Dr. Pinky Agarwal has been working as the Head of Finance and Centre of Policy Studies Departments at ITM Business School Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra. She is also a Chartered Accountant with Doctoral Degree in Commerce and has an amazing 16 years of industrial experience and 25 years of teaching experience. She has mentored 1500+ students till date and has also guided 1000+ industry supervisors during his professional career. And for her amazing work and contribution in the education sector, she has received Best Research Paper Award, 2nd prize in case study competition and recognition certificates for conducting seminars and webinars on various ICAI platforms. Apart from all this, she is a Certified Trainer of GST and Financial Markets of ICAI.

ITM Business School, Mumbai

What keeps you connected with the Education sector and how has your experience been so far with the institute?

"My devotion of educating youths and fact-finding attitude are the biggest factor behind my association"

I am very passionate about teaching students and doing research on trending topics and technologies. And being in the education sector gives me perfect opportunities to constantly learn and update myself with recent amendments. And as an educator I just don’t believe in passing the information but believe in building a strong knowledge base. Therefore, in my viewpoint all these factors together have helped me to stay connected with the education sector.

Being the Department Head of the institute, what are your roles and responsibilities towards the students?

"I am responsible to make sure my students stay updated with latest technologies and knowledge"

As a Department Head, I believe that continuous evolution and innovation of teaching pedagogies is the key towards experiential learning. And I keep myself updated with the latest trends and developments of the economic and financial environment, which ultimately helps me in the deliverability of the lectures and upgradation of my courses. Hence, enhancement and upgradation of the students’ knowledge is my prime responsibility.

Which extracurricular activities are organized to enhance the skills of students?

"Trading sessions, workshops on sectoral analysis and expert lectures are conducted in alliance with experts"

Our college understands the fact that co-curricular activities are very important for students for their all around growth as only reading books like a book work will not lend them to greater places. And for the same reason, under the Finance Forum, we organize live trading sessions, workshops on Sectoral Analysis, Guest lectures on Sustainable Finance, ESG and MSME Financing. Additionally, we provide certification courses on Commodity Derivatives and arrange Pre-placement talks etc. for the students to enhance their industry readiness skills.

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How does the curriculum of your institute ensure the future readiness of students?

"It is complaint with best industrial practices and includes mandatory internships and projects for students"

We design the curriculum of our college after rigorously analyzing the trends, processes and technologies which are being followed today in the outer world. And hence our curriculum is a perfect amalgamation of 5-month industry internship, NGO internship and industrial visits which we organize from time to time. Apart from this, we use the latest tools and teaching methodologies to impart finest quality education to students. Last but not the least, we assign case studies and live capstone projects to them so that they can use their current skills to figure out solutions to real world issues and also learn new ones. 

How do you bring in a practical and industry oriented approach towards subjects?

"By conducting industry connect sessions and offering value based certification courses to students"

With the aim of enforcing a pragmatic and industry-led approach with regards to various subjects we teach to students, the college conducts expert lectures in collaboration with industry experts along with industry visits and workshops. And we also offer various value added certification courses to students for their skills development and enhancement. 

What approaches do you bring in apart from curriculum to teach the students?

"To supplement students knowledge, we assign projects to students and organize guest sessions and workshops regularly"

For the purpose of teaching students beyond books and hard-coded curriculum and to educate them about the latest trends and developments of the corporate world and practices which are being followed there, we regularly organize a wide variety of events and activities including guest lectures, workshops and live learning sessions. In addition to this, students are involved in real time case studies and live projects for enhanced experiential learning. 

What would you like people to know about your institute that makes it different from others?

"We produce not only amazing professional but also responsible citizens"

Our college along with making students industry ready also inculcates best social values and ethical skills in them. And to achieve this objective, we have collaborated with many reputed NGOs and to make available best internships to students and this has been made mandatory in the curriculum for students to pursue these internships on a regular basis.

What do you see as the greatest strengths of your institute?

"Our approach of quickly transforming our educational practices in accordance with outer world demand is our biggest strength"

We are following the simple rule of EDA and that is Evolving and Developing by quickly Adapting to the outer world changes as per the business environment, standard and practices. And I firmly believe that this is the biggest source of motivation for us. 

What are some of the biggest challenges you see for higher education in general?

"Mountainous changes in technical and social world are biggest challenges for institutions nowadays"

In my opinion, immense and rapid technological and social changes are going to impose the biggest challenges on higher education institutions and adapting to these changes through new and innovative business models will be the need of the hour for every institute.

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

"Learn to adapt yourself to quickly changing environment and opportunities"

I would like to suggest to my dear students and youths of our society to accept Darwinian theory as soon as possible because we all know people need to quickly adapt to the ever changing environment and opportunities in order to survive in this cut-throat competitive world. Also, make sure to achieve the goal of sustainability of the environment through your smallest efforts and eco-friendly practices.