IMS BIKANER -

MY INSTITUTIO

N BUILDING

EXPERIENCES

By :Dr. Trilok Kumar Jain

Management Consultant and Career AdvisorAfterschool Career Guidance Trust

Sivakamu Veterinary Hospital Road,Baginada Bikaner 334001, Rajasthan, India

Mobile : 9414430763, 0151-2544275Jain.tk@gmail.com, www.afterschool.tk

At IMS Bikaner, we were blessed with guidance from many eminent personalities of that time, that included the following : -

Prof. V.S. Vyas, Ex-Director of IIMAProf. Azhar KazmiProf. Ravi Tikku, Principal of BJS Rampuria Jain College BikanerProf. M.L. MishraProf. Udai Pareek, Ex-professor of IIMA

With their guidance, we were able to prepare a roadmap for the progress of IMS Bikaner. We had following roadmap in our mind : - To form strong alumni network To emphasize on research and publicationsTo form strong network with industry and corporates To provide rigorous education To encourage comprehensive summer training to the students To have daily seminars – with focus on high quality in content and delivery To invite best visiting faculties for updation on latest themes in management education

A roadmap helps and it worked in IMS Bikaner also. I remember the great contribution of Prof. S.S. Surana, Dr. Om Kuvera, Dr. N.S. Rathore, Dr. Mukta Arora, Dr. Aruna, Dr. G.M. Saxena, Dr. M.R. Khatri, Dr. Ved Sharma, Dr. S.D. Dave,Dr. Pant, Dr. Amod Bhardwaj, Dr. Meenakshi Handa, Dr. Sanjeev Prasher, Dr. D.K. Khatri, Dr. Neeraj Anand, Mr. Atmaram, Mr. Anil Lata, Ms. Shiran Mukerjee, Mr. Jugraj Sethia (who was the Secretary of the Managing Committee), Mr. U.C. Kochar (who later became Secretary of the Managing Committee), Mr. Bhanu Prakash Purohit, Mr. Mangilal, Mr. Moolsingh, Mr. Narsingh Das Maru (he was a very devoted class IV employee, he died in an accident, we had started Antakshri Competitions in his memory) and others.

Students from Bikaner used to be hesitant in English speaking. I used to give particular attention to this aspect and used to conduct special classes for the students in English communication. I recall the great contribution of Dr. M.R. Khatri in this regard. I appreciate his contribution.

We used to induct students in every activity of the institution. There were active students empanelled in every committee of the student. We had students working in academic committee, visiting faculty committee, placement committee, industrial tour committee etc. The students were actually our main workers. They used to work and learn. I remember that when I was compiling database of alumni and trying to contact them, Mr. Ali Menon (who was a student of MBA at that time) used to offer great support. The contacts with alumni helped us in getting their support in many forms – including support in summer training, support in arranging industrial tours and support in placements of our students.

Focus on Research and Publications - When we started the newsletters (FCD Summary) and the journal (Bikaner Journal of Management), we found that there were many supporters who we had ignored. I recall that for the first few issues of the journal, we didn’t face any problem. There were many donors willing to help us in publication of journal and other such materials. We used to work with the mission of establishing IMS Bikaner as a strong brand and we were successful in our ventures. We were excited when Business India ranked our institute as A+ institute and ranked us as 35 ranked business school in the country.

Student groups - We had many active student groups, where students used to devote lot of time for preparation on some themes. There was a spiritual discussion group called SOUL, where we used to have some or other spiritual discussions. We also had a group on marketing – which used to formulate marketing related plans and projects. We used to have regular reading of economic times in FCD Club. We used to have a research club – where students used to discuss about research issues. There were many students activities, which were of very high quality. Many of these activities didn’t have any faculty involvement. It used to be purely students organized programme. Mind your Mind was one such programme – where students used to invite some spiritual trainer to train the students in Yoga, Meditation and Self Control. The students used to extensively participate in many social development activities. I remember, that the students gave their full support to many social and cultural organizations. I remember that students like Manoj Nagpal organized surveys of Harizan Basti in Bikaner and recommended course of action for their development. There were some student groups, which prepared marketing plans for Indian Oil, BPCL and other companies in Bikaner. The students also prepared marketing strategies for other institutions – for example – one group of student prepared marketing strategies for some schools in Bikaner.

Seminars – the most memorable moments - Students had to present their seminars almost every day. The seminar could be a presentation on some contemporary issue or it could be summer training report. We used to give very high emphasis on quality of summer training. If a student couldn’t give convincing presentation of his summer training – he would be asked to undertake summer training again. We had established a very rigorous system of summer training. The student had to take prior permission regarding his topc of study and get it approved through a synopsis. His research methodology and research instruments had to be approved. We used to take regular feedback from the industry project guide also. There were some enthusiastic students, who used to give more than one seminar during a sessions. These seminars were an occasion for their development. Students of final year used to help the students of first year in preparation of the seminar. There would be one chairperson and one speaker (out of the students only) for the seminar. The students used to prepare seminar leads, seminar synopsis, seminar invitation well in advance and used to circulate it widely in the campus. The speaker used to take 30 minutes in presentations, followed by queries / debates / discussions – which used to take another 30 minutes. The later part – the queries / debates / discussions used to be more interesting and exciting. The students had their own informal groups and they used to spend nights in preparing for seminars. The rival groups used to prepare well for the seminars also and used to ask tricky questions at the end of the seminars. We also used to have regional and national seminars.

