Dr. Simerjeet Singh Bawa has been working as the Director of Himalayan Group of Professional Institutions, Sirmaur, Himachal Pradesh. He has done BA from Punjabi University, MBA in Marketing and Finance from Punjab Technical University and PhD in Marketing from IKG Punjab Technical University as part of his academics. Also, he has 15 years of wonderful experience with 2 years in industry and 13 years in the education sector. Apart from all this, he has published 24 research papers and case studies in Scopus, WOS, ABDC and UGC Refereed Journals, authored 3 books, 5 patents and also presented 16 Papers in National and International Conferences.

Himalayan Group of Professional Institutions

What factors keep you connected with the education sector?

"Dynamic and challenging nature of education sector is the main factors behind my association with Education sector"

The education industry is very vast, dynamic and challenging in nature and there is a little doubt in the fact that education plays an important role in our lives. And being in the education sector, I can contribute directly to society and nation growth by producing the best professionals and citizens. Also the people who are involved in this sector have to play various roles from the one that is defined for them, so my idea here is that unlimited learning opportunities emerge when we are exposed to a challenging environment. And all these factors together make me stay connected with the education sector. 

Being the Director of the Institute, what is your philosophy of leadership?

"Leadership is the ability to accomplish tasks by collaborating with others and delivering them tasks as per their expertise"

Leadership is all about effectively collaborating with people of different mindset and experience and inspiring them to do their best work. And if I talk about my approach, I am a very straightforward person who aims to be direct and collaborate with my team members by delegating tasks, leading by example and making sure they know I am always there to support and guide them.

How do you strategize the key programs for the marketing and administration of your college?

"We stay connected with our potential students through college website and social media"

As a Director, it is crucial for me to establish solid marketing plans and strategies to make my college popular among our potential students and bring best business value for college. Hence we thoroughly analyze our strengths, offer scholarships to eligible students and stay connected with the outside world through our college website and social media handles and we also use flyers to make people aware about our strengths and achievements.

In your experience, what advantages students can gain from studying here in your institute?

"Students in my viewpoint will get best opportunities here to grow on personal and professional level"

Our college offers employment oriented and easily affordable courses. Additionally, various scholarships, education loans and financial schemes are available for students. Also, we help students build new skills and explore their passion and interests by providing them work-integrated learning opportunities and exposing them to real world scenarios. Last but not the least, we regularly encourage our students to learn from their mistakes and try new adventures by coming out of their comfort zones. So overall, we have the best infrastructure, education, facilities and industrial exposure for students with a bright future. 

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

"We supplement the curriculum of our college through industry connect sessions, value based courses and workshops"

We have designed various certificate and skill development courses to bridge the gap between the curriculum and corporate sectors requirements. And we regularly invite industry people to conduct workshops for students in emerging areas of technologies and another benefit of this is that experts can directly address our students' queries and train them in the best practices which nowadays are being followed by them. Last but not the least, we organize various types of events at the departmental, inter-departmental, inter-collegiate, University, State, National and International levels to provide a requisite platform to the students to showcase their existing skills and build new ones.

How is your institute more welcoming to students of different races or economic backgrounds?

"We have given equal space to everyone to speak and share their ideas with us"

I firmly believe that a diverse learning system should be openly discussed and celebrated, and every stakeholder's interest and rights are of supreme interest for us. Hence I have created an open and safe space for my students through which they can freely put forward their ideas, opinions and worldviews. And that's how we celebrate the diversity of our college.

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What are your roles and responsibilities for the institute and students? 

"I am responsible for ensuring curriculum is implemented properly and disciplined is maintained in college"

As a Director, I need to act as a leader, facilitator, mentor, manager and mediator between staff and the students and I am also entrusted to encourage staff to pursue professional development to align it with their career goals and the mission of the institution. And providing operational oversight policies by raising academic standards, nurturing students and facilitating campus and courses expansion of our institution also comes under the scope of my responsibilities. Apart from this, I am accountable for the growth of our college, assisting staff members and teachers to plan and implement academic programs in the form of refresher/orientation courses, seminars, in-service and other training programs, ensuring a disciplined environment in college, taking care of admissions, administering and supervising extracurricular and welfare activities of college, making sure we stay compliant with standards defined by the University and other authoritative bodies, maintaining self-assessment reports of teachers and service books and lastly for participating in teaching, research and training programs of the college.

