Dr. Ravi Kumar Jain has been working as the Director and Professor of Finance & Strategy Department at Sparsh Global Business School, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh. He is also the Founder of Sparsh Global Business School. Along with this, he is a start-up evangelist and mentor at T-Hub, Hyderabad and also has a proactive role in building India's start-up ecosystem. He is a distinguished academician with over 150 international and national publications to his credit. And he also serves on several expert committees for Govt. of India including BIS (Bureau of Indian standards, Ministry of Consumer Affairs Food and Public Distribution) Working Group for Sustainable Finance, sub-committee on SWAYAM for curriculum mapping by UGC & AICTE (Ministry of Education) and management committees & Boards of industry/academic associations including DSI of USA, Asia Pacific Division DSI, HMA, FTCCI, AIMS-Telangana, ASSOCHAM and EndNow Foundation. Apart from SGBS, he is also the Founding Director of Symbiosis Institute of Business Management at Hyderabad and Founding Director & Associate Dean at Symbiosis Center for Research and Innovation at SIU Pune. He has been conferred with several awards including ‘8th Dr. Suresh Ghai Memorial Award for Outstanding Business School Director’ by Higher Education Forum, ‘Academician Excellence Award 2021’ by HMA, ‘Best Director of B-school 2018’ by ISDSI, ‘Distinguished services, 2019’ by Asia Pacific DSI, 'Researcher of the Year' Award 2004 for best contribution at an international conference and Shiksha Rattan Award in 2013 by Indo US Friendship Society. He has done MBA in Business Management with specialization in market microstructure, strategy, corporate Finance and ICT and PhD as part of his academics. 

SGBS Greater Noida

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

"My urge to upgrade my skills and create an amazing workforce for this world are main factors"

I firmly believe that my passion to continuously upgrade my knowledge and skills and create socially responsible future leaders are the major factors behind my long association with the education sector. Also this changing world demands for an up-skilled workforce with greater creativity and compassion towards the planet and people. and visionary business leaders. And being a lead member of the education fraternity, I get tremendous opportunities to shape new minds into futuristic global citizens who are capable of effectively leading the world , and this I believe is another factor that keeps me connected with the education field. 

What are some of the biggest challenges you see for the Management courses in general?

"Hybrid teaching-learning methodologies imposes many challenges for Management courses"

It won’t be an exaggeration to state that the online and especially the hybrid modes of teaching pedagogies and outcome based education comes with their own set of challenges. have their own set of challenges. Apart from this, ensuring innovativeness in learning, providing appropriate training programs to teachers to help them update their knowledge and skills and collaborating with international stakeholders are essential components of today’s game-changing face of education. And to survive in such a competitive and economically unstable environment, the workforce of tomorrow has to be trained on future skills.

What advice would you give to the youth who wants to pursue their careers in Management domain?

"Develop creative thinking, be empathetic, compassionate and visionary"

The world has progressed to version 4.0 of the industrial era and we have moved far from maximizing wealth to keep the planet and people at the centerstage of business. Digital disruption has invaded the ways of doing business. Hence, we need new age leaders who are conscious, integral, empathetic, compassionate, visionary, sustainable in thoughts and actions, versatile and agile as well so that they can easily adapt to different kinds of environments without losing efficiency and can contribute up to their potential for the growth of society and preservation of the environment. Hence, I would advise all the students and aspirants out there to continuously upgrade their skills and become the best version of themselves. And for students who are looking to make a successful career in the Management sector, I would suggest that they should bring on board three things, creativity in the mind, compassion in the heart and fire in the belly and this deadly combination removes all the obstacles from your journey.

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What strategies do you take to make your institute's course different from the courses of other institutions?

"All our courses are curated by industry experts and we have given freedom to students to experiment with their ideas"

Our goal at Sparsh Global Business School aims is simply to bridge the existing gaps between corporate world requirements and students' skill sets and these gaps I believe typically arise from lack of innovation and practical knowledge. Also, most Management programs offered by other institutions still have the hangover of a bygone industrial era, which puts wealth creation over the planet and people at the center-stage of business. As a result of this, students lack essential skills and don't have the confidence to face real world challenges. Hence, at SGBS, we follow the principle of 4Ps that is Planet, People, Product and Profit in order to nurture purpose driven and environmentally conscious business leaders of tomorrow. Thereby, from day one, students are taught about how to contribute for the wellbeing of society, people and environment so that they can run their businesses effectively, in a healthy, happy and environment-friendly manner. We have also established a Business Simulation Laboratory for learners to do trial-error in a risk-free environment and help them understand the impact of their decisions, a Start-Up Garage to encourage young entrepreneurs to weave sustainable business models. At SGBS, we deliver research based education and follow Gardner’s Multiple Intelligence Framework and our unique I-EVOLVE Metric to continually evaluate and assess our learners on key attributes of leadership in today’s world.

