Era Business School Hosts Industry – Academia Dialogue

Era Business School (EBS), Dwarka, anchored by Billion Dollar Enterprise Era Group, successfully conducted Industry-Academia dialogue at its grand campus on Thursday, 12th Jan 2012. The Industry-Academia Dialogue had distinguished personalities like Prof. Raj S. Dhankar (Dean, Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi University), Prof. Harivansh Chaturvedi (Director-BIMTECH) and Prof. Sanjiv Marwah (Director, Era Business School) on the academia side, and Mr. Rajat Sikka (Head-Talent Acquisitions-North-TCS), Mr. Raj Sharma (VP-HR-Era Group), Mr. Gagan Dewan, Microsoft, Mr. Umesh Sood, GM Finance - Jindal Saw, Pankaj Shukla, Sr. Manager – HR, ONGC, Dr. Jawahar – DGM - Power Grid, Mr. SC Gupta, Chief-HR IFFCO, amongst others, on the corporate side.

The Indian job market in 2011 was adversely affected due to the global economic uncertainty, but emerged out of it rather strong. Experts believe that in the New Year 2012 jobs will continue to be added, albeit at a slower pace. It is estimated that there will be 5 lakh job opportunities in India this year. Era Business School conceptualized this dialogue to address this staggering opportunity by providing right kind of talent, and transform the dreams of aspirating students into reality,. The distinguished gathering shared their thoughts on the changing dynamics of business in which the management graduates need to be equipped to play a much larger role right from their inception in the corporate world.

Speaking on the occasion, Prof. Raj S. Dhankar, Dean, Faculty of Management Studies, highlighted the issue of commercialization of education. He said, “Country needs professional managers to run but with the increase of random business schools and unavailability of good faculties, the quality of professional education is degrading. Industries grow from B-schools but how many alumni’s come back to share their insights about the industry and give back anything to their education system”. He praised Era Business School and complimented Dr. Sanjiv Marwah, on his success of spearheading Era Business School at the top level, in such a short span of time.

Pror. H Chaturvedia, Director BIMTECH, emphasized on the enhanced role the industry needs to play in meeting the requirements of the academia and also provide internship learning opportunities on a boarded scale. He also laid stress on the need for industry professionals to interact with the academia on live and current issues so that the freshness of intellectual inputs can be taken advantage of.

Commenting on the occasion, Dr. G.Jawahar, Chief of HR, Power Grid, raised the issue relating to the need for ethical inputs especially youngsters, likely to take up positions in the corporate world. We need world-class managers who can fit into the corporate world from the very first day. It is not just through classroom learning, but also action-learning. With the economic scenario developing in India, other countries like Germany, Australia, Canada, France & Japan are looking forward to do business here, so there a is huge employment opportunity in 2012”.

Mr. Gagan Dewan from Microsoft mentioned the impact of ethical and professional academia in molding the character the young professionals and cited his personal example of having developed sense of integrity and honesty right at the start of his career. He further added, “The ‘managers in making’ have to shoulder this responsibility and this is possible only through the cooperation and support of our corporate partners. Today’s corporates are operating in a global arena that itself is undergoing major changes because of the globalization of markets and fierce competition”.

Both Mr. Umesh Sood, GM – Finance, Jindal SAW and Mr. Amit Agnihotri, Chairman MBAUnivere, stressed on the need to nurture the spirit of entrepreneurship and role of practicing managers in transferring learning from work place to academic institutions. Mr. Umesh Sood further said that that the new market forces have placed management institutions with the additional responsibility of producing new managerial talent to meet the changing expectations of the corporate houses and the emerging MNCs.

This event will also help in developing course curriculum, pedagogy and academic strategies to make the students industry ready. The event ended with the launch of ‘EraGraph, the newsletter of Era Business School.

