Choosing an institute for higher studies is a matter of immense significance and crucial for students. A good institute can get them a job once they are done with the course. But a great institute does not just get them a job but transforms them into ambitious and virtuous individuals who can achieve more than they thought of initially.
In our quest to seek such institutes, we found one in the heartland of India, Madhya Pradesh, named Prestige Institute of Management (PIM), Gwalior. The institute was founded by the Prestige Education Society in 1997 and has been fulfilling the dreams of hundreds of students that enrol here.
Since its establishment, the institute has grown to be recognized as a premier institute for higher learning, garnering approvals from the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), the State Government, UGC and accreditation by NAAC. It recently got its MBA program accredited by NBA, National Bureau of Accreditation, an AICTE-affiliated accreditation agency. It is also recognized as a Research Centre in Management for Jiwaji University, Gwalior since 2017.
It All Starts with the Faculty
In the last decade, Prestige Institute of Management raised its number of programs from just four, MBA, BBA, BCA, and MCA to the current twelve and the number of students from less than 1000 to the current 2,500 plus. This shows a progressive chart of the institute towards its vision to develop socially responsible global business leaders through internationally accepted best practices. The institute has caught the kind of recognition that it has is because of the continuous emphasis on upgraded curriculum and faculty.
PIMG is home to excellent faculty which is a mix of individuals with industrial and academic exposure. Of over 65 faculty, around 35 are PhD holders and the faculty abrasion has been less than 10% in the past 17 years. The institute puts in continuous efforts to improve quality of faculty, not only by injecting new faculty members with the requisite experience and skills but also taking care of the progress & development of the faculty that are already working with the institution. It does so specifically by organizing workshops, conferences, seminars, etc. every year. The institute has already organized 16 research workshops over this period, 14 case-writing workshops, 11 international conferences, and about 15 national seminars in different areas of management.
Continuous organization of such events allows the faculty members of the institution to upgrade their knowledge and skills. The faculty is also very research-oriented and most of them are now publishing in international journals recognized as major resources worldwide. The case-writing workshops of PIMG have resulted in cases that have been published by The Case Centre, UK. These cases have been adopted by some of the best institutions and universities in the world including those in the US, Europe, Central Asia, Singapore, etc.
Transforming Students into Professionals
Having good faculty gives Prestige Institute a higher chance to develop students. They do not just adhere to the curriculum and the syllabus but go the extra mile to help students develop their personality and overcome their hurdles. A team of four faculty members is in-charge of devising methodologies and implementing them to improve different aspects of the personality of the students, including communication skills. The first issue that they deal with is the mother tongue influence that affects the students in the largely Hindi speaking belt. The team methodically works with students to help them strengthen their communication skills.
The institute also sends students to participate in events and activities organized by National institutions like IITs and IIMs. PIMG sponsors these students, taking care of all their expenses while they participate in events organized by good institutions across the country. The numbers come close to around 800 students every year, participating, winning and showcasing their talent. This helps in consistent and continuous improvement in their skills and attitude that, the faculty and the institute so meticulously work on.
The institute makes sure that students improve their attitude, skills and knowledge; so that by the time they pass out of the institute, they are completely ready to take the responsibility in the organizations they step-in. These students can start contributing from the very first day because they have been trained properly. As a result, a majority of agencies have been ranking the institute highly among top 25 institutions from the country when it comes to placements. The institute has had almost 100% placement. An International agency recently ranked the institute at 16th position in Central Asia among top MBA Full Time Masters. This also is the reason for best recruiters in the country to choose this institution for hiring.
PIMG also has an incubation centre to motivate students to become an entrepreneur. If there are any prospective candidates, their projects are fine-tuned for presentation to government agencies for funding and in some cases, funded by the institute as well. The incubation centre is supported by many MSMEs who provide it with funds. Students taking admission at the Prestige Institute of Management, Gwalior do not have to look at placements alone as they can be sure of continuous support in their business endeavour too, if they want to become an entrepreneur, through funds and MSME support.
The Core Strength
Supporting and uplifting the efforts of both the faculty and students is the Director, Dr. S. S. Bhakar. He joined the institute in 1994 after leaving a long and glorious association with the Indian Navy for 19 years. As an academician, his first appointment was with Prestige Education Society, and later for the Prestige Institute of Management and Research, Indore. After working in the institute for nine years, he then moved to Prestige Institute of Management, Gwalior, as Director.
Since November 2003, Dr. Bhakar has been working tirelessly to uplift the institution to its current status. In these years, he has seen the institute grow in terms of courses and students, accreditations, acknowledgements and accolades. He makes sure that it is not just the students who gain and learn every day at the institute but the faulty as well. Under his able leadership, the institute has been delivering on its objective of developing confident and innovative business, IT and law professionals. He has made sure that the students are provided with all the resources starting from books to labs that can assist them in seamless learning.
Adapting to the Current Crisis
Dr. Bhakar believes and has seen to it that the Institute is ready to cater in any situation. The current pandemic, being a novel one, has presented everyone with the challenge of delivering uninterrupted distance learning. As soon as the direction was given, the Institute moved from contact or physical classes to online classes. They have been able to transit the same timetable, that they were adhering to in physical classes, to the online classes. All the faculty members were quickly trained in a day or two, and then they started taking online classes.
Teaching online, Dr. Bhakar believes, is a different ball game altogether, and faculty had to prepare their content for this in a different way than they were doing in physical classes. But everyone pitched-in and every single bit of syllabus was delivered online and on time. On the brighter side, the institute found that the attendance also improved when students had to attend classes from home. While it used to be around 85 percent for regular classes, it shot up to 95 percent in online classes. This reflects that the team was able to deliver good quality content for online classes.
Since the pandemic is far from over, the institute is prepared to deliver classes online for the next session also. The institute is ready to cater to the students in any mode – physical or online class. Dr. Bhakar adds, “I believe that online mode alone cannot actually train a student and make him or her ready for the environment that he or she is going to face in organizations. Continuous interaction with faculty is absolutely essential. I am sure as soon as we are permitted to allow students to come to the institution, we will do that.”
Upgrading the Offerings
This year, the institute has added one more course, MBA Business Analytics. The Institute realized that specifically, the consulting organizations and, in fact, all organizations are now looking at people who are competent to analyse data and the decisions they are taking based on information generated through analysis of data including big data. So, this year the institute introduced one in its core MBA Programs. It has introduced Business Analytics in general and Marketing Analytics, Data Analytics, and Financial Analytics as subjects in the MBA core. The new MBA program, called MBA Business Analytics, has all the subjects only on analytics.
“I’m pretty sure, once the students go through the Business Analytics program, they will be ready for all the consulting organizations also. We know in India that the best paymasters are consulting organizations. So, we introduced this program to take care of that. There is a huge demand for such programs now”, concludes Dr. Bhakar on an optimistic note.