What kind of projects and internships are generally provided by your institute to students?

"Our students attend 6-8 weeks training programs and work on projects related to management and social issues"

Our Sparsh Global Business School, with its background of corporate DNA and global footprints, has adopted the process of learning by doing across all its programs, curriculum design and delivery. 

And to enforce this kind of immersive learning experience, we have made it mandatory for students to take part in Corporate Immersion Programs where they need to work on live problem statements for 6-8 weeks both on onsite and offsite locations. Also, they are regularly involved in International Immersion Programs with the aim to appreciate the cultural routines, demographic composition of the Global Business Environment, Business Management and practices. Following this, we have designed Social Immersion Programs as well to expose our students to the social challenges of India and abroad and appreciate the impact of the decisions made by people and policies on society and the environment. In all our programs, the basic model is to pick up a problem statement of business, society or a global business environment situation and prepare students accordingly to find creative and sustainable solutions for the same.

What are your views on changes in the placement trends post-COVID?

"Education as well as corporate world are impacted a lot but has created even more learning windows"

As we all have observed, there have been radical changes and digital disruptions at the workplace both in India and also on a global level during and after the Covid Pandemic and not one but multiple factors have contributed to this transformation. On one hand, digitalisation has made it possible for people to work from remote areas and predictions are that 40% of the global workforce would soon be working on a gig basis. Secondly, the post pandemic era has created limitless job opportunities for people in the Technology and Business sector domain and we have seen an exponential increase in the number of self-emerged Entrepreneurs. And the last 2 years data clearly show that top 50 Business Schools have not just achieved the 100% placement goals for students but those students are working in amazing companies and on very good packages. This is a clear indication that for good institutions where a great talent pool is nurtured, there are opportunities galore. I want to be optimistic when I say that SGBS is going to create such high quality, responsible, intellectual manpower, not just for the country but for the world.

How has the curriculum of PGDM courses changed over time and how are you addressing those changes at SGBS?

"Our curriculum is well structured and offers best programs and Certification courses to students"

In my opinion, the PGDM curriculum needs a thorough revision as the world has witnessed a paradigm shift in the way businesses are done. The focus has completely shifted from mindless wealth maximization to conscious consumption and capitalism, with all business decisions being harmonious with environmental sustainability. This calls for a total shift in the manner in which we train young minds and shape them into business leaders of tomorrow. SGBS is a New-Gen institute where you will get the best global exposure and practical knowledge and we provide fully residential programmes which are generally designed in collaboration with eminent industry experts and academicians and after including their suggestions in the best possible way to bridge the proverbial gap between students skills and outside world requirements. In addition to this, we offer individual mentorship, career counseling sessions and placement oriented training programs to students and they have the flexibility to choose the streams and specializations of their own choice. We have established the Center for EBC to ensure value-based education for students by including contemporary topics in subjects in line with latest business trends and practices and in association with eminent Academic Bodies, Policy Makers, Industries and global Think Tanks. Lastly, we are providing Certifications to students in latest technologies including Bloomberg, Six Sigma, SaaS and Cloud Computing, UX Design, HR Analytics in association with globally acclaimed business consultancies for enriching their employability quotient and placement prospects.

How has been your journey in the education sector and which was your best experience?

"Journey has been amazing till date and my experiences with each institute I have worked for is unmatchable"

In my 22 years of journey in the Management and Education Sector, I have led and worked closely with top management institutes all over India, and I have observed that competitive exams like CAT, MAT and GMT are overrated and have been glorified more than required. And for the same reason, in 2014 we adopted different approaches to remove the over glorifying nature of cut off as we wanted to assess the natural managerial and leadership skills along with creative thinking capabilities of applicants because these things can't be checked based on marks obtained by applicants in the entrance exam. I firmly believe that performance of students in competitive exams has little correlation with academic, placement and post-placement growth. 

Transforming an average learner to an excellent leader is a great value-add and the same we wish to accomplish at SGBS.

And If I talk about the best experiences of mine, it's quite difficult to decide as the journey has been full of challenges yet amazing at the same time. SGBS is my 4th greenfield project and every campus has given me some real good reasons and scopes to challenge myself. More than academics, it is the administrative experiences and my ability to connect with the locals has helped me come so far and achieve new heights of success and all this has given us a great amount of goodwill and satisfaction. Also, maybe my experience at Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, Hyderabad between 2014-22 had been unique, because when we were setting up a new campus for Symbiosis, the question we confronted was, “Do you feel the need for one more Business School?” And today when I look back, I can proudly say that we made the right decision at that time.