Quality management graduates will see a very high demand over a short term in the next few years, says Dr. Harshvardhan Halve ,Director Jaipuria Indore

As a young Asst. Professor with Jabalpur Univesity – also known as Rani Durgavati Vishwavidyalaya, Dr. Harshavardhan Halve was asked if he could take on the task of designing absolutely new computer courses – vocational and Post Graduate Program – in the university. This was the mid-nineties and a Diploma in interdisciplinary areas comprising computer and management was rather new to the Indian context. When he accepted the challenge, little did Dr. Halve know that it would be a defining moment of his career. Not only did he go on to introduce these course in Jabalpur University; the PG Diploma in Computer Management became the first programme in Jabalpur where 60% students were placed.

“I started this program with the aim to narrow the gap between demand and supply of talent,” recalls Dr. Harshavardhan Halve, who has just taken over as the Director, Jaipuria Institute of Management Indore. “For an academician, working for professional education it is essential to gauge market needs in terms of skilled manpower and try to develop new courses to cultivate skills in the aspirants. For example in IT industry the need for business analysts is increasing, as the challenges of expanding markets are increasing. That was the reason of developing a course to enhance skills in the area of business analysis.”

Ever since, Dr. Harshavardhan Halve has earned a name for alligning courses and colleges to industry. As a result, whichever institution he has served, has seen a marked improvement in placements; both in quality and quantity.At SPJIMR, Dr. Halve managed the Master’s in IT program with Virgina Tech, while during his 8-and-half year tenure at IMT, Nagpur, there was hardly any aspect of campus administration that he hadn’t combined with his academic responsibilities.

“Theory and practical are two parallel linesthat don’t often seem to meet each other. Therefore you have to practice the art of alligning them to each other. Academics and Administration are a similar combination and one needs to learn skills of both sides by practicing it simultaneously.”

It is probably for this ability that Dr. Harshavardhan Halve has been singled out to steer Jaipuria Indore.

“Jaipuria Indore is the only campus in Indore which has a national presence,” says Dr. Halve, throwing light on his areas of focus as the Head of the youngest Jaipuria campus.“It boasts of being one of the most modern facilities in the zone. None of the nationally known brands have a presencein Indore. For a PGDM campus, 5 major parameters observed globally – infrastructure and living experience, industry interface, intellectual capital, pedagogy and placements. Take a look around and you’ll see that Jaipuria Indore campus is at par with best B-Schools in India. The only requirement is to communicate this to the community. We want to position ourselves as one of the top B-school of central India and we have already started working towards it.”

Dr. Halve comes to Jaipuria Institute of Management Indore, directly from Goa Institute of Management, where he was the Professor – POM/ IT.

“This shift will give me a chance to own full administrative activity and responsibility. It provides me with the challenge to grow with a national B-school.”

Dr. Halve believes that India has come a full circle. While many view the upswing in the market for core Engineers, Dr. Halve feels that it is only to the advantage of focussed Management professionals.

“In early 90’s India started globalization and privatization and began opening its market to the world. This increased the concept of automation and led to a huge demand for Engineers, IT professionals and MCA’s. In the next decade, the challenges shifted towards effective administration; and hence the unprecedented demand for MBA’s. The market did slow down owing to the global phenomena and now that it is picking up again, it is clearly inclined in favour of innovation and innovative services industry grooming, like Whatsapp, Flipkart, Google, etc. This has again created a need for skilled Engineers and IT professionals. It is for this reason that Engineers and IT professional are shifting to their core education.Yet, the need to manage these industries require far more efficient and effective managers.”

Dr. Halve pinpoints that the demand will be balanced in coming years for both Core Engineering and Management. This in turn, indicates that the management spectrum is due to see a bull run in the short term.