Simulations and scenario planning are integral part of academic learning process, says iFeel Professor

In conversation with Shiksha, Professor Rudresh Agaskar of Institute for Future Education, Entrepreneurship and Leadership(iFEEL) talks about the institute’s innovative teaching methodology and various ways in which they train the students to be industry-ready.

Q: What are the salient features of the teaching methodology adopted by your college? How does this differ from others?

A: We believe that when a student truly aspires to learn anything, the teaching methodology assumes less to no significance. It is, however, extremely important to ignite the passion and zeal for learning within students.

“Tell me and I’ll forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I’ll understand!” is not just a Chinese proverb but also an ethos around which everything revolves in iFEEL. Involving students we believe helps us ignite the passion for learning and helps us make students learn things with profound understanding.

Some of the things that we do that help us in this endeavour are:

• Simulations and Scenario Planning: Case studies are a passé. The world is moving forward and things are rapidly changing at the speed of thought. In today’s times when we are plagued by volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity merely looking at cases may not be the best way of teaching something or learning something. What worked for some could boomerang for others, so what can we do about this.

We have embedded Simulations and Scenario Planning as an integral part of the academic learning process. Faculty not only take case studies in the sessions and have valuable discussion on the same, they also take the experience two notches higher by building various scenarios around the case and simulate the effects based on the decision making process. It ensures that students are involved and can experience the impact of their decisions in different scenarios. This leads to far better learning.

• Global Citizen Leadership (GCL): iFEEL has been conducting a unique programme which is integral to the efficacy of the value add the students derive from their two years with the institute. GCL is a programme which is conducted by Centre for Creative Leadership, USA, under their umbrella of Leadership beyond Boundaries (LBB).

Centre for creative Leadership is one of the world’s top Leadership training institute and has worked in 160 countries with more than 3,000 organisations and over five lakh individuals.

In this unique program our students are grouped in groups of 10 and they work either on an Industry Problem, Social Space or an Entrepreneurial Idea. The program is divided in two phases and spreads over 5 months.

This is not a live project or an internship. The students over a period of five months work on gathering factual Insights (It is interesting to see how insights are rarely factual) through primary research, corroborate it with the Secondary research. The students also meet all the stake holders and do a lot of field work.

What sets this program apart is that in the last stage when the students propose solutions, all the solutions are prototyped and tested before the students come to a final solution. The solutions are tested on three parameters which are:

1. Financial viability of the solution
2. Technical feasibility of the proposed solution and
3. Stakeholder acceptability

This also addresses a key issue that is faced by Management Institutes in India these days. The problem of students giving solutions without really understanding the ground realities.

Q: How are you preparing your students to be Industry ready?

A: We are seeing some of the most difficult times in the history of mankind in terms of sudden job cuts, big companies going bust and uncertainty around jobs. It is, therefore, imperative that we prepare our students to be not only industry-ready but also capable enough to be successful while facing the harsh realities of today’s world

Gone are the days of customer satisfaction, we are in era of customer delight. This applies to employers as well. They no longer want to employ people who can merely satisfy their needs but they need people who are multi-skilled and be good at multiple things. People who can add value to different processes and different functions. People who are problem solvers! People who are good communicators, possessions good domain knowledge and analytical skills. People who can see through the world of haze.

It is obviously not easy to groom students for this, but what needs to be done needs to be done and we do it by doing the following:

1. Inculcating Simulations and Scenario Planning along with case studies to give students a flavour of the ambiguous nature of businesses
2. Assigning Faculty Mentor to a group of 20 students from each batch who closely work with the student group and hone their skills and iron out their imperfections
3. Exposure to world-class programmes such as GCL
4. A speaker series, Leaders of Today with Leaders of Tomorrow, where we invite the Leaders of Today to share their experience, live cases, etc., with the students. This entire event is also handled by the students themselves.
5. The entrepreneurship cell at iFEEL encourages entrepreneurship on the institute and also nurtures entrepreneurial ideas. Our institute has also won the prestigious IIT Bombay’s National Entrepreneurship Challenge in 2017 and 2015 showcasing the quality of our e-cell.
6. An international study tour is organised where we take students to best companies across the globe to learn about the best practices adopted by the top companies. We have in the past visited companies such as BMW, Audi, Airbus, Toyota, Mitsubishi, Lenovo, ABB, Volvo, Ericsson, Ferrari and others, in countries such as Germany, Japan, China, Sweden, Italy. etc.
7. We have IBM as our technology partner and we offer minor in Analytics to our students. The students learn descriptive analytics, predictive analytics and sectoral analytics.

Q: What are the qualities you are looking for in student applicants? What qualities do they need to do well in your course?

A: Some of the qualities in students that are irresistible to us are:

1. Passion to do well in life
2. Fire in the belly
3. A strong work ethic
4. Ability to stretch beyond the comfort zone

Qualities that they need to do well in the course:

1. Be present in the classroom physically as well as mentally
2. Curiosity to learn
3. Reading Books
4. Taking Initiatives

Q: How do you ensure that your course curriculum is up to date and meets industry requirements?

A: iFEEL revisits its curriculum every year and updates it. The subjects that are becoming obsolete or less important are phased out and are replaced with subjects that are going to keep the students in good stead going forward.

Our Board of Governance and Academic Council advises us on the latest trends in the industry and academia and based on their feedback and our research we make the changes.

Q: Is your college receptive to innovation, technology, science & entrepreneurship? How? Could you cite some examples of these?

A: iFEEL has been one of the frontrunners in understanding the importance of innovation, technology and entrepreneurship in the world that we live in and has ensured that the students get an ecosystem in which they can upgrade their knowledge in these areas.

iFEEL is associated with Malardalen University from Sweden since 2012. Malardalen University ranks very high on Innovation rankings. Faculty from Malardalen University visit iFEEL campus to take sessions on Innovation. Students of iFEEL have also won the prestigious AIMS Weschool Innovation Awards in 2017 and 2015.

Technology is changing the way we live, the way we communicate, the way we travel and it will continue to shape the things in future. We have taken cognizance of this fact and have tied up with IBM as our technology partner.

Entrepreneurship is integral to us and the name is a part of our institute’s name. We encourage entrepreneurship through multiple ways, including E-Cell, student-run venture on campus, and Deferred Placement Policy that provides a safety net to students who venture out on the path of entrepreneurship.