IFIM Business School (IFIM), Bangalore, recently appointed Prof DN Jayasankaran as its chief mentor. Prof Jayasankaran was former director, Bharathidasan Institute of Management, Tiruchy; VC, Kanchi University, and held other distinguished posts also. He spoke to edex on his plans for IFIM as chief mentor.
“I have introduced new courses such as business analytics, high performing organisations and enterprising strategies and will keep adding innovative subjects to the curriculum. Many top schools even to this date, focus on only functional areas of business such as marketing, HR, finance, operations, etc. But an MBA student should understand an organisation from all perspectives,” begins the veteran.
Commenting on delivery mechanism, Prof Jayasankaran is aghast by rote learning. “Peter Drucker, the marketing guru once remarked that in most institutions, either there is no serious evolution of academics or the syllabus is totally out of date. Our students need to think beyond the curriculum and I am going to ensure that students of IFIM make excellent use of their hostels, library and computer labs with regards to learning,” he says.
Another grouse that particularly troubles him is MBA schools’ placement duties. “Once students get placed in the first job they interview for, both schools and students think their goals have been established. I aim to make my students learn continuously, even if they are comfortably placed. IFIM students will showcase the mobility required in business managers,” he concludes.