Jagran Lakecity University

Dr. Nilesh Khare is the Dean Faculty of Management and Commerce at Jagran Lakecity University, Bhopal. In his career, he has worked overseas with world reputed academic institutes and esteemed global consulting firms in India. He advises and coaches executives, corporates and start-ups. He focuses on providing truly international benchmarked quality yet affordable academic experience. 

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

“Opportunities for institutional building, impact and learning are the key factors”

I have worked with big four consulting firms and in academia in the USA, UAE, and now in India. I currently hold an administrative leadership position. In India, there is a unique and fulfilling opportunity to help build quality focused academic institutes. So the institution-building has to be on the list of the key factors that keep me connected. Potential for impact, via both faculty and students, on the country and society at large is the second vital factor. Building and nurturing good faculty will influence generations to come. Young students, moulded well, will make the world a better place for themselves and all. I consult, coach, and train top executives and corporations on strategy issues. Opportunity to continually learn—from colleagues and students, past and present worldwide, is also among the top three factors. 

What is your philosophy of leadership? How would you describe your leadership style?

“I believe in authenticity, values, and enabling those I lead to thrive”

Currently, as the Dean of Faculty of Management and Commerce, I lead two schools—Jagran Lakecity Business School and the School of Commerce and Economics at the Jagran Lakecity University. School directors report to me and I report to the vice and pro chancellors. I am entrusted to help build international quality educational institutes with specific responsibilities for schools under me. This asks for inviting management to, and leading faculty, students, and staff through strategic and cultural transformation. Nurturing, hiring, and retention of quality and productive faculty and staff via development, culture, and HR practices are the key components to the transformation toward better quality. Given our mission, current stakeholder mix, and my international exposure, I use a mix of the directive, participative, and facilitative styles on strategic, developmental, and operational issues. I see my style becoming more participative and facilitative as our faculty and staff profile becomes richer, and key stakeholders’ mind-set shifts. I strongly believe in authenticity, value driven approach and building environment where those you lead can thrive.

How do you strategize about the key programs and plans for the marketing and administration of your school?

“Authentic and honest communication and focusing on program design and delivery on the ground”

We are driven by our vision and mission—International benchmarked education. That’s our guiding principle. We enable students who can choose to be career professionals, become entrepreneurs, or go back to family businesses. The key features of programs, curriculum design, academic resources, pedagogy, flexibility, students’ engagement, and rigor are benchmarked to international practices. For example, most of our flagship programs feature access to global leading simulation, Harvard cases, articles, online courses, online book banks, rich industry interactions, international professional add-on qualifications such as CMA and ACCA. Like the developed world, our programs offer a plethora of choices leading to minor, major, and specializations. We develop our faculty and system to ensure that we deliver everything we promise and some more. We have successfully experimented with blended learning, and pay close attention to attendance and exam quality. 

We go back to the first principles—create long-run value for the students and build trust by being authentic in all our communication including marketing. Match the promise with actions on the ground. Marketing involves communicating with the target audience. We are a new small university. We rely a lot on digital media for outreach. Our academic rigor, authenticity, students’ success, and word of mouth have been our best marketing tool. 

In your experience, what can an inbound student gain from studying here in your institute/ university/ school?

“Education experience similar to US style system, and pathways to exchange or PG abroad”

Any inbound student will not find us very different from a system prevalent in the USA, or USA style practices in other parts of the world. We are very affordable and offer high ROIs. Several of our UG programs offer transfer to the USA and other global partner institutes during UG programme and to PG programs, even with just three years post-UG from us, that too without having to write any GMAT or GRE. Think of us as USA style education embedded in the Indian environment, located in a very liveable tier-II green Indian city. Of course, as said before, we offer opportunity to earn global professional qualifications such as CMA and ACCA while pursuing UG with us. 

I have taught in the USA and UAE in addition to India, and am aware of the education system in many countries. Developed world leads in higher ed. NEP, if implemented well, that is a big ‘if’, may help bridge that gap. But as said before, our programs are designed to be benchmarked to International best practices even before NEP. Luckily, being a University we have control over our curriculum, and the CBCS system enabled flexibility. India is more interesting and complex from culture and system points of view.

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How does the curriculum of Jagran Lakecity University ensure the best practice of industry?

“Ensuring courses are updated and aligned with industry needs and global best practices”

As I said being a University we have full control over our curriculum. We update this every year. Our Board of studies includes academics from abroad, IIMs, and highly accomplished industry experts. It is not a surprise that our programs offer courses that build a conceptual base, skills, and applications. We are also focused on internships and industry immersion. We also invite several industry practitioners in the classroom, co-teach a topic or two for a course, and arrange industry visits for faculty and students. All these activities result in insights that yield the best results. 

Any insights into how your university could be more welcoming to students of different races or economic backgrounds?