IMT Nagpur: The Scene of Placement Activity

“At IMT Nagpur, we believe in equipping the students to meet the challenges that organizations have today. Our faculty and curriculum are geared to guide them in the constantly changing, dynamic and technologically advanced business environment of not only today’s world but of a world that is always evolving, fast forwarding into the future,” says Dr. Rajendra Nargundkar, Director, IMT Nagpur. 


Placements play a crucial role in the way a B-School is perceived. Already in the second month of 2012, IMT Nagpur is a hub of placement activity. More than 40 companies have visited confirmed participation. In fact, 140 students have already been placed in the corporate world, and many of them are multinationals. 


The 2012 salaries average out at Rs. 5.7 lakhs, which is higher than it was in 2011. The highest package offered so far came from Zee Learn at Rs. 9.5 lakhs. The global meltdown is finally showing signs of lifting. 


Dr, Rajendra Nargundkar, Director, IMT Nagpur is delighted with the results of the placements of the 2010-2012 batch so far. “In its seventh year, IMT Nagpur has had an encouraging response from its stakeholders. We have always had a very good academic record, students are exclusively selected through CAT and  a rigorous  interview  process,  and  a  value-add  that  goes  beyond  the  curriculum  into leadership challenges thrown at students at every opportunity. Our faculty can be counted among the best in the country. We have expanded the list of clients for Executive Programs in various areas of management. We conducted four conferences and two industry seminars during the year gone by. We also had 120 guest faculty from the industry speaking to our students. Last year, we were ranked by Business India, Business World, and The Week among India’s top  B-Schools.  We  plan  to  do  an  additional  HR  theme  seminar  and  two recruiters’ meets this year to further our relationship,” he said.


Top companies like Asian Paints, HDFC, CRISIL/IREVANA, SBI Life, Welspun, TCS, Zee Learn, ICICI Lombard, Bajaj Auto Finance, Tata Technologies, Capital IQ, TATA Motors, IDBI, TVS, Bajaj Allianz, Magma Fincorp, Reckitt Benckiser, TCS Eserve, Tata Chemicals, Jindal Power Ltd, IMRB, Aranca, Eveready, Adani, Cheers Interactive, Empower Research and other corporate entities from across varied industries have interviewed and employed a large percentage of IMT Nagpur’s new generation of managers.


“IMT Nagpur has maintained the faith of many organizations over past 6 years and has been named as one of the top B-Schools in India by various prestigious surveys. The institute is committed to excellence and innovation in management learning and developing academic processes which are not only conceptual but analytical and decision oriented,” says Chairperson, Placements at IMT Nagpur, Dr. Harshavardhan Halve. 
IMT Nagpur hopes to continue keeping pace with the requirements of the industry for the benefit of its students and the corporate world.

IMT Nagpur:Mr. Bharat Dabholkar visits IMT Nagpur

With no checks and balances on private enterprise, misleading ads can’t be stopped, advertising guru Bharat Dabholkar told Institute of Management Technology Nagpur students.

“There is no way to stop false advertisements in popular media,” he said. “Government controlled media does have checks and balances, but private enterprises lack that. Also there is no government policy to tackle the problem and all the consumer can do is to complain to the Advertising Standards Council of India, but that too is after the ad has already appeared.”

Noting the unorganized nature of the advertising business and the fact that thousands of advertising agencies operate without any accreditation, Dabholkar said it’s impossible to put a check on advertisements before they reach the public.

“The government has to take this seriously and step in to make a policy, or else nothing can stop misleading ads,” he said.

Dabholkar told the students he believes multinational companies utilize false advertising claims more than their Indian counterparts and outlined two instances when Indian companies refused to compromise their products because then their ad claims would be false.

In the first case, involving the Vicco group’s toothpaste product, he said “I was working on an advertisement for them and I suggested they should add some chemicals for a thicker consistency of the paste, but the owners told me that they use natural products, so the paste has a thinner consistency.

“They refused to add any chemicals since that would falsify their claim to be a company focused on using natural products.”

