prepare tomorrow’s professionals, more so in the pandemic era, keeps me moving.

What is your philosophy of leadership?

“Strong ethics, better understanding and persistent connection with stakeholders”

My idea of leadership is based on values, mutual respect, and the belief that everyone has immense potential to perform. A leader has to connect the dots and create the symphony, to sense and anticipate the changes outside and keep the organization always future-ready. I believe in leading by putting skin in the game and trampling any politicking trace, which is very common in any organization. I encourage my team always to stay focused on their respective scholarship, research, and institute-building agenda. Mediocracy has no room in my scheme of things. A leader should never get swayed by praise or criticism.

How do you strategize about the key program for the marketing of your Institute?

“Word-of-mouth and organic volunteering and achievements of members”

The Institute enjoys a great word-of-mouth advantage from its students, alumni, faculty, and staff, who are highly passionate about BIM and wears their pride on the sleeves. Our students are the main protagonists as they run all our campaigns that include websites, digital marketing, and other inbound marketing initiatives. Brand volunteering by our stakeholder community is the central piece of our marketing activities. Also, our students regularly winning in corporate competitions, BIM alumni making news in industry and society, or faculty members publishing a good paper significantly elevate our brand. 

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What can an inbound student gain from studying here in your Institute? 

“Holistic developmental approaches and unique course structure”

A big takeaway here is our pedagogical interventions like personality enhancement through sports, effective execution through clubs, and exploring how students here form a strong community with purpose. Inbound students can leverage the benefits of our experiential learning pedagogy complimented by our finance and marketing labs and center for operational excellence. Integration of SDG in our curriculum is unique at our Institute offering great takeaway to the inbound students. Our proposed international collaborations to introduce a dual degree program in the SDG space can be leveraged by international inbound students. 

How does the curriculum of BIM ensure the best practice of industry? 

“Industry and socially relevant research and innovative learning pedagogy”

We have applied the π shaped professional concept that captures what it takes to succeed in tomorrow’s business. BIM's new program architecture and carefully chosen network of its visiting and adjunct faculty with rich academic and practice backgrounds create a great learning experience. Our proposed Centre for Operational Excellence and Centre for Sustainability Development Goals of the UN makes education more practical and exciting for students. We have built a host of learning labs like Real-time Contextual Marketing Lab with proprietary and open-source tools, AI/ML Lab, and Finance Lab with Bloomberg and NSE terminal that complement world-class research, scholastic, and consulting experience in the most contemporary areas.

Any insights about any innovative pedagogy you use to teach?

“Grooming π shaped professional through innovative program architecture”

BIM is perhaps the first B School in the country to apply the concept of π shaped professional in developing its program architecture. The top horizontal bar denotes the core subjects, practice courses, and the programs to build the self, and practice values, besides being an outstanding generalist. The first vertical bar denotes the specialization courses BIM offers in five areas, viz, Marketing, Finance, HR, Operations, and Digital Business & Analytics. The second vertical bar represents a plethora of new-age courses across each specialization like Text Mining and Social Sentiment Analysis and MarTech in Marketing; Fintech and Blockchain in Finance; HR analytics in HR; Supply Chain and Logistics Analytics in Operations to impart skills in contemporary applications within traditional specializations. Our pedagogical interventions also include bleeding-edge labs that not many B Schools can claim to have in the country. The objective is to transform students into π-shaped professionals, ready to take on the new-age work front, riddled with uncertainties and opportunities. 

What do you see as BIM's greatest strengths? 

“Anchoring core values and holistic growth of students”

Being one of the oldest B Schools (founded in 1984), BIM always champions traditional human values. The same spirits continue to flow through its globally spread alumni, students, faculty, and staff.

Our unique program architecture helps in grooming ???? shaped Professionals who can influence the future.

Academic rigors in BIM are well established. Besides scholarship, BIM has a strong focus on impactful research and creation of knowledge capital with a strong practice orientation.

The unique integration of SDG with our program brings a host of new opportunities to our students who desire to get into consulting practice in the government and social sector.

Specific activities such as the Personal Growth Lab, Outbound Leadership Lab, Social Immersion Program, Corporate Immersion program, Effective Execution through Clubs, and Personality Enhancement through Sports provide holistic growth opportunities and help build character and strength of our students. This makes our students strong enough to successfully face any adverse and uncertain situation in life, contribute to teams, and build a strong personality.