Dr. Debapratim Purkayastha, Director of IBS Case Research Center, at ICFAI Business School, Hyderabad, recently had his views published among the 'Expert Views' in 'Dun & Bradstreet India's Top 500 Companies'. Read on to see what he has to say!
ICFAI Business School is one of the leading B Schools in India since 1995. What are some of the key milestones you have achieved in the past two decades or so?
Since its inception, ICFAI Business School Hyderabad (IBS) has focused on quality curriculum and Case-based teaching which prepares our students for their future careers. As early as 2000, we became India’s first Case publishing school to support Case-based teaching at ICFAI and cater to other B-Schools globally. IBS is a constituent of the ICFAI Foundation for Higher Education (IFHE), Deemed University, has initiated a 100% Case-based MBA in 2008.
We are also one of the first three institutes in Asia to earn the coveted SAQS accreditation by AMDISA in 2006, and in 2012 we became the first to be reaccredited.
In 2015, IFHE obtained a NAAC Accreditation ‘A+’ Grade with an impressive Institutional CGPA score of 3.43 out of 4. In 2018, we debuted at 22nd position in the NIRF rankings, and as of 2020, we are in the 25th position, placing us among the leading B-Schools in the country.
The latest milestone is attaining the AACSB accreditation in 2020, placing IBS Hyderabad among the elite B-Schools in India. Also, IBS Hyderabad became the only institute in India to be accredited for its programs at all three levels -- BBA, MBA, and Ph.D.
Leadership development is perceived to be one of the low priority areas for businesses, especially in situations such as the pandemic situation. What is your view on this?
ICFAI is zealously process-oriented, but we are a people-powered organization. We believe in leadership development and feel that there should be an enhanced emphasis on training and development during a downturn or a crisis situation, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. This is the time for the personnel to learn new skills and develop competencies that will help them adapt to new business reality. It is critical to maintaining business continuity as well as excel in the post-pandemic world.
What are some of the new courses you have launched recently that can add value in the light of the ongoing pandemic situation?
In keeping with the times, we introduced courses in MarTech, Fintech, Managing Platform Businesses, Analytics in all functional disciplines, Artificial Intelligence, Agile HRM, etc. We also introduced nine electives in Healthcare Management, and one on Positive Psychology for Managers, which will better prepare students for the post-pandemic world. Our strength in Cases enables us to bring the most contemporary themes into the classroom much before they even appear in textbooks. It also helps bring critical issues relating to social, environmental, and ethical dimensions of business decisions into the classroom, preparing our students for a post-pandemic world where there will likely be more focus on sustainability.
The above views were originally published in Dun & Bradstreet India's Top 500 Companies 2020. To read more, click here.