Dabholkar said of the second case “Even Kurien, the man behind Amul, refused to launch a strawberry-flavoured drink since we could not secure the fruit all year through. Kurien could have used pulp, but then the advertisements would have been technically false so he decided to drop it.”

The Indian economy has really opened up in the last few years with the number of products available growing substantially, said Dabholkar, “So it is bound to happen that the advertisement campaign gets overplayed with the message sought be conveyed also lost in the well.”

Webchutney and 9.9 School of Convergence partner to produce job-ready graduates in Digital Media

India’s leading digital media agency, Webchutney, and innovative Delhi-based media school, 9.9 School of Convergence (SoC), have joined forces in an academy-industry partnership designed to develop and promote SoC’s Post Graduate Diploma in Digital Media Communication (DMC).  The partnership will ensure that the school’s graduates are best prepared for careers in the burgeoning digital media industry.

Webchutney and 9.9 SoC have signed a Memorandum of Understanding under which Webchutney will collaborate with 9.9 SoC to develop the DMC curriculum according to industry needs and standards, and provide faculty, internships and placements for 9.9 students.

The 9.9 SoC Post Graduate Diploma in Digital Media Communication, a first-ever in India, is a one-year, full-time programme which combines courses in content creation, strategic communication and digital communication to provide students with the broad set of skills and perspectives they need to embark on careers in digital media. According to Rahul Nanda, Chief Operating Officer, Webchutney, the agency will provide a number of four-month internships for 9.9 SoC students during the final term of the academic year and will have the right of first offer to students during the recruitment period. Digital marketing strategists and experts from Webchutney are invited to participate in interviews in the admissions process for the DMC program.

“In the new digitally networked social economy, we understand that 360 degree connectedness is imperative to thrive in a dynamic, competitive landscape. The decision to partner with an innovative academic institution like 9.9 was driven by our objective to enrich the existing value chain and brace for the massive wave of opportunity sweeping the Indian digital industry today.  We’ll be drawing from our rich industry experience and expertise to contribute towards building a robust curriculum which will encourage and foster entrepreneurship as a key learning aspect, while leaning towards a more practical, hands-on learning style with live case studies and strategies to make it more relevant”, added Rahul Nanda.

Under the MOU, Webchutney and 9.9 SoC will work together to develop digital media training programmes and workshops for professionals in marketing and advertising. In addition, 9.9 SoC and Webchutney will work together to develop research capabilities in the digital media space for 9.9 SoC’s research centre.

“Partnerships like this really help to close the gap between studies and practice–giving students both the perspective and the skills they need not only to replicate what is happening in the field, but to become innovators and leaders in it,” 9.9 SoC Dean of Academics, Dr. Eric Saranovitz, said. “Webchutney’s industry knowledge will help 9.9 SoC prepare the future generation of media professionals to exploit the fast-changing world of online and digital media.  Students will learn what it takes to manage online communities, undertake a digital marketing campaign, and maximise audience engagement in the digital media space.”

9.9 SoC Dean, Dr. Pramath Raj Sinha said the partnership would address the need to develop key competences in DMC, rather than simply narrow skills. “Education-business partnerships also address the transition from education to work, a true Achilles heel in countries such as ours, where education and the labour market are often poorly matched,” he said.

Media contact:

9.9 School of Convergence: Inga Butefisch, inga.butefisch@9dot9.in, +91 9958 170 246.

About 9.9 School of Convergence:

Established in New Delhi in 2001, the 9.9 School of Convergence offers world class education in the fields of Media Studies, Journalism and Communication, employing a combination of international and local faculty highly experienced in the media and wider communications sectors to ensure graduates are job-ready. The school’s PG Diploma in Applied Journalism and Media Communication and PG Diploma in Digital Media Communication, together with its programme in Global Media and Communication and Centre for Communication Excellence, bring the best professional and academic practices to the classroom in order to train and educate present and future writers, editors, journalists, communicators and media professionals in the traditional and digital media. For more details log on to http://schoolofconvergence.com/.

