Praxis Business School, Professor of Economics: Dr. Sayantani Roy Choudhury Interview

Dr. Sayantani Roy Choudhury is an associate professor at Praxis Business School. She is also a visiting faculty at IIM Udaipur. She is also a visiting professor at New York University and Assistant Professor at Amity University. She obtained her B.Sc in Economics, M.Sc in Economics and Quantitative Economics, and her M.Phil. degree in the area of Gender Economics. She has also completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Business Administration, Marketing, and Ph.D. in the field of Economics. She is an Educational Leader and has great Teaching experience. She has won Best Data Science Faculty Award in the Female Category.

What are your roles and responsibilities towards the students?

“Providing students with Knowledge and skills according to the digital world”

As an Associate Professor of Economics and Statistics my role is to impart the knowledge and skills our students require to prepare for the digital future, and in the process train them to be better thinkers and learners. As I am the faculty in charge of student affairs, I have the added responsibility to oversee their overall development. I want my students to build exciting careers and become responsible global citizens. 

How do you establish healthy relations with the students and fellow faculty?

“Providing Students and Faculty with highly interactive sessions for clearing all doubts”

Praxis Business School has a very open and democratic culture – there is immense respect for faculty and students - professors are allowed a lot of autonomy in their teaching and research work, and students are encouraged to ask questions in class and debate and discuss issues without fear. This open culture makes it easy for someone like me, who believes in a collaborative, transparent, and inclusive environment, to establish and maintain a healthy relationship with both fellow faculty members and students. On my part, I follow the following five principles in my interactions

Respect others, listen to them, appreciate them, help them whenever required, be genuinely interested in their progress and hence create a bond of trust.

What are the best practices offered by the department to the students for enhancing skills? 

“Focusing on Curriculum, Teaching Methods, and Assessments”

Pedagogy has three components:

1. what we teach (curriculum design), 
2. how we teach (teaching methodology) and 
3. how we measure student progress (assessment). 

Praxis Business School follows the following best practices in each of these three stages:

1. We keep our curriculum contemporary and relevant by collaborating with our industry partners in course design – ensuring that we teach the skills that the industry wants. We also have a process in place that ensures that we update our curriculum regularly to keep pace with changing industry needs. 
2. We believe in ‘learning by doing' which means that the faculty facilitates learning by creating opportunities for students to solve business problems, execute projects and participate in lab work. 
3. Our assessment tests the ability of students to think and apply their knowledge and skills to solve real-world business problems. This strengthens students’ conceptual understanding and honed their skills for better performance in the jobs they take up in the industry.

How do you help your student to cope up with the competition?

“Providing Students with in-demand Knowledge and Skills”

Praxis believes that while the country faces an acute unemployment problem, there is no dearth of jobs for people who have the right, in-demand skills. As a member of the Praxis faculty team, I ensure that my students are equipped with the appropriate hard and soft skills that make them stand out in the huge crowd of job seekers. On the hard skills part, our students are trained in digital skills like analytics, data science, digital marketing, blockchain, etc. In addition, we also ensure that our students acquire transferable soft skills like communication, critical thinking, collaboration, courage to learn new things, etc. A combination of these technical and soft skills prepares our students to perform with distinction in this competitive world. 

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What was your vision for College from the start and how are you implementing it?

“Providing Students with well-equipped academic opportunities and Career Options”

As a teacher, my vision has always been to have a long-lasting positive impact so that I can do my bit to change my students’ lives positively. I joined Praxis because I understood that the Praxis vision was aligned with my vision – and therefore I would get an excellent opportunity to achieve what I wanted to as a teacher. At Praxis every decision is taken with the interest of the students in mind – the college is very strong in its intent to build the lives and careers of its students. As the faculty in charge of student affairs, I am not only imparting knowledge and skills but also ensuring that the students participate in co-curricular and extra-curricular activities which leads to holistic development and helps enhance the quality of their careers and lives. 

What do you see as the college’s greatest strengths and how it can be enhanced?

“Faculty and Campus Placement Records are the greatest strength of College”

The greatest strengths of Praxis are the quality of the faculty and the quality of campus placements. The faculty team creates and delivers a program that prepares students for the digital world of tomorrow. This results in a very strong campus placement program – because the recruiters know that Praxis students are equipped with new-age skills like analytics, fintech, digital business management, etc. Our data science program is consistently ranked 2 in the country for the last 4 years. The Praxis leadership needs to ensure that it continues to ensure that the Praxis faculty team is world-class – this will enhance both the strength of the program and the quality of placements. 

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What advice would you like to the students for them to have a prosperous career ahead?

“Students should focus on their Strength, Passion, and Opportunities”

I would advise the students to look at the following three things when they are planning their careers: their strengths, their passion, and the opportunities in the industry. Success lies at the intersection of these three – if you like doing something, you are good at it, and there is demand for that skill in the industry, you have a prosperous career ahead of you. I would also advise students to work on their data and tech skills – because, irrespective of the career they seek and the kind of jobs they take up, they will do well if they are good at analyzing data and have an understanding of the role tech plays in their business function.