MICA Ahmedabad: Dr. Shailendra Raj Mehta, President & Director

Dr. Shailendra Raj Mehta is working as a President and Director at MICA. Previously, he was the Chairman of the Board of Management at a reputed university where he also served as Acting Vice-Chancellor and Distinguished Professor of Strategy. He has done extensive research in the areas of Entrepreneurship, Industrial Organization, Information Economics and Experimental Economics. He has also done groundbreaking work in the area of Synthetic Economies by creating a comprehensive framework for agent-based research using a combination of human and artificial agents. He has authored and co-authored several proposals that brought in over nine million dollars of research funding from the National Science Foundation. He has been on over 25 doctoral dissertation committees and nbsp. He is a member of numerous high-powered committees convened by the Government of India. He has conducted several programs for senior civil servants including IRS, IFS and IAS officers, including one for all Secretaries to the Government of India. He has published several papers (single and co-authored) in the ADBC, A and A* categories as well as the FT50.

Keeping connected with the education sector

Faculty have the unique opportunity and ability to impact the lives of others. Good teachers can exert a strong and meaningful influence on students. At times, this ability to shape and nurture students' careers within a short period is more substantial than what even parents can exert.

Being in the education sector gives you the freedom and space to pursue your dreams. One is not tied to a boss or a system. While being a professor, I enjoy the freedom to be able to study, teach, and create a start-up. When surrounded by young, enthusiastic, and eager minds, one feels equally young, creative, and empowered.

A teacher or professor has no retirement age or shelf life. You can continue to teach, mentor and guide others till the end of your life.

Leadership style and philosophy:

At MICA, everyone has an opportunity to learn, pursue their passions, and give expression to their inner potential. As a leader, my role is to identify, encourage, guide, and nurture them to help them realize their dreams. For this, we must create the right environment where people feel inclusive, connected, and empowered to express their opinions without feeling intimidated. Only when we get all points of view on any issue can we arrive at a fair and just decision.

I follow a leadership style where if I am wrong, I am happy if someone points this to me. This attitude helps me correct myself. Also, it gives me the chance to embrace an opinion contrary to mine and learn something new in the process.

I have a strong inclination for the quick action and an inherent impatience to get results. This impatience can, at times, be challenging in an academic institution, where people are more focused on extensive deliberation before action. Learning how to deal with educational decision-making has taught me to be more patient with people and their thought processes.

Strategizing and Planning:

Whenever I draw up strategies and plans, I am always mindful of their impact on all our stakeholders, faculty, staff, students, or society.

I am always looking at ways to get everyone excited to express themselves and create a meaningful impact by their actions.

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Indian Education system vis-à-vis international students:

Our education system is unique and different from the education system abroad. This difference makes it more attractive and exciting for students coming to MICA on exchange to explore. These students learn a lot from what and how we educate. In the process, they also bring their perspective and way of looking at things of their countries.

They are exposed to the Indian entrepreneurial spirit and how we tackle different problems democratically and go back with some unique learning experiences that they have never been exposed to in their countries.

The USP of MICA's Curriculum:

Each Area and Centre at MICA has a distinctive Academic Advisory Board comprising experts from academia and industry. These experts help the MICA faculty ensure that what they teach in the classrooms is in sync with the latest industry trends and global practices and prepare our students to face future challenges in the workplace.

One such initiative we have introduced is "Connect the Dots," wherein a student is given an industrial project at the end of each term and develops a viable solution. Further, they are given a platform to make a video pitch directly to the industry representative, answer questions posed and defend their proposal. This process helps everyone assess students' ability to apply and implement their academic learning from classrooms to solve real-life problems.

MICA's Inclusivity:

Every year, MICA admits students from all parts of the country and varied family backgrounds and social strata. The same principle also applies during the recruitment of faculty and staff. MICA welcomes students from all three genders and of all faiths, which helps make MICA a diverse and inclusive place.

Roles and Responsibilities towards the institute and students:

My foremost responsibility is to help ensure that all internal stakeholders at MICA – faculty, staff, research personnel, and students- achieve their fullest potential. The success of an academic institute is dependent on the collective achievements of the sum total of the individuals working and studying there.

For students, in particular, my task is to help them identify their strengths and weaknesses and work on them. My responsibility lies in enabling them to receive a well-rounded and rigorous education and provide a conducive structured and unstructured environment to help them achieve their potential.

The top priority of MICA over the next ten years:

We are currently focusing on making significant transitions in our pedagogy and curriculum in the wake of the Covid scenario and through the digital transformation that is sweeping every corner of the industry and society.

Your vision of MICA and how far you have been successful in implementing it:

When I first came to MICA, it became evident that if it has to emerge as an educational institution of global standards, it has to live up to its potential in creating, applying, and transmitting knowledge. The creation of learning comes through excellent research. The application of knowledge comes through the industry projects that our students undertake. The transmission comes through teaching.

We have four immersions International Immersion, Rural Immersion, Urban Immersion (known as MI-Impact Projects), and entrepreneurial Immersion. Apart from being an AICTE approved institute, MICA has also received accreditation from NBA.

What is it about MICA that people are unaware of:

MICA is known as a Management Institute imparting knowledge in Marketing, Brand Management, Communication and Creativity. However, it is also emerging as a hub to nurture entrepreneurial ability. Many of our alumni have become entrepreneurs and are increasingly creating companies having an impact. By the way, one of the companies formed by a MICAn has recently attained unicorn status.

MICA's greatest strengths:

Our biggest strength lies in how we select and train our students. We select students for both analytical and creative abilities, along with their ability to be logical and creative at the same time. We focus on both the left and right brain to select both structured and out-of-box thinkers. MICA is all about "and" not about "or."

We also teach and research differently; we work and facilitate differently. In short, we educate differently. These innovations are MICA's biggest strength and difference.

The biggest challenges facing higher education in general and MICA in particular:

Education has undergone a radical change in the era of Online education and Artificial Intelligence. Online provides more options for local and global providers than was possible a couple of years ago. Artificial Intelligence has forced us to think through the kind of jobs available to human beings ten years from now.

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Suggestions you would like to offer the current youth and aspiring students:

The most important suggestion that I would like to give is to become lifelong learners. The ability to upskill and constantly reinvent oneself is a critical factor here since we have no idea what the jobs in the future will look like. Life expectancy has increased, so the average student graduating today should assume that they will live for 100 years. This longevity means they need to plan and design their lives to be healthy and have something meaningful to do until their last day.

Plans in internationalizing education at MICA:

Before the pandemic hit us, we had introduced and scaled up our International Immersion program and worked with some leading universities in the USA to offer our students international experiences and exposure. As we come out of Covid, we plan to resume this program and take it to the next level.

Setting up a healthy environment at MICA:

One of the important ways of setting up a healthy and conducive environment at MICA has been by making students equal stakeholders in the running of the institute. In the last couple of years, all the major decisions were taken in close consultation with the students. These included shutting down the campus, re-opening it, managing students' return to campus, determining the protocols that needed to be followed, and getting their active participation and involvement.

MICA students are active participants in the process – they self-police, help maintain norms, and ensure violators are appropriately penalized. We have found that through this approach, the need for the top management to intervene declines dramatically as students take ownership and pride in self-governance.