About Webchutney

Webchutney works with leading companies in India by developing award winning and memorable experiences for brands to connect, engage and build sustained relationships with their consumers online.

Our clients include Airtel, Microsoft, Unilever, Marico, Titan, MasterCard, Barclays, Nokia and Proctor & Gamble among others. We work with them in areas of online advertising, website design, mobile marketing and social media.

Ranked as India’s Number 1 Digital Agency two years in a row (Brand Equity Agency Reckoner, The Economic Times, 2008 & 2009), Webchutney is committed to leading the interactive marketing industry.

We are a team of over 200 digital marketing professionals across New Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore.

Visit us at www.webchutney.com for more information

About the Post Graduate Diploma in Digital Media Communication:

The 9.9 SoC Post Graduate Diploma in Digital Media Communication is the first digital media communications-specific diploma course in India, and in fact globally. Started in the 2011-12 academic year, students learn to create content while developing an in-depth understanding of the strategic application of technology and business methods to distribute this content, making them ready for careers in the fields of online and digital publication, management, marketing and advertising including. The first two terms of the program build a foundation of creative skills in visual and written communication, technological expertise in online and digital software and business strategies and managerial tools needed to start a career in the online space. Students also study the economic, political, social and cultural impact of old and new communication technologies in India and around the world to better understand the driving forces behind the digital media revolution. Graduates from 9.9 SoC have found placements at Network18, NewsX and Walt Disney, among other media houses.

Strathclyde SKIL Business School (SSBS) students enjoy the best of both educational worlds

With a campus ranging from the Indian sub-continent to Glasgow,Scotland students at the Strathclyde SKIL Business School truly experience the best of both worlds.Fifty per cent of the SSBS faculty will be from Strathclyde Business School (SBS) as part of the faculty exchange and, at the start of their second year, SSBS students will spend a term at Strathclyde University’s Business School in Glasgow, Scotland providing them with cross-culture experience along with global exposure while studying with large number of nationalities (there are more that 100 nationalities studying at Strathclyde).

As Dean Bhimaraya Metri said “The long-term partnership between the University of Strathclyde and SKIL is underpinned by the University of Strathclyde’s academic heritage and business acumen, in combination with the thirst for knowledge in India’s booming new economy”. The combination of skills and expertise in Scotland and India gives the partnership a platform to provide excellent education that is wholly relevant to India’s global economic role.”Equal to the top business schools in the world, the focus of Strathclyde Business School’s faculty and research centers on how theory relates to practice and how practice helps to develop theory- the departments are regularly recognized for their contributions to teaching and research.

In reality, SSBS’s campus is global. A student in Noida can chat with someone sitting in Switzerland or the United States and get their views and opinions on the various aspects of management with the online platforms used by Strathclyde: Myplace, Pegasus, Mpegasus, Spider, Mercury, and Nemo. And through the university’s Business Information System (BIS) students have updated information resources at their fingertips, along with personal, informal advice from the BIS team.But not only will SSBS students benefit from the teaching, cross-cultural experience and cutting-edge facilities Strathclyde and Strathclyde Skil have to offer, they will also benefit from their shared international accreditation.

Strathclyde is among the top 20 business schools in Europe and is among only 55 worldwide to have the triple accreditations from Association of MBAs (AMBA), Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) and European Quality Improvement System (EQUIS). Scotland’s Education Secretary Michael Russell said in a visit to the SSBS Greater Noida campus “Scottish universities are renowned across the world for the quality of their learning, teaching and research, and Strathclyde is amongst our best.”SSBS is not merely a transplant of the Scottish institute into India but has been specifically developed to suit both Scotland and India, he said, noting “It is innovative and I am very much in favour of innovation.”

Era Business School: Earn while you learn at Era

Construction-minded students can literally cash-in on India’s building boom by taking Era Business School’s Post Graduate Diploma in Management (Construction Project Management) programme which features an earn while you learn plan plus numerous scholarships.

