The Jaipuria Group’s contribution to the Indian education has a long history going back to the pre-Independence days. Established in 2008, Jaipuria School of Business is among the youngest of the Educational Institutions set up by the House of Jaipurias, which is now headed by Shri Shishir Jaipuria, Chairman & Managing Director of Ginni Filaments, a reputed Textile Company in India. The institute’s Mission is to stay ahead of time by imparting the latest knowledge and skills and grooming highly competent managers for the future.
Way back in 1956, Dr. Rajaram Jaipuria, a scion of the house of Jaipurias, was in a discussion with the Japanese Textile Machinery Suppliers. When asked to give an official offer for machines, the Japanese wanted to know whether Dr. Rajaram’s focus was on quantity or quality. As a young businessman in his early 20s, Dr. Rajaram was thoroughly confused. He was at a total loss of words, as he had never thought in term of product quality until that time. For him, higher production was the only route to profitability.
Asking them to quote a price for both, Dr. Jaipuria went and met the Chairman of Fujibo, with whom he had a personal equation and who was guiding him through the process of finalizing the orders. The Chairman explained to him what the Japanese suppliers meant; he said, “If you want more quantity, they would offer you high-speed machines and if you want quality, they would offer you more machines because you would run them at a lower speed to ensure quality.”
As a youngster, the discussions with the Japanese was a useful lesson for Dr. Jaipuria. However, he was always open for new learnings in life. In his autobiography, Textile Legend Unravels, describing the talks with the Japanese, he writes, “Even this useful lesson has lost its relevance – nowadays higher speeds do not necessarily imply lower product quality. In fact, new technologies are generally able to improve quality while enhancing productivity.”
A great Industrialist, Educationist, Entrepreneur, Philanthropist and above all a great human being, Dr. Jaipuria has always been a step ahead of his competitors. Following the footsteps of his late father Padma Bhushan Seth Mangturam Jaipuria, who had set up the famous Jaipuria College in Calcutta way back in 1945, Dr. Rajaram Jaipuria established many educational institutions all over India, starting with the K-12 School in Kanpur in 1972 and also patronized the Char Dham Ved Nyas, imparting Vedic education in Sanskrit from ‘Prathama’ to ‘Acharya’ levels at five religious centres of India.
Jaipuria school of business was established in the year 2008 by Dr. Jaipuria. The development story of India had picked up by then and there was a huge gap between the number of management graduates that were coming out of business schools and the number of skilled managers required by the industry. Dr. Jaipuria could visualize early that India would rise fast through the second and third decades of the 21st Century, and India would be home to the youngest workforce in the world during this growth phase. He thought of bridging the gap between demand and supply of competent managers and established the Jaipuria School of Business ahead of time.
Current Chairman of the institute, Shri Shishir Jaipuria believes in empowering the students with cutting-edge skills and competence to make the students battle-ready for the 21st century. Dr. SK Mahapatra, Director, Jaipuria School of Business, says, “We see ourselves as a Future Academy, and we constantly strive to stay ahead of time.” His message to students joining the campus is beautifully depicted at the entrance lobby, on a large picture hanging on the Wall, “Take your wings here; Experience personal care.” The whole campus from classrooms to corridors has ‘Speaking Walls,’ conveying subtle messages that would stay a lifetime with the students even after leaving the campus.
A Future-Ready Campus
“During the first three industrial revolutions, the pace of industrial growth has been relatively slow, and it was possible for human mind to comprehend the journey and succeed. This year, speed of industry 4.0 has taken everyone’s breath away. Powered by Internet and computer technology, the scientists have started dabbling with artificial intelligence, machine learning, Internet of things, robotics, design thinking, and a high degree of advanced data analytics,” opines Dr. Mahapatra. Jaipuria School of Business is one of the few business schools who saw the early signs of industry 4.0 and established an advanced center for Data Analytics. The faculty who heads the Centre holds her MS and PhD degrees from the US.
At the Centre for Advanced Data Analytics, students of Jaipuria School of Business would get the chance to upgrade their analytical skills and develop capabilities to exploit data analytics for solving problems and identifying opportunities, so that they can make better business decisions. They can learn how to examine large data sets to uncover hidden pattern, unknown relationships, market trends, customer preferences, optimizations of services and other useful business information through live data of an industry. “The three most important competencies that has been identified for industry 4.0 are; critical thinking, creative problem-solving and communication. The faculty in business schools are expected to train their students in these skills and develop their competence,” pinpoints Dr. Mahapatra.
Jaipuria School of Business has already set up an advanced MOOC laboratory for students to enroll and get certified in new age skills going far beyond their MBA syllabus and language labs for learning communication skills in multiple languages. “We have integrated all the necessary facilities that are required for preparing students for industry 4.0. Incidentally, we also have a center for creativity and innovation. We also have an entrepreneurship cum innovation lab at our campus for giving live experience of entrepreneurship to our students,” states Dr. Mahapatra.
Indeed, creativity and innovation are close to the heart of Jaipuria School of Business. Dr. Mahapatra adds, “The modern-day business has a myriad of challenges in terms of sustainability. By adopting techniques of creative problem-solving, our students try to resolve complex problems of the society, be they related to the environment or related to economic growth and development.” The faculty members also encourage students to indulge in critical thinking and creative problem-solving. The institute has created simulated environment in the classroom projects for students to master the skills required for Innovation.
