Interview GIM Director Dr. C. Joe Arun SJ

SATTARI, India - Jan. 17, 2015 - PRLog -- We had a chance to have a sit down with the newly appointed Director of Goa Institute of management, Dr. C Joe Arun SJ. In this interview we asked him various questions about B-schools, Management education and all that jazz. Have a look at what he had to say…

1.       How should a student look at management education?

Management education should be looked at as the time in which a student is exposed to an ecosystem where (s)he forms his/her character to become a responsive and responsible leader. Before specialisation every student should look at MBA education as integral formation of personality, well-being of the person, first.

Therefore GIM is a residential institution, where in the development of a student personality is honed with interactions from people throughout the country and respectable faculty.

2.       How does an MBA help students to connect with the issues people face?

While providing an MBA, a B-School should help students connect with the people and social reality. Students should be exposed to lives of people because of whom their courses in MBA curriculum become relevant. If management education is not related to the myriad issues people face in the country and how an MBA helps provide solutions to these problems, then the degree becomes useless and irrelevant.

One of the unique things we have at GIM is the Corporate Social Responsibility course, which is a compulsory, 4-credit course. This course, also known as Give Goa, looks to give back to the society. Students have a day specially allocated to do their project of CSR.

3.       What can B-schools do to help students who want to try their hand at entrepreneurship?

Many students want to become entrepreneurs instead of becoming employees of a company. They have great ideas but they do not know how to commercialise the ideas through which they can solve social issues, and how, at the end of the day, it contributes to the development of the nation. B-Schools must also connect the students with investors and venture capitalists. They should have an incubator for developing entrepreneurs. We must more entrepreneurs who then start their own business enterprises which creates employment for others.

We at GIM encourage budding entrepreneurship as much as we can. We also have an Entrepreneurship cell which arranges for many events and competitions and invites entrepreneurs to host interactions with students.

4.       Are MBA institutes successful in bridging the gap between academic learning and industry requirements? How ready are the future managers to be playing in the adult league, in the real world?

B-Schools should have a strong and organic connect between the industry and themselves. The reality is that MBA institutes produce graduates who have no grasp of what really happens in industry. Even after two years of studies, many companies spend enormous money and resources to train them to become company-smart. For example, HR head of a company should be asked to teach a course on human resources management. A minimum of forty per cent of courses must be taught by people who work in industry.

At GIM besides the permanent faculty with a rich experience we have a lot of visiting faculty who are still in the field to give their valuable inputs.

5.       What would help MBA graduates to start sustainable businesses? And how should they go about with it?

B-Schools are reforming their perspectives to form and train leaders who develop sustainable global thinking.  Sustainability should become the key factor in every discourse of management education that would help MBA graduates to start sustainable businesses, suitable to environment and people.

6.       What do you think management education should essentially focus at?

Management education should focus on helping students developing practical wisdom. This practical wisdom helps me to make decisions based on deep notions of what is good, not only for me and my growth but good for the global community of which my business remains a part of.

We make sure our curriculum is such that, with the required theory, the students also get the best practical training as well. We have trainers coming to our college to aid the students. We also have a state of the art finance lab and a library that matches up to international standards. Also, we encourage our students to participate in competitions to get a real feel of the world.

7.       MBA studies are quite expensive and very demanding. How is GIM helping students in financing their studies?

Very few B-Schools offer scholarships and collateral free student loans. But GIM has arranged with Bank Of India (BOI) and State Bank of India (SBI) to offer a loan of ten lakh rupees without security or collateral. This actually eases burden of the students and their parents in financing their management education. In addition, GIM offers fifty scholarships to the tune of 2.2 crores to meritorious students who join GIM.