Earning while learning is just one of the benefits of the Post Graduate Diploma in Management (Construction Project Management) offered by Era Business School.

Designed to provide students some financial aid as well as hands-on experience, students will work at infrastructure and real estate sites six days a month for 10 months each year of the two year programme – and get paid to do so.

During the summer months, students will also be offered paid internships as part of EBS’s “learn and earn” programme.

Approved by the All India Council for Technical Education, the two-year programme features traditional management courses, along with courses in construction and project management, specialized courses in real estate development and management, infrastructure development and management focusing on transport, energy and power infrastructure. The PGDM (CPM) course is open to both new graduates and mid-career professionals.

A blend of theoretical and applied courses, the programme also includes training through practical experience with the aim of preparing graduates to take on responsibility at all levels of construction, real estate and infrastructure projects and deliver the goods efficiently and on time.

EBS is anchored by the world-class engineering, construction and services conglomerate the Era Group and job placement after successfully completing the PGDM (CPM) program is guaranteed.

The timing is definitely right to move into construction project management – the demand is there for skilled employees and that demand is constantly growing.

A booming economy, favourable demographics, increasing affordability, the growing number of financing options and more foreign investment has made the Indian real estate sector very appealing. It is now one of India’s largest employers.

Building is booming in India and now is the time to start constructing a solid base for a career in the industry. With 65 per cent of the total investment in infrastructure going toward construction, the sector is forecast to undergo high and sustained growth.

Based on the latest growth-rate statistics, it is estimated there will be 83 million people employed in the construction industry by 2022 compared to 36 million in 2008.

It is estimated an additional 47 million workers will be needed by 2022 – 33 million in infrastructure and 14 million in the real estate sector.

The market value of projects under construction in India broke the $100-billion barrier in 2010 and, due largely to huge investments in housing, roads, major highways, ports, water supply and airport development, the annual growth rate has been soaring at 11.1 per cent in recent years.

With demand for CPM grads ever increasing, there is a definite financial advantage to taking the course offered by Era Business School.

In addition to the learn and earn programme and the guaranteed paid summer internship programme noted earlier, Era offers entrance examination based scholarships, Era Business Aptitude Test (EBAT) based scholarships and “rolling” scholarships offered to the top five per cent of the students each trimester.

Young India Fellowships:Overwhelming response to first-round admissions for 2012-13

- Second and final round open in search for 2012-13 batch of Young India Fellows
- Almost 1000 applications already received in first round of admissions for this unique multi-disciplinary post-graduate programme in association with Ivy League, University of Pennsylvania (UPenn)
- World-class faculty from various domains of expertise – names such as Andre Béteille,  Rudrangshu Mukherjee, Radha S. Hegde, Vivek Bhandari and UPenn professors, Kenwyn Smith and Dwight Jaggard – expected to return for 2012-13 academic year
- Last date for submission of applications: 28th February 2012


Following the success of the first application round for 2012-13 Young India Fellowships, admissions have opened for the second and final round. A total of 915 applications were received for the 50 places, more than the 750 overall received for the inaugural 2011-12 batch. Applications have come from graduates of institutions including IITs, BITS Pilani, St. Stephen's College, Loyola College and Jadavpur College, and from engineers, lawyers, doctors, architects and social science, humanities and fine arts students. Graduate students now have until February 28 to submit their applications for the second round of admissions.

Run in partnership with the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn), the Young India Fellowship Programme (YIFP) is a one-year, fully funded multi-disciplinary post-graduate course based in New Delhi. It seeks to create India’s next generation of socially conscious business and community leaders by providing them with an education that integrates academic breadth with real-life work experience. A minimum of 50 recent graduates from diverse subject areas, who combine excellent academic ability with an evolved interest in an area outside their field of study, will be selected to be a part of the Fellowship for 2012-13.

