What are your short-term and long-term plans for FLAME School of Business??
We are planning to make our MBA and MBA (Communications Management) programs more robust. Our faculty pool is one of the best in the country and the cross learning opportunities that FLAME offers allow students to gain an unmatched learning experience.
- We would like to attract a diverse pool of students across India, especially North, South and North-East.
- We would like to increase the number of international students in the PG programs.
- We are keen on taking in a larger number of students who want to explore, experiment, innovate and who come from diverse backgrounds like Architecture, Design, Music, Literature, Fashion, Mathematics etc. I want to move beyond Engineering and Commerce streams.
- We are looking to increase committed scholarships to deserving candidates.
- We would also be increasing our engagement with the industry with more opportunities for students to interact with business leaders and get a real-world experience.
- We wish to significantly expand the scope of the FLAME Entrepreneurship Lab and FLAME Investment Lab and make it aspirational for other graduates to be a part of the two labs.
- We are going full steam towards our global alliances at both the UG and PG level. Case in point, we just signed an MOU with IE University in Spain. We already have collaborations with global institutions across the USA, UK, Canada and Germany such as Nuffield College – University of Oxford, Babson Collaborative, Wellesley College, Kelley School of Business – Indiana University Bloomington, Yale University, Boston University, York University and Frankfurt School of Finance and Management.
Large universities have a larger audience represented for the Undergraduate programs. Such eco-systems have their own merits and demerits for the MBA audience. What are your views on the same?
The eco-system is very beneficial. A large pool of faculty is available to offer multiple electives in diverse fields. We receive huge support in Executive Education, especially as regards uniquely designed open and customised MDPs. This kind of expertise is not available in stand-alone business schools.
Students engage in multi and inter disciplinary research, and UG and PG students are also able to work together in start-ups. In general, collaborative learning is fostered, which is essential in modern business environments. It is true that a large UG population can create an incorrect perception about the rigor of the MBA program and sharing of faculty and infrastructure resources. At FLAME, the collaboration and sharing of resources take place in a defined manner.
As Dean of the business school, I work on balancing the exploration and experimentation which liberal education allows, with the focus and rigour of an MBA program, for the best possible results.
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