SIDTM

Prof. Abhijit Chirputkar is presently the Director at Symbiosis Institute of Digital and Telecom Management (SIDTM), which is a constituent of Symbiosis International (Deemed University) (SIU). He has written more than 35 articles, papers, case studies and chapters in books. He has presented papers in national and International Conferences including IIM-A. 

Prof. Chirputkar is a Chartered Accountant and has a CISA certification from ISACA (USA). Later on, to enhance his knowledge, he did his Master in Business Finance from ICAI. With such a strong education background, the academician is at a place where he has always aimed for. 

In an exclusive interview with Samarth, Mr. Chirputkar has a lot to tell about SIDTM and reveals his success mantra. Students who want to pursue their dream in digital and telecommunication should read this interview.Edited excerpts - 

Purpose of Education is to replace an empty mind with an open one!

I believe it is a great thing when career and compassion come together. I always had a passion for teaching. Therefore, as soon as I completed my Chartered Accountancy and CISA certification, I started teaching in SIDTM as visiting faculty. I also practised and consulted for 10 years.

After that, I joined SIDTM permanently and followed my passion. I love to teach and interact with the students. I was fortunate enough to convert my passion into my profession. I feel ecstatic knowing that every student of my Institute is doing excellent in their career. These feelings of ecstasy that I get when I see my students performing well keep the teacher in me alive. It motivates me to teach even after completing two decades in this sector.

Participative leadership is what will take you further

Leadership is essential for the growth and prosperity of any institution and community at large. As a leader and at this position my sole responsibility is to strategically direct and look after the overall administration of the institute. I work towards the overall development of students through a systematic process. Hence, I believe in participative leadership style, where a leader accepts the suggestions presented by the stakeholders and implement it for larger benefit of students.

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CISA education and Oracle Training has helped me a lot as the Director

To become a Chartered Accountant (CA) is a very rigorous and comprehensive process. It gives you an insight into various areas such as finance, audit, regulations and overall mechanism for control and management. It creates a strong knowledge base. 

CISA education and Oracle training, which I took immediately after my CA have helped me a lot in understanding technology perspective. Thus, this professional educational background has helped me to discharge my responsibilities effectively. 

By my education and work experience, what has been the learning outcome is the use of knowledge, logical and analytical thought process, use of technology and data analysis for decision making and effective communication for management of people. 

SIDTM pioneer of starting Telecom Management

SIDTM (Formerly SITM) is a pioneer of starting an innovative program in telecom management in 1996. It was a visionary step taken by Honourable Dr. S.B. Mujumdar sir (Chancellor of SIU). This program was started when National Telecom Policy was introduced. Since its inception, the time has changed and so has the technology. 

So, that's why we opted to change our curriculum according to the changes in the technological world. Over the last 23 years, we moved from core telecom to ICT management and added specializations like “Analytics and Finance” to take care of the industry needs. Thus, we have now three specializations such as “Systems and Finance”, “Marketing and Finance” and “Analytics and Finance”. 

We have also changed the name of our institute due to introduction of “National Digital Communication Policy, 2018” which has replaced National Telecom Policy. Symbiosis Institute of Telecom Management is now known as Symbiosis Institute of Digital and Telecom Management. The name of the program is an MBA in “Digital and Telecom Management”.

We have introduced the most relevant courses which give global exposure to students. The evidence of our claim is the excellent placement record of all the eligible students over 23 years. More than 2400+ alumni are spread across various countries and are working in various sectors. Technology is affecting all business models and so SITDM is becoming more relevant and will become an institute of great importance in the future. 

An MBA in Digital and Telecom Management coming soon!

SIDTM has reached to an excellent position since its establishment i.e. 1996. It has an excellent track record of quality of education, strong research culture and excellent placements. Having ticked all these things now we are looking forward to many more changes in the future. 

For the next five years, our priority is to provide our students with global exposure and international placement. We also provide our students with the quality of research, innovation and our prime focus is on entrepreneurship.

Positive development is what every person looks forward to

I joined SITM in 2008 and became Director in 2017. The vision was to have overall development of the institute. We had two specializations for almost 20 years and so in 2017, we started a new specialization “Analytics and Finance”. 

In the last two years, we have worked towards overall development of the institute such as focus on global exposure (global immersion program), international placements, consultancy projects, MDPs and research projects etc. I am happy that all these areas were started in the last 2 years and to that extent I would say that the vision is partly achieved.

Excellent placement record and strong research skills are SIDTM strengths

SIDTM has various strengths such as long-standing in this niche field for more than 23 years, excellent placements stats including international placements, industry collaborations with CISCO, IBM and Amazon to name a few. With this we also have a strong research and publications. The DNA of institute is technology and in my opinion in the current era, knowledge and business application of technology is a must for any MBA graduate. 

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Our curriculum focuses on Digital and Communication Technology 

The DNA of our institute is in Telecom and technology from business perspective. Our programs are focused around these and will help the students to build a career in Digital Technology and communications industry. To put it in plain language, we leverage digital methods in order to prepare the students for future.

We believe and inculcate “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” in our students

SIDTM has always been a student-driven institute. There are multiple student committees which empowers them for organizing events like International Telecom Seminar, Tedx at SIU, Social outreach by our SPARSH (ISR) activity club, E-summit and other festivals. 

All these activities help us in maintaining a healthy relationship and culture within the campus. SIDTM being a residential campus ensures that the students learn and grow in an integrated environment. As we believe in “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” we develop this culture among students to maintain healthy relation at SIDTM.

The youth should be fit to take up challenges and technologically sound as well as aware of businesses 

I would tell the current youth that health is wealth. Hence, their main focus should be on maintaining their physical and mental health. In the present-day scenario, it has become necessary to be socially sensible and be competitive in business domain. For this, one must be technologically aware, have good communication skills and must be aware of his/ her business domains. The focus of current youth should be on innovation and entrepreneurship.