We offer multiple internship opportunities to students so they can gain practical exposure, says Director

Babul Saha, Director, BSS Foundation, speaks with Shiksha.com about the University of Mumbai's fundamental goal, which is to make students industry-ready. He goes into great depth on the different initiatives that have been implemented, including a greater emphasis on practical exposure, multiple placement chances, individual coaching classes, guest speakers, business events, and so on.

Babul Saha has worked in the corporate world for almost three decades. He's established a good sense of business ethics and tactics across verticals, having served in strategic leadership positions for global and Indian firms such as CITI Bank UK, Searchworks Singapore, and Teamlease. In a recent stint, he formed BSS Foundation College (an education trust for post-graduate studies) in cooperation with Univ of Mumbai-Garware Institution, maintaining his commitment for education.

Read the complete interview below

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

 A: University of Mumbai focuses on making students industry-ready. And, hence leaves no stone unturned to achieve the objective. To make this happen, University of Mumbai –

• Invites industry professionals to teach the Syllabus who mostly have 17-20 years years of industry experience in their relevant subject 
• Has high standard of education as we believe to deliver quality education to make our students' industry-friendly
• Focuses on overall development by emphasising is more on the practical side of the course and because we want our students to be industry-ready. Our syllabus involves 60% practical and 40% theory
• Provides excellent placement assistance- We have a track record of 98-100% placement for all our PG and Bachelor Course students. We have great industry tie-ups with all top companies for placement. The recent highest salary package is INR 12 lakh while the average salary package stood at INR 5-6 lakh.

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

A: As industry readiness has been our focus area since inception, we have been experimenting with our teaching pedagogy. Timely we adopt new methodologies and take initiatives to help our students stay at par with industry standards. These methodologies and initiatives include –

• Individual coaching- It increasesthe level of engagement, Safe Place to Gain Perspective, Deeper Level of Learning, and Support for Improving Specific Skills
• Exposing them to multiple on job experiences
• Master classes by CXOs - Every month we have a master class by CEO who discuss a particular topic and share their industry experience
• We conduct quiz competitions, corporate conferences, corporate events, debates and ensure all student participation

 Q: What are the key attributes that a student should have in order to qualify for your institution and perform well?

A: To qualify for the institution, the applicant must have had a proven record of academic and extracurricular activities. He/ She must be career-oriented and willing to take up the chosen career opportunity

And, to perform well in academics, students must attend lectures regularly. They must have minimum 80% attendance in every semester. Not just academics, but extracurricular is equally important at out university. They must actively participate in all such activities.

And, most importantly, they must be highly motivated.

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

A: We consider our management programmes whether on postgraduate or undergraduate level to be life-changing. These programmes such as PGDM, Media & communication and PGDBM are coupled with various certifications that help students become industry ready. Besides various specialisations available to students, they can take up interdisciplinary courses and certifications to enhance their CV

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

A: Besides individual coaching, we offer multiple internship opportunities to students to gain as must practical experience as possible. Besides this, we have alumni sessions wherein the alumni of our university interact with students to guide them through the session and prepare them for quality placements.

And, to top this, we regularly organise competitive events to set high standards of learning.

With these initiatives in place, we have been able to witness decent placement records so far such as in the recent past, we have witnessed the highest package of INR 12 lakh while the average package stood at INR 5.5 lakh.