“As far as qualities we nurture among our students in campus, these are values easy to remember in an acronym – 7C. Each value we promote starts with a letter C. These values are mentioned in a specific order, and these are; Character, Commitment, Courage, Communication, Creativity, Collaboration, and Compassion. These are humane qualities which supplement the 8th C, called Competence, by providing it a razor-sharp edge,” explains Dr. Mahapatra.
The Battle – Ready Managers
It is difficult to comprehend the future of work in the current situation. People are apprehensive that there will be massive job losses due to the machines taking over jobs hitherto done by human beings. Dr. Mahapatra says, “There is another school of thought which believes that while the difficult jobs requiring muscular power and a little bit of logical analysis will go to machines, high-quality jobs requiring emotional quotient and complex reasoning, will still be available in plenty for human beings. The bottom line is that there is an apprehension of dehumanization of human society.”
In this changing times, Jaipuria School of Business remains futuristic owing to its strong collaboration with the leading industry players and global universities. “We have a deep association with the industry captains and we regularly hold round tables and conclaves inviting industry leaders to our campus,” claims Dr. Mahapatra. Jaipuria School of Business has signed MoU’s with five reputed industries. For instance, Gold Plus Industries alone takes a dozen as summer interns and provides all of them with regular job offers after they complete their management course at Jaipuria School of Business. Dr. Mahapatra adds, “Our campus placement record is 100 percent, which is an indication of the acceptance of our students’ competence level by our industry partners.”
Last year, over 60 companies visited the Jaipuria campus for recruitment and the students had as many as five options each. “We are proud of all our students. They come from humble backgrounds but make it to their coveted companies. The number of preplacement offers is rising every year and its almost one third of the students going for summer internship projects,” says Dr. Mahapatra. Jaipuria School of Business has received many awards for academic excellence and for outstanding placements. Dr. Mahapatra pinpoints, “As far as placement is concerned, we believe that everybody is talented and has a good destiny. Our job as faculty is to give proper education and create the first job opportunity for every student.”
Although, the students of Jaipuria School of Business get some of the best companies as recruiters at the end of their PGDM program, for Dr. Mahapatra and his team, the company where a student starts her/his career does not matter much. For them, where the student finishes his career-journey and how much she can rise matters most. Therefore, the institute does not encourage students to focus on how much money they can get in their first job, what designation or role with which they start their career or what is the brand of the company they join in their first job. Instead, the institute teach the students to focus on a job-role as close to their area of interest. Dr. Mahapatra explains, “We believe that every child has a positive destiny, and the student should eventually find his or her career destination for which he or she is naturally gifted. We encourage students to create their own brand-identity and be a happiness multiplier for the society. Earning money and status has to be a byproduct only.”
On the other side, Jaipuria School of Business has given a lot of importance to entrepreneurship, which is the essence of management education. “Every subject that is taught in a Business School is relevant for conducting effective business. However, in the limited sense of starting a new business, there are specific courses, which are offered to student so that they get an idea of how to start a new business from zero level, with an idea in mind and an empty pocket,” claims Dr. Mahapatra. From selling the idea and sourcing funds for business, from market research to product or service design, from developing prototypes and beta testing to factory level upscaling of operations, from frugal manning to full manning, Jaipuria School of Business covers every aspect of entrepreneurship in the syllabus. Dr. Mahapatra adds, “An Innovation Lab is being added to the Campus in the current year for budding entrepreneurs, with a support system which can be accessed globally from ideation to fundraising, operations and marketing. We have partnered with reputed Innovators to bring in their expertise to our classroom.”
From this academic year, the Innovation cum Entrepreneurship Lab of Jaipuria School of Business will become the embryo for incubating start-up entrepreneurs. The institute is also hosting an International Conference on 31st August 2019, at India International Centre, New Delhi on a theme, that is most relevant for today, ‘Emergence of Artificial Intelligence & Internet of Things and how it is impacting our Society, Business and Education.’ “At the moment. our Campus is getting ready to receive the 12th Batch of PGDM students, 120 bright young men and women, who shall formally commence their management education from the current academic session. In coming September, we shall have the 10th Annual Convocation for the batch of students who have successfully completed their 2-year program and who are already members of the corporate world now. We wish them good luck and God Speed,” concludes Dr. Mahapatra.
Dr. SK Mahapatra, Director
Dr. Mahapatra has worn many hats in his long-distinguished career as an Academic and as a Corporate leader. Alumnus of Hindu College in Delhi, and Post-Graduate topper of Delhi University, Dr. Mahapatra started his career as a Lecturer in Political Science 36 years ago. He moved onto Corporate and held distinguished managerial roles in the public sector as well as private sector. He took a break from Corporate career to teach at the Xavier Institute of Management for four years and returned to Corporate as Head of HR at TATA Metaliks. Subsequently, he headed HR at a South Korean Steel major’s Indian Arm – the $12 bn POSCO India project and later moved on to head the HR functions at the largest Steel & Power project of Jindal at Angul in Odisha. He held the position of Group Ethics Officer at JSPL for two years before moving on to head HR at Bajaj Power as President.
Since July 2016, Dr. Mahapatra has been heading Jaipuria School of Business with a mission to transform Management Education in India. Dr. Mahapatra was felicitated as one of the most influential HR leaders in India at the 25th Convention of the World HRD Congress in February 2017. He is a recipient of the Rashtriya Shiksha Gaurav Puraskar 2018.