Kirloskar Institute of Advanced Management Studies, one of the respected and renowned b-Schools in the country has raised the bar for management education in the last two years. Interestingly its recent rise coincides with its journey under the helm of its Principal Director, Dr. C. N. Narayana who took over the reins on 7th Jan 2015. So is the seasoned professional with over three two decades of industry and academic experience the architect of KIAMS’ accent to glory?
His own achievements along with that of the b-School in the last two years offer handsome testimony to that. Dr. Narayana won Indo-Global Best Director Award for B-Schools by Indo Global Chamber of Commerce and Industries and International Association for Academics and Research in February 2016, and Eminent Educationist Award by Indo-American Education Summit in September 2016, The Golden Globe Tigers award at Dubai in October 2016 amongst many others.
Winning the Bharat Vidhya Sheromani Award for Excellence in Education and Leadership from International Business Council, and a Gold Medal for Excellence in Management Education were remarkable achievements. Dr. Narayana was also awarded the Bharat Ratna Mother Teresa Gold Medal and Award for the contribution in building the nation (social work, education, girl child development) by Global Economic Progress Association New Delhi.
In the same period, the Competition Success Review felicitated KIAMS with the ‘Top Institutes of India’ award. It also won the Knowledge Management Leadership Award by World HRD Congress and Endorsed by World Thought Leaders. These accolades serve as solid evidence for the rise KIAMS has seen with its new Director. In NHRDN- People matters survey vetted by Industry professionals, KIAMS secured 48th position (TOP 50 business schools of India) in which on “Leadership and Governance” criteria, it was placed No.4, a remarkable achievement for KIAMS. It is also to be noted, KIAMS is now placed in TOP 50 in most of the business schools surveys and rankings. But to understand Dr. Narayana’s true contributions to the institute one has to take into account the initiatives he has put in place.
For starters, there has been a dramatic change in the curriculum of the flagship PGDM program at KIAMS. With the focus on practical exposure, Dr. Narayana has included live projects into the curriculum. The Business Immersion program has ensured that students get an insider’s view of the corporate world. Extra months have been added to the internship program so that students have more hands-on training. Joint research with faculty members is another effective initiative. He also introduced performance measurement for faculty and staff which includes delivery in Teaching, Research output and institutional building. Dr. Narayana himself demonstrated research output by publishing cases in the “Case Centre” U.K. and in International Journals. KIAMS also published 40 research papers from all over the world in the recently concluded International Conference in January 2017.
While there have been dynamic changes in the pedagogy, Dr. Narayana has also taken the right steps to ensure that the faculty team, which delivers the program has been strengthened. Several seasoned faculty members have joined the team, including the impressive Dr. D. N. Murthy with his twenty-three years of experience. He also introduced Experts Day Out, which brought names like Mr. Pradeep Kumar, Director, Hewlett Packard Global Analytics, Dr. Sundar Balakrishnan, Professor at University of Washington, Mr. Swaminathan Krishanan, V.P, Sasken Communication Technologies, Dr. Ashish Chandra, Director, UHCL, Texas, Mr. Shankar G. Rao, CIO, BOSCH to mention a few- to the campus.
KIAMS started 2017 with a bang as it hosted the 10th International Conference on Healthcare Systems and Global Business Issues. The conference brought together Healthcare administration and business administration faculty from US, UK, India, Turkey, Indonesia, Slovakia and several other countries. Dr. Ashish Chandra, Professor of Healthcare Administration at the University of Houston-Clear Lake, Pearland, Texas was the program chair of the conference along with Dr. Narayana and Dr. Murthy of the institute. In the presence of leading names like Alex Habib, Mariana Smith, a Prof. Phillip Decker, and Prof. Jordan Mitchell of University of Houston – Clearlake, USA and Dr. Bill Stroube, a renowned marketing professor from the University of Evansville, the conference turned out to be a huge success. Dr. Narayana and Dr. D.N.Murthy were instrumental in bringing the first ever joint consulting between the students of Howard University, USA and KIAMS, the program in which Howard University students did a joint consulting with KIAMS students and made presentations in Pune and Bangalore. This is the novel way of alliance bringing faculty and students and industry people in one single platform.
These steps and initiatives have ensured that students of the institute are ready for the challenges of the industry. Dr. Narayana has also done his best to groom them into well-rounded individuals. He has actively participated in the organisation of sports and cultural events that give students the best platform to showcase their skills. Hence it’s not surprising that KIAMS students have come into their own, and are brimming with confidence.
The results are there for all to see in the form of the recent placement record of the institute. Under Dr. Narayana’s guidance, there has been an increase in the number of multiple offers for students. Highest remuneration package received by a student was Rs. 14lakhs while the average salary package went up from 4 lakhs pa to 5 lakhs pa. These are heartening signs for KIAMS and its students. And with Dr. Narayana in charge of the future looks even more promising for them.