Calcutta Business School, a Business School of repute in Kolkata, set up by shikhshayatan Foundation under the under the leadership of reputed industrialists like Mr. S. K. Birla, Mr. B. K. Jhawar, and Mr. B. D. Sureka and experienced corporate leaders and reputed academicians, conferred Post Graduate Diploma in Management to the students who graduated in 2012.
Speaking on the occasion Mr. Girish Khaitan, presiding over as the Chairman of the Convocation proceedings, Calcutta Business School said that the School was set up with an objective to develop future leaders with the requisite skills and competencies which India needs in tens of thousands to fuel its growing economy. He said that developing managerial and leadership manpower with the right skills and competencies was critical in the socio-economic and socio-cultural context in India as on one hand there was a huge supply of graduates and post-graduates thanks to participation of private sector in education but on the other hand employability of the graduates and post-graduates, especially in technical fields like Engineering and Management, was plummeting to as low as 20-25%. He opined that Indian education sector was producing the numbers but the competencies of the graduates were increasingly being questioned.
The Chief Guest at the Convocation was Mr. P. R. Ramesh, Chairman, Deloitte India, said that change was needed in Management education in India as at many of our business education institutions, the management and entrepreneurship curriculum were outdated and detached from industry requirements. According to him, the teaching methodologies were mostly archaic and based on rote learning. He elaborated that Managerial and leadership competencies did not get developed by cramming notes.
Dr. Goutam Sengupta, Director, Calcutta Business School, inaugurated Industry-Institute Collaboration Cell of the Business School which is constituted with reputed corporate and business leaders. The Industry-Institute Collaboration Cell will be engaged in a continuous dialogue with the industry leaders to research and learn about the changing needs of managerial and leadership manpower in industries. The Cell will be keen to work on joint research projects with the industries and promote a platform where knowledge sharing among academic fraternity, students, executives and business leaders happen. The Cell plans to initiate studies in various areas in which industries are facing challenges and are looking for feasible solutions. The cell will also contribute to the adoption of a process of dynamic and evolving curriculum and pedagogy, which will be implemented through structured studies and learning from interactions with all stakeholders in business and industries. This initiative of Calcutta Business School is unique.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Sengupta said that Business Schools in India were facing a great danger of being irrelevant to the requirements of the industry unless they evolved their curriculum and teaching methodologies to address the needs of doing and managing business in the fast changing socio-economic, socio-political and business landscape. He said that academics detached from the realities and intricacies of industries and business were of little value and that kind of academics would not benefit any students. He further elaborated that academics which were not evaluated strictly on various parameters of quality linked to industry requirements would be wasted and would not contribute anything to the nation’s need.