Dr. Janaki Naik, an academician with 22 years of work experience has complete clarity and belief that a course may be called well designed only if it improves the employability of a student. She says, “Academia should get inputs from the corporate world, before a course is designed to ensure that the industry get young professionals who can hit the ground running”.
Explaining the process of designing a world-class course she says that KIAMS keeps two major stakeholders at the centre of course design – the students and the recruiters. The course, thus is designed for the market at large and the sector orientation is built in through elective choices. The students have a wide choice as the course is multidisciplinary in nature i.e., a student is free to choose electives across streams to equip himself/herself for a career of his/her choice. This is the USP of the course at KIAMS and one can also do general management if one chooses to, without specializing in any area.
The system builds competencies that the recruiters find a fine combination of subjects which they may not generally find in other candidates. For instance a student from KIAMS may have a dual specialization in HR & Finance, or Operations and Finance/HR. “A wisely designed course”, she states, “Is one which gives a student freedom to choose a career and get formal education for the same, which is generally not possible in our education system.”
A course is designed to cater to the length and breadth of the competency basket required. The first years caters to the spread and the second to the depth. KIAMS draws on Bloom’s Taxonomy to create the right spread and depth. The PGDM Curriculum comprises of sub-systems which are the functional and integrative subject areas of Management. Each course has its own ‘Objectives’ and ‘Learning Outcomes’, which have to be aligned with the PGDM curriculum objectives and learning outcomes. The learning outcomes are in the personal, professional and social domains and the objective of the program is providing professionally trained manpower for industry to manage the functional system for current and future performance levels and providing community and society a member who is aware of his societal responsibilities while engaging in professional activities and who holds the two simultaneously.
The course development at KIAMS maps to the global perspective of management and enables development of new age skills of Strategic thinking, Creative problem-solving, Leadership skills and Communication skills. She believes that faculty evolves with the course and the faculty’s personality coupled with the course content can help young management aspirants succeed in the increasingly competitive world.