‘Jamia Hamdard’s BMS course is industry-driven; saw 80-85% placement’: Dean, School of Management

NEW DELHI: N Ravichandran, dean, School of Management and Business Studies, Jamia Hamdard, spoke with Careers360 on its newly-launched healthcare management course, skills-based short-term courses, focus on furtistic skills, Ayushman Bharat-based policy recommendations and more. Edited excerpts:

Q. Jamia Hamdard’s NIRF management ranking has improved over the years.

A. There are three ways we look at growth. One is industry research-oriented programmes, which have been key for our ranking improvement. Over the last three years, our ranking has improved from 100 in 2022 to 96 in 2023. And a further focus on student research programmes helped us improve the ranking to 78 this year. For the last 15 years, our focus has been on research-oriented action through faculty mentorship and supervision in order to strengthen creativity and innovation.

However, in the last three years, we have built our entire curriculum around market-led activities, which has been one of our key success areas. We are redesigning our thinking towards employability. We are building research and data perception as key to strengthening the courses.

Q. Has any new course been launched or is there any in the pipeline?

A. Last year, we introduced a four-year Bachelor of Management Studies (BMS) in healthcare with 25 seats. From the third year onwards, the seats can be increased, as mandated by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE). We have launched the second batch this year. For the last two years, we have received an overwhelming response with the filling up of 42 seats. Students were admitted on the basis of the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) score.

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We are also working on short-term courses to strengthen every programme. For example, we have a general management course on finance. Here we are focussing on a financial analyst short-term course. These courses will be a valuable addition to the existing ones. We are introducing these courses through three layers with a choice-based credit system. This is introduced in reference to the new National Education Policy which mandates all institutes to build one skill vertical oriented to internships. The short-term courses are of shorter duration. For instance, data analytics short-term courses will be completed in six to eight months, whereas choice-based credit courses will have to be taken up every semester along with a more hands-on internship.

We have involved alumni and industry experts to ensure the courses and curriculum are industry-relevant. We have also tied up with organisations like IBM to develop these skill-based courses and also deliver the content. Some of the courses include data analytics, financial analytics, robotics, mechatronics, cyber security and the internet of things (IoT). Through this, we want to empower young minds with futuristic skills. Every semester, students from all courses have to take one mandatory skill course along with an internship in the fourth year after completing different levels of the course.

Further, we are also launching degree programmes in new-age skills. We have identified a few companies like Maruti Suzuki for degree and skills-based programmes. These will be introduced with the existing programmes of the university, without disturbing the curriculum, but as a new skill. We are also forging a partnership with Deloitte for finance-related programmes to provide industry knowledge to students. 70% of these courses will be industry training within the company and 30% in curriculum, including assignments, practicals and classes. These are purely industry-driven programmes where students might get absorbed by the companies.

Also, we have been reviewing every programme every year before admissions begin. We are also building on the corporate social responsibility component where we are talking to nearby villages enhancing the skill vertical for employability and livelihood options in these villages.

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Q. How has the school's placement been for the past few years?

A. The placement has been around 80%-85% for the department. While the overall placement across institutes hasn’t been great due to economic slowdown and recession, our placement has been good because we focus on the service and manufacturing industry. Even during lockdown, our department had a placement rate of more than 88%. Our courses are diverse and mostly focus on service verticals. Our average salary is around Rs 6-7 lakh per annum and the highest is around Rs 16 lakh per annum. In the entire university, management and engineering courses are given much more attention in terms of placements.

Q. The department also offers PhD programmes. What type of research does the department engage in?

A. The research programmes are focussed on community development, overall knowledge and capacity building of human resources available in the system. We also contribute to collaborative exercises to improve health systems, including policy development and strategy management. We have supported the ministry of education in Ayushman Bharat. We did a study through the Indian Council of Social Science Research on communicating how the scheme can reduce out-of-hand expenditure. The study suggested that building centres at the district level would strengthen the communicable and non-communicable disease programme. This would help overcome the healthcare and disease burden and strengthen the overall health mechanism. It also suggested focussing not just on prescription but on prevention, promotion and production. Based on this study, the government has started health and wellness centres across districts. This report is recommended for publishing by the ministry.

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Q. What are some recent partnerships to foster research and innovation?

A. We have many industry collaborations, including the automobile industry like Tech Mahindra. We also have agreements with Max, Fortis, Batra Hospital, HCL and others who often come and train our students.

We recently collaborated with centre skill councils and associations across industries, such as automobile and healthcare, to help us strengthen internship, apprenticeship and job placement opportunities.

Q. While Jamia Hamdard’s main focus is health and medicine, what value does the management department bring here? And how do you stand apart from others?

A. We look at ourselves distinctly due to the courses we offer. For instance, our hotel management course has food processing and entrepreneurship. If we look at our courses, we have kept general management, while others bring in more specialised ones. But the industry demands more generalist skills these days. Our B.Com programme is almost four years old and we focus on bringing the commerce aspect in running a health institute.

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In management programmes, we talk about cost-effectiveness, efficiency and productivity. But you need to know commerce, business application, financial market and productivity and make sure the service is doing well. And for that, especially in hospitals, one needs to study courses like B.Com. This is across all verticals and courses.