DR.B.V.Jayanthi is working as an associate Professor and is also HOD of Marketing in ITM Business School and her qualifications are MA (Public Administration), MBA in Marketing, MPhil in Management, Ph.D. in Management, UGC NET - Management. She has authored a textbook on Consumer behavior, wrote chapters in a book, and published research papers. Jayanthi has experience of more than 18 years.

ITM Business School, Mumbai

You have held key positions at education institutes throughout your professional career. What keeps you connected with the Education Sector and how has your experience been so far with the institute?

"A passionate teacher would always rise above the designations and positions"

To her, connecting with the students to enrich their experiences and learning is primary. It is said that the teacher appears when the student is ready to learn and disappears when he gets enlightened. In my experience, it is true…I honestly admit that I was blessed with multiple learnings when I tried to make a student learn. 

Being the Professor –HR/ Finance/ Marketing and so on Dept of the Institute, what are your roles and responsibilities towards the students?

"I started to involve them quite several years ago… When you have no innovation, you perish"

As a Professor in the Marketing domain, I have been very observant about the direction of any discussion that happened in my sessions. At this level of education, there is technically no teacher and the taught…a beautiful co-creation of value happens. My role as a professor has never been complex. I have understood that apart from the standardized curriculum, a good chunk of creative learning is significant for the students to have an edge in the industry.

Do you have any extracurricular activities/ programs to enhance the skills of the students or expose them to real-world challenges?

The department of Marketing at ITM Business school, Navi Mumbai, throws open a plethora of real-time corporate interactions to equip the students with knowledge and skill that the industry demands. ‘Brand ki baat’, is a series which introduces challenges and opportunities of specific brands and would witness both established brands and unsung brands on the dais. ‘Sectors Scan Series’, is an industry-focused talk series to assist effective placement preparation. ‘Markedemics’ is a workshop basket where certification is facilitated in different emerging areas of business. ‘Tripod’ is a group which makes concept videos covering subjects. The department also conducts industry visits to enable live exposure to certain concepts covered in the syllabus. The alumni base is very vast which guides the current lot in knowing where they really belong to and eventually shape their career

How does the curriculum of the Institute ensure that the students are being prepared for the future?

The curriculum is run through two rounds of Board of Studies meetings conducted at different parts of the year just to ensure that the contents of the syllabus are updated and well-aligned with the industry requirements. The BoS panel comprises alum, industry professionals and the visiting professors of different courses. The syllabi of all the Marketing courses are modified and pruned according to expert suggestions given by the BoS members which finetunes the contents and prepares the students for the next level.

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How do you try to bring in a practical approach towards subjects and make it industry oriented?

PGDM is considered a program and not a course which is enough reason why the institutions offering PGDM attempt maximum industry intervention. Every course taught under PGDM Marketing has many practical activities embedded in the contents which take the students to the real-time scenarios and bring out the manager in them. Such simulated environments provide a huge scope to the students to sharpen their critical thinking and analytical skills to become a leader in all senses

What are the interventions and approaches you bring in apart from curriculum to train/teach the students?

The Juniors and the seniors will have different sets of corporate interventions as the purpose and direction are different. The first year students are exposed to the nuances of branding and the marketing challenges that a company goes through to stabilize itself. An ideal blend of multiple marketing concepts taught as a part of classroom delivery and expert talks from key personalities of reputable brands enable them to map the textbook concepts with the actual situations. The industry visits prune the students’ wisdom about the operations and the value chain systems followed by the companies. The activities planned for the seniors would rather focus on effective placement preparation. The talk series ‘Sectors scan’ takes the students back to brush the basics of Marketing and at the same time takes them forward to understand the sectoral nuances, the major competitors in each industry, key marketing strategies followed, consumer dynamics in each sector and so on.

The certified workshops, conducted by the industry specialists, enhance the hands-on expertise of the to-be managers 

What would you like people to know about your institute they may not know?

The students who are on a genuine search for a corporate Business School providing a meaningful education and their parents would know Institute for Technology and Management and have this as their primary choice. It is because of the curated curriculum which every specialization provides, that ITM becomes distinct in the higher education sphere. The seamless industry integration with the syllabus and a highly structured NGO internship make the institute one among the top notch B schools

What do you see as the greatest strengths of the Institute?

There are a plethora of factors which makes the institute unique among the top B schools. 

  • A huge alumni base from across sectors
  • Relentless industry interaction
  • Talewind courses to work on the soft skills 
  • Mock PIs and GDs to prepare for specific companies
  • Students’ involvement in research and other activities
  • Supportive management

What are some of the biggest challenges you see, both for higher education in general and for the Institute specifically?

The challenges are the opportunities in disguise. The higher education sphere in India is blessed with talented youngsters. The disorientation happens when they land up in confusion about which way to take. There is a definite destination for every youth as long as he or she realizes what is their real potential. The education system finally boils down to a paper certificate which will define someone as educated whereas the individual need not be equipped with all that the industry and the society at large need. Majority of the institutions tread on the same path of testing the students on the bookish wisdom and a written exam.

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Any suggestions you would like to give to the current youth and the aspiring students?

A student’s knowledge can never be judged only by what he writes in an exam. Though his conceptual wisdom is essential, more important than this, is his capability to apply the concepts to real-time situations and striking a perfect chord between what is and what is to be. I personally would suggest that every internal assessment should be a mini step towards the industry which the candidate is aspiring to be a part of. It could be a research project, a list of suggestions coming out of his observations about a business issue, creating productive links on professional platforms to enhance career opportunities, publishing an article or a research paper or case study out of his study. This would give him realistic exposure to the business challenges and compel him to go to the grass root level of the issue to understand the options for effective decision making. Many companies do not insist that the student must have 60% throughout his education journey, rather they look for practical managers who would rise up to the occasion and resolve issues. Additionally, the students should be given an appropriate platform to address their immediate juniors about their trials, business encounters and trade turbulences. This would be one of the major sources of information to the current students as they choose to hear success or failure stories from their fellow-students rather than their professors