“We take pride in being a very inclusive community and embrace differences”

We have a safe community with a very balanced student gender ratio and ethnic composition. We are a part of the Jagran Social Welfare Society. We do have a few international students. We have always cherished international aspiration, have grown from our local roots in Bhopal, and are increasingly becoming regionally diverse. Our parent body runs Shiksha Kendras that support economically weak and deserving students, with free education from early schools to college. We do get sponsored students under Chancellor’s free-ship. 

I think as people from outside MP learn more about us, nationally and internationally, we will become as diverse as we would like to be. I think marketing outreach beyond MP nationally and internationally can help. People outside MP just need to know about what we deliver, how we deliver, and how affordable we are for the quality we offer, and they will come making us more diverse than we are today.

What do you think your roles and responsibilities to the University and the students are?

“Responsible for enabling student and faculty success, and the sustainable growth of the university” 

As the Dean of the Faculty of Management and Commerce, I lead two schools—business as well as commerce and economics. From students and faculty’s points of view, I see my core responsibility is to enable their success by ensuring quality education and supporting environment. I aim to provide a fair and transparent system where they can be inspired to engage in their development, and broaden their perspectives. From the university’s point of view, my key responsibility is managing strategic and cultural transformation and a mind-set shift involving all stakeholders—students, faculty, recruiters, parents, management, and external context. It involves helping in policy formulation and implementation. Program development, faculty development, contributing to brand evolution, and building external networks are the key components of my responsibilities. Occasionally, I get to play the face of the institute, and I make it to a point to serve as the conscience keeper internally. 

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

“Leverage technology and focus on building learning focus culture” 

10 years is a long time given how technology and regulations are likely to evolve and affect higher-education sectors. Technology adoption to facilitate flexibility and choices in learning and assessment should be our core priority. This can help enhance quality, outreach, and simultaneously bring the cost down. One also needs to think about creating a culture where key stakeholders—faculty and students— remain deeply engaged in custom learning. Compliance and technology often blindside leadership and the importance of culture gets lost. That’s vital. It will be a key differentiator.

When you first came to Jagran Lakecity University, what was your vision for the university? Has it evolved, and how far along in implementing that vision are you?

“Continually improving the quality of our incoming students and faculty pool”

I relocated to India from the Ohio State Fisher College of Business in 2017. I taught, and also got my Ph.D. there. The idea was to be in India closer to parents who live in Bhopal. I became a part of the university. It not only offered me an opportunity to be with my parents, but also invited me to build affordable quality focused academic institution benchmarked to international quality. It almost challenges the myths popularly held in tier II and III cities on the viability of such a dream. We remain committed to the vision—Central India’s Global University. We are very affordable for the quality we offer. Over the last three years curriculum development, faculty development, delivery methods, rigor and formats of exams and assessment, flexibility in design, access to resources, academic partnerships, and industry outreach all have improved. We have moved to be internationally benchmarked on these dimensions. The quality and quantum of placement have improved. As we move forward we will be more focused on the softer aspect—the culture of deep engagement with the learning process for both faculty and students.

What are some of the biggest challenges you see, both for higher education in general and for Jagran Lakecity University specifically?

“Implementation vision on the ground is the key challenge” 

The biggest challenge in India, in general, is the inability to recognize the truth on the ground, and the ability to cook up a different reality on paper. No policy, NEP or any other, will make a difference if we do not implement it well on the ground, and we continue to produce only paper tigers—fully compliant on paper but no compliance on substance and essence on the ground. 

At JLU our key challenge is to get the freedom we need while being as young as we are. We are a private University, the fee is a vital source. The ability to set the fee that we need to hire competent faculty, invest in faculty development, and outreach is critical. Given my experience, I find regulation a bit constraining for a young university that is attempting to move up the quality ladder. Our second biggest challenge is to be able to build a culture of deeply engaged learning and an enabling, and respectful place for faculty and students.

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

“Develop a true commitment to learning, and stay on the path with perseverance”

Find your Ikigai. Build a strong foundation and you will have a bright future. Develop a true commitment to learning. Hone up your core executive functioning skills and core cognitive base, verbal reasoning, quantitative skills, and communication, and critical thinking. Do not be afraid of hard and focused work. Do not fall prey to the temptations of the short cuts, wishful thinking, unethical means, and self-limiting beliefs.

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What are some plans that you’re currently (or will be) designing for Jagran Lakecity University international affairs and/or students?

“To deliver them the quality they want and expect”

We already have, and are growing our network of international partnerships that would bring opportunities for semester exchange programs, summer abroad, UG exchange, and pathways to PG. We are also working on joint international UG and PG programs, faculty exchanges, and joint projects among students across borders. We will be increasingly targeting more international students.

How do you tend to establish a healthy relation and environment at your university?

“Weeding out any behaviour or practice that disrupts the working environment”

We have been blessed that relations among faculty, staff, and students on campus more or less continue to be cordial. We take any offensive behaviour and deviation very seriously. Miscreants know that our university does not have a place for them. We have zero-tolerance.