Professor Tanusree Dutta, Faculty at IIM-Ranchi, was recently voted by the students of IIM-Ranchi as the InsideIIM Professor of The Year! She was kind enough to answer a set of questions we posed to her around her experience as a Professor at one of India's top IIMs, teaching some of the brightest minds in the country. Here is what Professor Dutta has to say -
What is the best part about teaching these future leaders in your classroom?
The best part about teaching these future leaders is that coming to a completely new type of programme from a diverse academic background, most of them are very eager to learn.
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our students have praised you for the interesting ways in which you teach your classes to make studies interesting. How important do you think this approach is for the students to cope with the real world out there?
The imparted learning must have a takeaway which should enable the students to deal with problems that they would face in the future.
Cases, real-life examples, academic models/theories, projects with peers - What according to you is most effective in teaching your subject to the students in the classroom?
A well-balanced combination of all these and more is what is more effective.
How has the use of technology transformed the modern MBA classroom?
It has made teachers get access to a variety of pedagogical tools for teaching effectiveness, get to know about the happenings in the world of business almost on a real-time basis, and has eased the ways of sharing resources with students.
How do you feel when you see people whom you have taught become successful in their lives and conquer the professional world out there?
It is something to cherish and very difficult to pen in words.
Give us one student’s story that you have closely followed or tell us about that one student who had amazing growth during their MBA and surprised you?
It is difficult as a teacher to isolate one among all equals to you.
What are the kind of changes/developments that you see in the B-school curriculum in the years to come?
The curriculum has become more practice-oriented, focused on strategic issues and a greater emphasis is being laid on the concerns of individuals in a corporate setting.
What according to you are some of the qualities that an aspiring B-school student must possess?
An aspiring B-school student should be more empathetic and humane, have analytical skills, have an open mind with a willingness to learn new things.
What are your thoughts about InsideIIM’s Professor of the Year initiative?
It is an excellent initiative. This endeavour from InsideIIM will definitely spur faculty to do better each year.
You can find out more about Professor Dutta here.
About the InsideIIM Professor of The Year competition:
While attending a class you might feel the sudden urge to check your phone chiming a notification, saying your crush has just accepted your friend request. You would probably neglect the professor for a while to sneak your phone out too. The professor, teaching in class, might look like the least important aspect of your life at this moment.
But, when faced with a business challenge, you would immediately go back to the teaching of that particular professor in your class. A mumbling thanks would naturally come on to your lips.
Hence we at InsideIIM decided to give an opportunity to students across MBA campuses in India to openly talk about their favourite professors and let others know how their contribution is making a significant impact to their respective lives.
Enthralled by the overwhelming 1000+ responses we received from MBA students across Indian business schools, we decided to share the names of all the professors with the highest number of votes from different B-schools.
Also read in our Professor of The Year series: