Interview: Dr. Urvashi Makkar, Director General of GLBIMR|Collegedunia

Interview by Sakshi Aggarwal

Dr. Urvashi Makkar, Director General, GLBIMR

Dr. Urvashi Makkar is a seasoned academician with a knack of entrepreneurial spirit and persistent passion for continuous learning. With a varied experience of 21 years in academics, research, training & consultancy, her continuous perseverance in improving Academic Quality and Research Orientation, Building Global Interface, Developing Entrepreneurial Culture, Improving Corporate Linkage and Creating Performance Oriented Work Culture has facilitated GLBIMR in reinventing Management Education. During her current affiliation with GLBIMR since March, 2016, she has been associated actively with Institution Building, Academic Administration, Training, Research, Consultancy and International Collaborations. An excellent orator and an insightful leader, Dr. Makkar’s forte is her illustrious academic background, immense subject knowledge, continuous innovative and creative working style and her strong social network. Her contribution in Education is remarkable and commendable.

Induction of new students in GLBIMR

As Aristotle said “Well begun is half done”, we at GLBIMR believe that, the right beginning brings the desired results. On these words, with the commencement of our new batch; we had organized five days extensive Induction Program on the theme –‘Corporate Expectations & Insights for Aspiring Managers”. As the theme suggests, the purpose of the program was to stimulate the new students concerning the corporate outlook, so that they should start working towards the same from the very first day of their program. The event was graced by several eminent speakers from the various domains like Marketing, HR, Recruitment, Sales, Finance, International Business and more. They shared their valuable insights with self experiences.

Apart from knowledge sharing sessions, the program included a variety of activities such as management games & cognitive skill enhancement sessions including Team-Building Activities and Workshops. An Alumni Interactive Session was also held so that the new students can interact with their seniors to promote a strong culture of networking and relationship building. The induction program was designed for giving students a holistic perspective of their coming years focusing on not just career but also on their employability skills for various roles and responsibilities. The core focus of Institute, ‘Achieving academic excellence integrated with skill enhancement’ was conveyed to students in an enriching way in the induction. The induction program showcases the future goals of GLBIMR and the roadmap to achieve it and so we ensure that we deliver our best to our students in the form of learning as soon as they enter the institute.

Non-academic support services at GLBIMR

We at GLBIMR, ensure that we are not just restricted to classroom teaching, but look for overall development of students. We have a unique and innovative approach to management education that focuses on providing right knowledge, imparting the right skills for enduring success in management career and shaping the right character. Not only providing education, but the impetus here, is on skill enhancement, employability & corporate readiness by recognizing the industry needs and integrating knowledge with professional inputs.

Apart from the classroom learning students get adequate exposure through Live Projects, Corporate Interface, Industrial visits, Dissertation, Summer Trainings etc. Students needs to be encouraged to participate in relevant seminars & conferences so that they can start networking and grow into a complete professional who will be market leaders of tomorrow. Students should be armed enough to face the challenges, Education devoid of practical exposure is not enough. The rich and unique learning environment, if given, develops the students, physically and intellectually. The institutes need to ensure a futuristic approach that keeps pace with the changing trends in the professional world through our global perspective.

Planning of GLBIMR for further expansion in terms of placement drive, international projects and seminars

Quality of Placements in a Management Institute is one of the major benchmarks of the success, as it defines the ultimate objective and commitment towards students. Placements of students of GLBIMR have been 100% since inception. This year, GLBIMR has been conferred with highly prestigious award of “Best Management Institute in Placements” by ABP News Network, in July 2017, in Mumbai, during ‘The 8^th National Education Awards 2017’. GLBIMR has to its credits many such prestigious awards for its excellent placements, these awards are, well researched, chosen by a panel of jury and professionals, who believes in nurturing talent and in recognizing the outstanding management institutes. The awards are testimony of exemplary efforts in the field of placemen drive by the institute.

GLBIMR has been very serious about placements as it is the sole criteria of student performance and meeting up their expectations. Placements have been an uncompromising field for the institute and so lot many prior preparations for placements and during the placements are done. The Corporate Resource Center (CRC) – at GLBIMR looks after employment possibilities of students in business, trade and service organizations. It is round the year activity and not just confined to summer training projects and job placement. The center maintains strong database of potential recruiters, maintains continuous liasioning with them, and assess trends in their requirement, which helps CRC to prepare the prospective managers on these lines. CRC acts as viaduct between the students, faculty and the corporate world to initiate continuous interaction with the industry, sharing industry experiences, and understanding the needs of the corporate world.

Nurturing Corporate ready professionals is the main focus at GLBIMR, for that we do a lot of research work, our team conducts delve into details after every placement drive, to make sure next year’s placements are better than the previous ones. This year based on the findings, the following new initiatives were taken by GLBIMR to enhance placement readiness of students-

Skill Enhancement Program: Inclusion of new course -Soft Skill Program (SSP)- To provide soft skills, which will develop holistic personality of the students and nurture them to operate & manage in a global, multi-dimensional & cosmopolitan environment.
Changes made in Pedagogy:Team Presentations and Group Discussions have been made compulsory components in all subjects to make sure the students are prepared for the interviews.
Introduction of Value Added Certification Courses:

In addition to academic curriculum, following three certifications by Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises -Government Ministry (MSME) have been introduced to improve domain knowledge:

Digital Marketing Certification
Yellow Belt Six Sigma Certification
Financial Services Certification

Besides these two certifications have been introduced to give Support in Career Guidance using external professional trainers:

Professional Excellence for Corporate Readiness Certification (PECR)
Placement Readiness Enhancement Program (PREP) - (Scheduled during Nov, 2017)

Introduction of Employability Enhancement Programs: GLBIMR has introduced multiple workshops and expert sessions for the students:

Sensitization workshops for Summer Internship Program & Final Placements
Group Discussion Skill Enhancement Workshops
Public Speaking Workshops
Mock Interview Sessions

We also offer distinctive Corporate Mentorship Program, in which each student is allotted a corporate mentor and faculty mentor. All the mentors polish the student on both academic and industry front and prepare them to go well with the industry requirements. This program aims at grooming the students, refining their communication and behavioral skills and thereby making them fit for the industry. GLBIMR does not just provide placements, but our task is to shape the career of our students, which is much more important, than granting them a job.

Teaching staff of GLBIMR

“Currently, we have best of the intellectual assets, from across the Academia & Industry associated with us, as either full-time faculty, or adjunct faculty. We also have association with few very eminent & renowned global experts as our International adjunct faculty members like Mr. Ashish Patel, Managing Director, Morgan Franklin Consulting, USA, Dr. Djamchid Assadi, Professor, and Burgundy College of Business, France, Mr. Hashan Haputhanthri, Head TVSL, Srilanka and more. The core faculty at GLBIMR is one strong team of highly skilled & learned professionals.

We have with us a blend of seasoned academicians, mostly doctorate and rich experienced corporate leaders. The pedagogy is designed in a manner to prepare the students from the classroom to corporate.” As faculty is the backbone of any academic institution, GLBIMR continuously strives hard towards its faculty development programs. The purposes of FDP’s are, to embellish teaching skills of faculty as well as motivate and encourage them to deliver their best. They are being trained on latest research methods and techniques so as to support them in their research endeavours which are the core value of GLBIMR to develop itself as a research-centric institute. The teaching staff is timely updated with new techniques and methods.

We have also initiated Participative Learning Program (PLP) in our campus so that all Faculty Members can learn from each other and add value to the knowledge base of every one. In this program, one faculty member gives a talk on area of his/her choice in the respective subject domain to the other faculty members. Faculty members discuss some new emerging trend/innovation in their subject domain acting as a great shared learning experience with an interdisciplinary approach.

Know more about the faculty at GLBIMR here.

Relationship with the alumni

GLBIMR takes all the initiative to always be in touch with their international alumni as alumni are the base and strong network point of any institution. They act as the foundation of the place and to us they are the most precious flowers of our garden.

To take a walk through the corridors of nostalgia, GLBIMR organizes Annual Alumni Meet Deja' Vu each year, wherein “Eminent Alumni Awards” are conferred to alumni for their outstanding professional achievements and for bringing honor to GLBIMR. GLBIMR tries to be in constant touch with the alumni members working overseas, we have lot of webinars & skype sessions with our alumni, not only to keep them updated about the institute, but also to seek their support in placements, corporate interface series, global talk series etc.

Steps taken to maintain the positive environment in GLBIMR

We have students from multiple states & stature at GLBIMR, the only criteria & religion we follow here is “academic Excellence”. Creating and cultivating an organizational culture that actually honors and capitalizes upon the strengths of all its stakeholders is no small task. Our institute has no barriers for students, seeking education.

Measures taken by GLBIMR to ensure the process of internships

Summer Internship Program (SIP) is an integral part of the course curriculum for the students of PGDM at GLBIMR. It provides an exposure to the students on real life organizational challenges and an opportunity to work on them intensively. It also helps them understand the organizational structure and processes in the practical setting. Every student has to undertake Summer Internship. This Internship has been designed to give the student a full-time exposure to the corporate world, to enable the student develop orientation to real life situations in industry.

This internship is offered in organizations of repute with specific focus in areas of specialization of the student. They get to apply concepts and theory learnt in the classroom on real life problems. The duration of the internship is of 6-8 weeks. The Faculty Mentor keeps a close liaison with Industry Mentor about the student, throughout this period.The students have done their training in companies like Tommy Hilfiger, Arvind Fashion Pvt. Ltd., Aditya Birla Group, Bisleri International Pvt. Ltd., Radisson Blu, IDBI Federal Life Insurance Co. Ltd., Outlook Group, Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd., BPCL, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Ltd., Tech Mahindra Ltd., L& T Finance Ltd., Voltas, HCL, PepsiCo and many more.This corporate interface helps them in shaping up their thought process; they gain hands-on experience in the application of core concepts and functional skills and also understand the challenges and practicality of business world. This practice of ‘Learning by Doing’ helps the students to relate the pedagogy of theory in the world of business.

Events organized by GLBIMR

The most significant of all events is the International Conference which has been organized by GLBIMR for consecutive two years. GLBIMR recently organized 2nd International Conference, (ICASSA2k17) on "Achieving Sustainable Strategic Advantage” (ICASSA-2k17), in Sept 2017 under the insightful guidance of Mr. Pankaj Agrawal, Vice Chairman, GL Bajaj Educational Institutions and cultivated acumen of Dr. Urvashi Makkar, Director General, GLBIMR. It was a moment of immense pride and honor for the GLBIMR family when the esteemed personalities envisioned their academic pursuits taking place in a mega event. The Conference witnessed presence of renowned experts from corporate & academia and more than 100 research papers were presented in the technical sessions which brought together academicians, researchers, practitioners and research students from around the world to discuss how to achieve that balance between strategic innovations & sustainability of organizations. The Conference Proceedings of ICASSA2k17 was released on this occasion, which has rich collection of 106 abstracts, from divergent set of academicians, professionals, research scholars and subject experts. The elite event was supported by Business World, Dialogue India, the Education Post, and Organic India.

GLBIMR also successfully organized "HR Conclave 2017 - Leveraging HR for creating Competitive Edge", in August, 2017. This Conclave which was a huge success was attended by around 400 people from HR & Media Fraternity, Corporates, Academics, Students, Faculty & Staff members of GLBIMR.

Previously also G L Bajaj Institute of Management & Research (GLBIMR) & Delhi Management Association (DMA) jointly organized a National Conference on “PLOT- Potential Leaders of Tomorrow” in January 2017. It was attended by the elite learners from corporate and academics alike.

We also conduct Corporate Interface Series (CIS) from time to time for students. CIS is a strategic approach by GLBIMR under the able leadership of Dr. Urvashi Makkar, Director General, GLBIMR; which provides holistic development of the students, making them better aware about the economical, political, social & academic trends.
We also organized a Global Talk Series initiative on Strategic Management. Global Talk Series is a unique learning platform, During Global Talk Series, students not only learnt about the latest strategies, but also got a clear vision about the implementation of these strategies in business.
With the help of these initiatives, we try to give our students the best of corporate interaction and academic knowledge sharing so that they develop a global mindset with broader perspective of corporate and life as a whole.