TimesPro has always upheld the highest standards of content and rigour in its classrooms, says CEO

Anish SriKrishna, CEO of Times Professional Learning, speaks with Shiksha.com about the institute's major differentiating qualities that help it stand out from other institutes offering comparable programmes. He goes into great depth on programmes that guarantee employment, high-quality content and rigour, and, most importantly, a positive student experience.

Anish is responsible for driving TPL’s strategy and growth. Spearheading the company’s objectives of delivering Executive Education, Corporate Training, Retail Education and Skilling, Anish is actively involved in building TPL’s business units.

Read the complete interview below

Q: What are the three things that TimesPro is doing that will enable it to differentiate itself from the competition? 

A: TimesPro is doing several things that differentiate its offering to the learners. To begin with, we are amongst the very few organisations which can assure an employability outcome for our students. In many of our programmes/courses, we have ensured an over 97% placement rate. Some of our programmes are employability-assured programmes, where the programme fee is partially dependent on the availability and the quality of the job that the candidate can secure. It is called an ‘income sharing’ format where after the student gets placed, we agree on how much the student must pay for the said TimesPro course. Thus, the primary differentiator is the kind of employability assurances we offer.

Secondly, TimesPro has always upheld the highest standards of content and rigour in its classrooms. Most of our content – be it for our banking programmes, logistics programmes, or even some of the newly launched technology programmes in Full Stack Web Development, Coding, etc. – is produced with detailed industry collaboration. While developing the course curriculum, our academic team works closely with the user departments of big recruiters such as ICICI Bank, DCB Bank, Tata AIA, Yes Bank, etc., to ensure our students acquire the skills required for success from the first day. It is a big differentiator.

The third big differentiator is the platform and the environment that students experience on joining any TimesPro course. Prospective students undergo a very rigorous aptitude and attitude check-called the TAP test followed by an interview. Thereafter, there are continuous assessments throughout the programme.

You will experience a lively classroom environment across all TimesPro courses. The classes are conducted online due to the COVID-19 pandemic, still, we have managed to retain the rigour of learning and high level of engagement among students. The communication among the students and faculty is lively and interactive, leading to a high engagement rate. We seldom have students dropping out for reasons like not being able to understand what's happening in the class, because our faculty are highly committed to ensure the success of every student.

Q: What are the top three initiatives undertaken by TimesPro that are helping your students become more industry-ready?

A: The top three differentiators we talked about earlier answer this question as well. One of the important points is that TimesPro courses conform to the industry requirements, and hence, students do not encounter an alien environment on the first day of the job. Since students get trained to meet organisational needs, they can perform their duties efficiently on day one with minimum supervision. The environment at TimesPro is highly conducive to high-quality learning and there’s an energetic exchange of ideas in the classroom that prepares them for the real world.

Q: What are the key attributes that a student should have to qualify for TimesPro courses and perform well?

A: Each of our courses is unique, and therefore, the requirements from the students are also unique. For instance, a student should at least be a graduate, having pursued a full-time degree without any drop year, to be eligible for a course in the Banking and Financial Services Industry (BFSI). In addition, the student should be in the age group of 21–26 years with a decent command over the language. In many cases, fluency in English is not the only criterion. They just need to have a good command of the spoken language, be it any Indian language. In some cases, English is required and that is mandated. Their ability to interact with the customers is the most crucial requirement. Students, then, need to pass the TimesPro Admission Test and clear the interview before joining us.

For a course in Logistics & Supply Chain Management, the requirements from the students are different from those required for BFSI or Coding courses. Many of these courses are developed in discussion with potential employers. Thus, once onboard TimesPro courses, the training imparted to the students is based on the requirements to be industry and job-ready.

Q: Which programme/s would you say is/are your best? What is it that helps your institution differentiate itself for this programme? 

A: All our programmes are best-in-class and aligned with the industry requirements. Our oldest and most popular programmes are in the banking sector – Post Graduate Diploma in Banking Management (PGDBM), Post Graduate Diploma in Banking Management (Extended Learning) [PGDBM (XL)], and Post Graduate Diploma in Sales and Relationship Banking (PGDSRB). All these postgraduate diploma programmes require a high degree of rigour and thoughtfulness. We are glad that we have a strong placement record for all these programmes.

In the supply chain sector, we offer an effective Post Graduate Programme in Logistics & Supply Chain Management. Under the TimesTSW brand, we offer several higher-order programmes such as courses in Machine Learning andArtificial Intelligence among others.

The range of programmes offered through TimesPro and TimesTSW can be construed as lifelong learning programmes. For example, if a 21-year-old learner enrols for a TimesPro programme, chances are that s/he would upskill again with several other TimesPro or TimesTSW programmes throughout their career. It is because they would have an intervention coming in on a higher-order subject like management or on a higher technology platform like Artificial Intelligence or Machine Learning at some stage or the other of their career.

Q: What are you doing to improve/drive better campus placements for your current students and alumni?

A: TimesPro focuses on its current batch of students. for whom we have one of the most well-oiled placement teams in the country. We have a presence across all regions, and our teams are constantly engaging with the industry personnel across BFSI, Logistics and IT/ITES domains. We have built a collaborative approach through which corporate HR can access the highly-trained talent of their choice. It is a constant process, and our placement teams work closely with our academic and adviser teams ensuring that the best talent is mapped to the best jobs.

Q: What kind of jobs routinely come to TimesPro? What would you say are the key recruitment trends for TimesPro (observed over the past five years)?

A: We are interested in careers which require the candidate to come in with a certain level of industry-specific skills such as in the BFSI, Supply Chain or Data Analytics streams – this kind of nuanced requirement speaks well to our students’ capabilities.

Interestingly, several TimesPro job profiles are beginning to come from the hinterland and not from tier-1 cities. It is in keeping with India's economic development across the tier-2 and tier-3 cities and towns. Employment opportunities follow economic growth and therefore demand for employment and talent seeking skills for employment are both coming from these smaller cities and towns.

This trend, I believe, is welcome from a macro perspective due to the growth witnessed at the grassroot level. If you look at the major banks, the major supply chain companies, or even the IT/ITES companies, the locations in which they are opening new centres or branches and consequently employing a greater number of people, are very different today than they were even 10 years ago. They are expanding beyond the metros and finding viable frontiers across the length and breadth of the country, and TimesPro has been following that trend. Our business is also moving away from the metros and into the tier-2 and tier-3 cities and towns.