What do you think should be the institute’s top priority over the next 10 years?

"Our priority for upcoming years should be to enhance industrial exposure of students by collaborating with more industries"

We are working to provide a comprehensive and positive higher education experience to our young minds and we are confident enough that we will succeed in articulating and communicating our distinctive values to the regions we serve. Apart from this, our objective would be to establish new partnerships with reputed industries and institutions and enrich existing collaborations with our partners to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes. Lastly, our focus would be to offer relevant and valuable educational opportunities through numerous mediums and pathways to our students.

When you first joined HGPI, what was your vision for the Institution and how far have you come in implementing them?

"My aim at that time was to offer employment oriented courses to students in major emerging sectors"

When I joined this wonderful college, my vision was to provide job oriented education and modernized courses in all futuristic and emerging frontier areas and disciplines to our students, offer them better research facilities and opportunities and make them ethically and emotionally strong individuals in order to develop their skills at personal and professional fronts. Because we as an educational institution uphold the highest ethical values, integrity and professionalism and an unwavering commitment to academic freedom, transparency and accountability for offering a bright and promising future to students.

What makes your college unique and different from others?

"The way we deliver education to students and make them society and industry ready makes us unique"

Our Himalayan Group of Professional Institutions is a place where passion meets confidence and determination and students attain best theoretical and practical knowledge to develop their intellectual skills, and overall personality which is our ultimate objective. Because, we only don't want to produce excellent professionals but also mold them into good individuals who have better understanding of human values, pride in their heritage and culture and ability to differentiate between right and wrong. So all this makes us different from other institutions. 

What do you see as your college's greatest strengths?

"Our people, college infra and liberal learning environment makes us strong"

The main pillars of our college strength is the eager and responsive mindset of our students in attaining professional guidance to achieve their future goals, amiable approach of the administration, faculty members and the non-teaching staff towards students, our highly qualified and extensively experienced faculty members and collective endeavor of the employees to ameliorate the repute of the institution. Besides this, our modernized, inclusive and ideal college infrastructure and our integrity, unity and cooperative attitude amidst diversity of students along with liberal environment that attract precious ideas from students and teachers and enable mutual interaction between each other makes us strong.

What are some of the biggest challenges you see for higher education in general?

"Higher education institutions are still struggling to come to a level with the introduction of new technologies"

As far as I have observed the outside competitive world and education sector, I can confirm that with more automated, digitized and fluid job markets, higher education systems are quickly becoming incompatible with the future we are looking towards. Also 20 years of the 21st century have already passed, yet we are struggling with many things and using older pedagogies of delivering education. Therefore, education models need to reflect the demand for lifelong learning to cope with the technological and social changes brought by the Fourth Industrial Revolution as skills and not degrees will be reality of the future.

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

"Our institute will be the best place to give wings to your dreams"

In my opinion, we as an institution cannot always build a bright future for our youths, but we can for sure prepare them to build a better tomorrow for themselves. Also, today's youth are taking India to unparalleled heights of prosperity and success. And the way we can ensure all this is by providing good quality education to our young generation because knowledge is power. So I would like to assure my students that after joining our Himalayan Group of Professional Institutions, they will get the best knowledge, exposure to the outside world and will be able to lead the society and industries in upcoming time by becoming a responsible citizen and amazing professional.

What are some plans that you’re currently designing for your college international affairs and students?

"We are planning to include more value based courses and activities in our curriculum"

We encourage shared decision-making through a process that rests upon collaborative consultation, open flow of information, diverse involvement and collective deliberations. And our institute is putting all its efforts to make students industry and society ready so that after finishing their respective courses, they can confidently serve the diverse needs of industries and society as a whole. In addition to this, we are planning to include such activities and events in the curriculum which can impart a sense of civic and social responsibility, best ethical values and help them to grow in their career.

How do you establish a healthy relationship and environment in your institute?

"By providing a supportive learning environment and growth opportunities to everyone"

For the purpose of maintaining a healthy relationship and environment in our college, I ensure to provide a supportive and research oriented learning ambiance to all my students. Because I firmly believe that when students are provided with the best opportunities and exposure, they will feel motivated to participate in college activities and events and in return all this will improve their skill sets. Apart from this, we offer an engaging, trustworthy, supportive and calm communicative and working environment to all other stakeholders so that everyone can learn and grow at their own pace.