Dean, Dr. Pramath Raj Sinha, also founding dean of the Indian School of Business, said YIFP was searching for India’s brightest young people, those who wanted to make a difference and discover their true potential. “I strongly encourage university graduates who have the vision, drive, passion and ability to achieve at the highest level and who aspire to be change agents for India to apply for the Fellowship,” he said. “We believe that YIFP is unsurpassed in its ability to create tomorrow’s leaders. YIFP’s multi-disciplinary academic course, its practical and focused internship project and many opportunities to interact with some of India’s and the world’s finest thinkers and leaders is unrivalled.”

During the first round of admissions, applications have been received from graduates hailing from villages to major metros, and there is an equal proportion of female and male applicants. Online applications were filled out by 865 applicants and an additional 50 applied by mail. Three-hundred are subsequently being called up for telephonic and personal interviews, with in-person interviews beginning January 1 and continuing till January 21, 2012.

Applications are invited from students across the country – from diverse academic and social backgrounds. The rigorous admission process for YIFP starts with applicants filling out a detailed application dossier designed to give an insight into their multi-faceted personalities. “This is followed by a telephone interview and an exercise to test applicants’ ability to work as part of a team before the final personal interaction to select a Young India Fellow,” YIFP Deputy Dean, Dr. Anunaya Chaubey, said.

To ensure it gets the highest-calibre applicants, the YIFP admissions team will resume presentations at higher education institutions this month – at Kolkata, Mumbai and Guwahati, covering such institutions as St Xavier’s, Presidency, Jadavpur, HRM College of Commerce and TISS. They have already visited institutions ranging from Kashmir University and NID (Ahmedabad) to IITs, Delhi University, St Xavier’s College, Loyola College (Chennai), Christ University (Bangalore) and Symbiosis (Pune), among others.

Meantime, the inaugural 2011-12 batch are completing Term 6 of the year-long programme, having recently studied courses such as leadership, visual communication and algorithms. They are now heavily engaged in their Experiential Learning Module real-life internship projects with corporations and organisations including Genpact, Harley-Davidson, Bharat Light and Power and the Council for Environment, Energy and Water (CEEW). Their attainments since joining YIFP include winning a Fulbright Scholarship, the 2011 World Bank Essay competition and the opportunity to represent India at the UNESCO Youth Forum in Paris.

YIFP Faculty is drawn from UPenn as well as other leading universities in India, the US and the UK. Fellows are mentored by industry leaders such as NR Narayana Murthy (Founder, Infosys), Deepak Parekh (Chairman, HDFC), Kiran Karnik (Satyam), Keki Dadiseth (Sony) and Anoop Prakash (Harley-Davidson).

The academic session starts in June 2012.  Visit www.youngindiafellowship.com and click on “Apply Now”.

Media inquiries: Inga Butefisch, Ph: 9958 170 246, email: inga.butefisch@9dot9.in

About YIFP: The Young India Fellowship Programme (YIFP), in conjunction with the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn), is the first academic programme in the country to fill the void in higher education for a holistic, multi-disciplinary course based on the liberal arts. A one-year, fully funded residential scholarship, YIFP has been specially conceived and designed to create the country’s finest, most socially conscious leaders. Each year’s batch of 50-plus Fellows will take subjects including Analytical Thinking, Leadership, Writing and Listening Skills, Philosophy, Sociology, Psychology, History, Economics and Statistics as well as classes designed to bring out their creativity, such as Art Appreciation and Latin Dancing. They will undertake a unique experiential learning internship, and gain practical work experience through a real-life project. Fellows will be taught by leading thinkers from respected universities both in India and abroad, and will be mentored by some of India’s best known leaders, chosen for their ability to be outstanding motivators and role models. YIFP is the precursor to Ashoka University, a world-class university focused on the liberal arts and sciences, set to open in the Delhi NCR in 2013. Ashoka’s founders, the International Foundation for Research and Education (IFRE), envision the university as India’s finest centre of higher education, comparable to the leading research-based, multi-disciplinary universities in the world.