I recall tremendous support that I got from many persons in organizing national seminars. When I organized National Seminar on Management of NGOs, I got tremendous support from Dr. Om Kuvera, Dr. V.N. Singh, Mr. Arvind Ojha, Mr. Yogendra Kumar Rawal, Mr. Indu Bhushan Goyal, Mr. Deep Chand Sankhla, Mr. Mool Chand, Mr. M.L. Saini and others. The national semiar was a great success. Large number of MBA students prepared papers for the seminar and there were two sessions dominated by the papers presented by the MBA students. I recall that Mr. Apoorva Dubey and Mr. Ashish PUgalia (both were MBA students) worked very hard during those days in organizing seminar. Prof. V.S. Vyas gave full support during the seminar. He motivated Dr. Sunil Ray and Dr. Jain to participate in the seminar. Just after this seminar, we had another seminar, organized by Dr. Om Kuvera.

Outstanding staff club - Dr. S.D. Dave had organized a staff club, which consisted of some fund generated collectively by all the staff. We used to contribute some amount of money to the staff club every month. This money was used to providing financial support / loan to staff members who needed it. Many persons were able to get funding for their financial needs through this staff club. The staff club used to offer gifts and mementoes in all important occasions. If there would be marriage of any staff member or his / her son / daughter, there would be some gift by our staff club. There used to be one party hosted by staff club every year, in which we used to have one meeting and then we used to have lunch. The meeting used to be presided by the senior most person and Dr. S.D. Dave used to read out the minutes of the staff club meetings and used to declare the dividend of the staff club fund. I have not seen any other similar club working so devotedly for the interests of the staff members. When Mr. Narsingh Das Maru died, the staff club immediately provided support to the bereaved family of Mr. Maru and represented his case to the management. The management agreed to give some financial support to his family and to provide employment to the son of Mr. Maru.

Some Important features

We used to organize some programmes regularly and it was a regular feature. For example, on 9 January every year, we used to organize a Quiz – in which all the schools and colleges of Bikaner would participate. On 26 Feb we used to organize pre-budget discussion, followed by post budget discussions on 2 March every year. These activities were almost routine activities.

Admission Counselling

We used to provide pre-admission counseling and training to the students. We used to get students through all Rajasthan Entrance Test – and we used to provide free training and guidance to the students. The students had to appear for counseling at Jaipur. A few of us used to go to Jaipur to provide counseling and support to the students.

Participation in FDPs

The institute used to encourage us to participate in FDPs and other such occasions. Many faculty members participated in many such events. Many faculty members did refresher courses. Many faculty members participated in national seminars / conferences. Considering the fact that it was a self financed institution, it was a great step to encourage faculty members to participate in such occasions

Innovative courses and programmes - Our institute was pioneer in introducing innovative courses and programmes. We were the first in the district to start courses on computer science, courses on hotel management, courses on French and German language, courses on English speaking, courses on vocational skill training, courses on journalism, courses on entrepreneurship and a lot of other courses. All these helped us in developing the society and in establishing our linkages. We conducted many programmes for NGOs and social development organizations. We conducted studies and research for NGOs like the Hunger Project, Ajit Foundation etc. All these helped us in doing our ultimate work – upliftment of society. It was a purely academic pursuit - many money minded persons of today may not believe in all such activities.

Industry Interactions - We used to have extensive industry interactions. We got support from Bombay Stock Exchange. Local entrepreneurs like Mr. Triloki Kalla, Mr. Hemant Daga, Mr. Ashok Dhariwal, Mr. Sridhar Sharma, Mr. K.B. Gupta, Mr. Mathur, Mr. Pachisia were always keen for association with us. Our students did many projects for them. The Rotary Club Bikaner organized a programme to recognize our contribution, in which all the industrialists gathered to recognize our institute’s contribution.

Great Academics - Dr. Sanjeev Prasher used to take extra classes on Sundays to make the students strong in marketing. We used to give focus on marketing. Some people say – business is marketing – we also believed in this. Faculty members also used to give seminars and discuss about their research projects / publications. We always ensured that students read the best books available for the subject – even if that book was very high priced. Good books ensured good inputs and it helped us in developing the students. We used to offer tremendous support to the students. Whether it was study material / book / summer training / placement / career guidance / seminar or any topic – we were always available. Our close association with students helped us in creating a strong fabric of rigorous academics.