Icfai National College-unique Management Education

Operation Workout: ICFAI National College's unique management education An ASSOCHAM study says certain sectors such as retail and IT-Enabled Services will lead the employment boom...there is an urgent requirement for qualified and trained management professionals to meet the HR requirements of corporate/industry emerging therein. ICFAI National College [INC] offers quality and industry-tailored post graduate management education to students from all over India. What differentiates INC from other management colleges in India is its time-tested, and market-based curriculum. In an effort to realize that management is more a science and more a practice, INC has taken meticulous steps to design its management course curriculum. What is unique to INC is its predominant focus on training which is considered as a continuation and reinforcement of classroom teaching. The Training and Placements [T&P] Department of INC is concerned with providing relevant training inputs to students, thereby enhance their place-ability skills, and finally achieving their placement with the corporate. In the context of providing training to the management students, T&P under the knowledgeable guidance of its Director, Prof.R.Prasad has brought into place a 4-layered training component, which includes, Soft Skills, Operation Workout, Summer Internship Program [SIP] and Placements [place-ability and placements]. The 4-layered training component is integral to the 4 Semesters of INC's post graduate management program. If soft skills offers enabling skills to management students, Operation Workout, SIP and Placement preparation further reinforces the same. Operation Workout provides the students "the first point of contact with the market." Here the individual and collaborative exercises based on the concepts taught in the classroom in a week's time, are evolved by the faculty at INC Centres. And the students need to complete these exercises by visiting the corporate/business house/commercial firms, to observe and report on 'what exactly is' as prevalent in a real market situation. Operation workout is strengthened and made more corporate-oriented by introduction of Short Selling Assignment [SSA] and Short Paying Assignments [SPA], wherein the corporate provides short work and paid assignments to the students.

These SSAs and SPAs aim at not only enhancing the students corporate exposure, but also to escalate their understanding of the day-to-day operations of the corporate. The Semester III students are ready to handle these short-term work assignments, with the corporate considering SSA/SPAs as testing tools or trial period, before offering the students the final placement offer with their organizations. The SSAs and SPAs are to be seen as a continuation and strengthening of the 4month Summer Internship experience, where the students were continuously associated with industry/company/corporate through Executive Training [ET] and Corporate Training [CT] which culminates with the submission of Management Thesis [MT]. These efforts are continued, sustained and achieved through the content and context of Semester III, with SSAs and SPAs contributing in a big way in fulfilling this. The rigorous training provided to the management students at INC is distinct and different, but it is this factor that dominantly ensures their 'corporate readiness' and makes them ready to face any industry challenges. ICFAI National College, that made a humble beginning in 2003 with 7 Centres and 350 students, is now [2007] 162 Centres strong with 18000 students spread across the length and breadth of India. What contributed to INC's success is the enriched training facilities at all INC Centres and the power-packed curriculum the prepares the corporate-ready management student. But, all this could not have been possible, if not for the corporate/industry's notable gesture in offering continuous feedback, and in acknowledgment of industry-relevant management education offered by INC.