We believe in holistic development of students; develop management concepts & soft skills, says JIMS Kalkaji Prof

An innovative and technology-imbibed ecosystem is the need of the hour in the education domain. Following the path of a blended approach to classroom learning, Dr Neelam Tandon, Professor and HOD-PGDM at JIMS Kalkaji, shares that she believes in the holistic development of students. She also shares how curriculum upgrade from time to time helps in reaching a common goal of making students industry-ready.

Dr Tandon has studied MA in Economics, followed by MPhil and PhD in Economics. She has also completed her MBA, PGD in Export Management and in Human Resource Management, Bachelor of Education from CIE, Delhi and a Level 5 certification in Management and Leadership from CMI University of London, along with an Advanced Data Analytics course in Management (ADAM) from IIT Delhi.

Q. What is the difference between the teaching methodology in your institute and others?

A. We at JIMS Kalkaji believe in outcome-based education, wherein students get real-time learning exposure with a blended approach of classroom learning, gaining competence by working on excel and being assessed based on their competence with application-based solutions.

We believe in the holistic development of students by making them understand management concepts with competence in soft skills, analytics, personality development, research attitude, and problem-based solution approach with open house discussion on contemporary topics, case study discussion and competition, entrepreneurship skill development, communication lab, and club activities. Smartboards and speakers in each class create an ecosystem for experiential learning.

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

A. We prepare our students to be industry ready at the following levels:

• Teaching: Our program objectives and course objectives are mapped to the industry-changing demand parameters by incorporating inputs from SRCC, Grant Thornton Bharat, IBM, NSE, PHDCCI, FIEO, FICCI, and MHRD, JIMS alumni, Bankers, and corporate leaders.
• Club Activities: Finance, marketing, HR, Analytics, Literary, NSS, Entrepreneur Club, cultural club, and alumni club invite experts from their respective domains to share their enriched experience and provide guidance to our students. Students also, learn leadership, team building, conflict resolution, CSR, marketing, and entrepreneur, communication skills.
• Mentoring: JIMS alumni as mentors from industries handhold and guide our students in their career and skill acquisition.
• Industry Research: Live Projects, Summer internships, and Dissertation Projects give students hands-on experience of the industry’s culture and operational working.
• Industry Visit: Students visit Industries and Ports to understand the logistics and operational aspects of the business.
• MOUs with International Universities: and Guest lecture Series Cologne Germany, Westminster, and the Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada for Student and Faculty exchange which contributes towards the exchange of knowledge and enhances the cross-cultural competence of our students. 

Q. What qualities make your students a cut above the rest?

A. Our students are not only academically and professionally competent, but they are compassionate, focused, and have a passion to contribute to society and the nation with their ingrained values and ethics, and leadership skills. Our students are placed in vertical sectors of finance, marketing, analytics, logistics, banking, Information technology, and research and have established a benchmark for others in the market.

Q. Do you think the curriculum of the courses taught in your institute fits the requirement of the industry?

A. JIMS Kalkaji’s curriculum is upgraded systematically and pragmatically to meet industry requirements and reduce the gap between demand for the skilled workforce and supply of skilled students. We have introduced new verticals of specialization in Data Analytics and Entrepreneurship. The new course curriculum has been structured as per industry demand by including Economics of Emerging Markets, Innovation & Design Thinking, Financial Analysis, and Fraud Management, Entrepreneurship Development, and New Enterprise Management, Tools used for Applications of Analytics, Financial, Marketing, and HR Analytics, Python and advance excel analytics.

To enhance the quality of our curriculum we take inputs for our alumni and Institutions like FIEO, PHDCCI, and ASSOCHAM. We have a strategic academic alliance with SRCC. We have signed an MOU with Grant Thornton Bharat and our curriculum is mapped as per the industry demand. We have an alliance with NSE, and our students are getting the benefit of NCFM certification. Students get an opportunity to do IBM certification and we have credit transfer points for MOOC courses. 

Q. Is your college receptive to innovation, technology, science & entrepreneurship?

A. Yes, we have an innovative, technology-imbibed ecosystem of teaching, learning, and research. JIMS Kalkaji students and faculty members have access to a completely computerised Library through ‘LIBSYS’ software which is an integrated multi-user library management software and has a barcoding issue system. We have an Online Databases IBM SPSS- The IBM SPSS® software platform offers advanced statistical analysis and a vast library of machine-learning algorithms. We have an incubation center and our students have contributed to society by launching their startups in the domain of pharma, food, and education sectors have Finance Lab, Personal Growth Lab, Communication Lab, Python Lab, Software Lab, NSmart Simulation, and Orelle English Speaking Software.