SPJIMR combines international business and management ideas with Indian ethos
Nestled in the heart of India's financial centre, SPJIMR combines international business and management ideas with Indian ethos to create managers with a global outlook.
It's a 10-minute drive from Mumbai's Andheri railway station to Bhavan's College campus that houses many institutions, including the SP Jain Institute of Management & Research (SPJIMR), under the aegis of the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. While the main entrance to the campus is usually bustling with a flurry of activities, SPJIMR, in sharp contrast, is quietly nestled amid gulmohar trees.
"The experience here is quite different from my engineering studies," says 24-year-old Aarthi Sundaresan, a student of Post Graduate Diploma in Management (PGDM), who joined the institute four months ago after a two-year stint with Schneider Electric in Bangalore. "We get a very good exposure to business administration and corporate operations here, and I am just learning the ropes."
Debjyoti Biswas, another student from the same batch, has joined the two-year PGDM course that is equivalent to a two-year, full-time MBA programme, after working for nearly two years with Tata Motors in Jamshedpur.
"What is unique about us is that we offer a fusion of Western efficiency and Eastern ethos," says R. Sesha Iyer, director, SPJIMR. While the course is designed in such a way that it offers maximum exposure to business and academics worldwide through the institute's numerous business affiliations, personality is developed by focussing on what he calls "the science of spirituality", with a thrust on principles of the scriptures and their application for individual and social well-being. Every student has to work with an NGO for six weeks and mentor an underprivileged child from the neighbouring schools as part of the Abhyudaya programme. Corporate training, another feature with most B-schools, is given to students in the middle of their second year.
Inaugurated in 1981 by the then British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, the institute has around 480 students and 67 faculty members. "We have tried to remain relevant to the requirements of the industry, and to the realities of changes in the marketplace," says Atish Chattopadhyay, deputy director, PGDM course.
In 2013, the institute launched an initiative where its first-year students were offered a live consulting project-Business Consulting Project. Students were asked to deal with situations where the problems were not well-defined and they had to work on finding a solution.
Similarly, the institute introduced a course in the area of sustainability and distributive justice to help students handle their social projects better. Another innovation, Global Fast Track, provides participants with inputs from advanced courses of specialisation in top global B-schools. For specialisation in information management, it collaborated with Carnegie Mellon's Tepper School of Business, and with Purdue University for operations so that students gain exposure to the latest developments like 3D printing or how a drone functions. At Cornell, students get to see the way global financial hubs such as Wall Street function.
The institute also offers post-graduate programmes in Family Managed Business, Executive Management, Development Management besides exposure to entrepreneurship and global programmes. Two things lie at the core of SPJIMR: influencing practice, which means being relevant to practice, and promoting value-based growth. No wonder the institute has done exceptionally well in its campus placements- maintaining a 100 per cent record for more than two decades now. In 2014, as many as 101 companies participated in the final placement process for 228 students. As much as 70 per cent of the class received offers of Rs 15 lakh per annum and more. Companies in the FMCG and consulting segments, followed by banking and financial services, formed the bulk of the recruiters. The institute now wants to attract international students too. A team is planning roadshows in Toronto, New York, London, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh City to rope in students. With its finger on the latest in business management, and India on the cusp of an economic transformation, the institute stands every chance to become a top destination for foreign students too.
Alumni speak
Ankita Pant
Senior consultant and co-founder,
MagniVirtus Consulting
Batch: PGDM, 2012-14
"SPJIMR provides great opportunities"
Getting selected for the Post Graduate Diploma in Management (2012-14) at SPJIMR was definitely a matter of pride.The institute has an excellent standing among Indian Bschools, but what I value most is that due to the profile-based admissions, the batch you get to study with is probably the best you can expect.
SPJIMR's location has added benefits because it's in the heart of India's financial centre-Mumbai.For someone like me,who wanted to take the unconventional route, that turned out to be a great advantage. I'm a mechanical engineer from GB Pant University,Pantnagar.Before joining SPJIMR, I spent two years with Maruti Suzuki,Gurgaon, but I always wanted to be an entrepreneur.
MagniVirtus Consulting, the company I have founded, is a supply chain and operations optimisation firm.With a team of experts and some accomplished mentors,we are getting a very good response for our projects.Thank you SPJIMR!
Follow the writer on Twitter @MGArun1
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