Mr. V. Ravi Kumar is the head of placements at Symbiosis Institute of Business management, Bangalore. He spent nearly 30 years in Corporate Life in the area of Banking with a specialization in the area of Financial Markets. Mr. Ravi Kumar also has trained managers under corporate training programs for companies. He is a mentor to all his students.

SIBM Bangalore

What are the key factors that keep you connected with the education sector?

“An opportunity to learn new things at every level of educational evolution”

The first personal reason is to impart whatever skills I've learned in industry to the upcoming generation, to give you a background. So whatever skills and attributes I have, I've learned to pass them on to my students. And secondly, I believe the financial industry in India is in its infancy, it is poised to grow and financial services and the financial industry, I believe, are catalysts to growth. And we have seen this happen time again in the advanced economies. And I would like to prepare my students and give them the skill sets to meet these challenges.

What is your philosophy of leadership? How would you describe your leadership style?

“Team leadership with a collaborative work environment and team decision making”

I would say my leadership style is very much to be in the background, point number one come up with a clear strategy for placements where they discuss it with the team, get their buy-in and take on board whatever suggestions come from the batch, have a strategy and then retreat. It's not a personally driven thing. I'm just occupying the chair. If I don't occupy the chair, somebody else will for as long as I occupy this chair, I'm more interested in getting the job done rather than any personal objective.

What can an inbound student gain from studying here in your SIBM B?

“Practical knowledge with international exposure with several associated institutes”

I believe management education is vocational education. Management is vocational, that is hands-on. When I compare the curriculum, the way it's taught, and so on, so far it's a lot more vocational there. So essentially the way I see it, SIBM is preparing students for industry, I mean industry-ready. So the moment they pass out of college, the next day they should be able to take up all relevant assignments without any handholding at the companies at which they're joining.

Check SIBM Bangalore Courses & Fees

How does the curriculum of SIBM B ensure the best practice of the industry?

“Being industrial ready is the foremost priority of the institute through activity-based training”

One, our perception of what students should learn and now what should be in the curriculum, two, feedback from alumni in that order that we have feedback from alumni, what they feel is relevant and what aspects we should improve or what aspect we should add or delete. Third, would be feedback from the industry, and fourth, of course, the overall business environment, which way we think is going. So, therefore, all our case studies and our discussions in class are about the existing companies which are likely to do well in these two sectors, which are education and the financial industry.

How could your institute be more welcoming to students?

“College promotes anti-racism and no discrimination among the students of the institute”

What I think we can do, also, is to, of course, offer scholarships, offer some kind of assistance to students to get financial assistance, because if a student individually goes for a loan, it's different from the institute, giving some kind of a guarantee and taking a loan and thereby reducing the interest burden. So these are the things that can be looked at. But having said that, SIBM Bangalore no input in these policy decisions are taken at the university level at Pune and we're not consulted. But if the hypothetical situation I was consulted, this is what I would suggest to them.

What do you think your roles and responsibilities to the institute and the students are?

“Unlimited responsibilities come with such a prosperous role”

My role is to show them the way, show them the opportunities, believe in themselves, understand what the future is about, and understand themselves a little better & and the environment. That's from a teaching perspective. From the placement perspective, what I would like them to do is for the job to be, a kind of a finishing school, two years of formal classroom training and then they get placed. Hopefully, they like the job and the company and so on, so forth. It's also should be an opportunity for them to put into practice what they've learned.

Read SIBM Bangalore Placement

What do you think should be the Institute’s top priority over the next 10 years?

“The quality education that every individual deserves at minimal cost”

Institute's top priority should be to give top-quality education. You know, and I mean, education, as I defined earlier, is not theoretical knowledge because our students are quite smart. Moreover, most and most of it are available on the web and so on. So the institute is not a place where they're quite theoretical knowledge, but to acquire skills, not just professional skills like in finance or marketing operations or HR, but more soft skills, communication skills, essentially to become better communicators, to give good advice, to do good customer interaction and finally improve the returns for the customers. So it is a Three-pronged approach. 

What are some plans that you’re currently designing for SIBM B?

“International exposure and associating institutes for international learning and culture”

Essentially as we have discussed, our curriculum is constantly being reviewed here, so now as we are witnessing in the global environment like globalization and Mr. Trump almost losing the elections, and Joe Biden coming in, so all our discussion focus will not be just on India but also on global space. Also, one area where we had a weakness for SIBM Bangalore is placing students in India. We would like our students to get overseas opportunities. Also, the opportunities are there simply because many of our alumni are based abroad and we are still in touch with them and these alumni, also, are achieving senior positions there. 

What are some of the biggest challenges in the education sector?

“The expense that has made access to the education difficult and intricate”

See the higher education I think the issue is, in my opinion, it should become a lot cheaper. In our country what happens is our institutions are run by the government except for a few most of them have not kept pace with the changing expectations of both students and parents which is why private institutions have become a lot more popular. But the downside of private education is the cost of education. So I think, going forward we should not look at education with a profit objective at all and it should be more in terms of building social capital. 

What do you see as SIBM B's greatest strengths?

“Evolution to make the institute foremost in every arena”

IBM's greatest strength is the track record, in 10 years. We have constantly evolved and the result is that our students are happy. The placement record has been very good over the last 10 yrs. Second, we have a stable faculty. It is not that the faculty changes every year. We have had a stable core faculty. And three, we are located in Bangalore which I believe is the intellectual capital of India and we are based out of an electronic city in Bangalore, therefore we are at a gateway for all the innovation to happen.

Click SIBM Bangalore Faculty

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

“Use time wisely and do the very best you could make of the time”

Please do not spend so much time on your gadgets and social media. Managers are all about communication, understanding the other human being’s point of view. It would be appreciated if some of our students go into social services, NGO, or government services voluntarily. I won’t blame the students; management so far has been all about enhancing the shareholder’s value but now management should be all about enhancing society’s value.