Pune, the second-largest city in Maharashtra after Mumbai, offers a lower cost of living and easy access to talented employees compared to other tech centers like Bangalore or Delhi. Over the past few years, the city’s tech ecosystem has gained increasing interest and developing a solid network of mentors, investors, and other supporting organizations. International School of Management & Research (ISMR), one of the premier business schools in Pune, has been an excellent contributor to the thriving business environment of the city. ISMR emphasizes collaboration over competition, resulting in a supportive environment that encourages students to forge close friendships and extend their learning beyond the classroom. This unique atmosphere develops thoughtful leaders who strive not only to succeed in business but also to have a positive impact on the community.
“I believe that certain underlying principles are the core of ISMR which will make sure its continuing pole position. In an attempt to educate leaders of tomorrow, we draw upon reserves of goodwill among the diaspora of our alumni, network among recruiters and potential students and we proudly flaunt the commitment of our faculty and staff,” says Jaikishan Bhutada, Founder Chairman, International School of Management & Research. Promoted by Shri Vighneshwara Education Society, an Indian rooted cluster committed to innovative growth, ISMR B-School team speaks the new language of success in the field of management education, leadership and entrepreneurship. It is anchored by an extraordinary force of dedicated and eminent leadership belonging to various sectors of corporate and academics. Being an emerging leader in management education, ISMR continues to search for opportunities to expand in the various landscapes to empower the youth.
Bhutada shares, “We have introduced an exemplar mentoring and tutoring system about a decade ago. It created new waves in the educational field with its radical and ground-breaking methodologies and became an intellectual destination drawing inspired students.” Today, ISMR represents a constellation of academicians, mentors, trainers, corporate partners, alumni and the young students, becoming a center of excellence. “We strive to nurture potential business managers on three pillars; skills that should match Data-Driven approach, decision-making skills with a data-driven and logical approach, and ability to enhance continuous learning,” adds Bhutada.
ISMR provides students with the real-life situations to apply management principles and guide them throughout the learning journey to become professionals in a particular skill set. “The skillset identification is the most crucial element of this method and that is made easy during their internships and live projects. We build their approach in understanding business problems with entrepreneurs’ vision,” pinpoints Bhutada. ISMR enables students to face these well-defined problems with long-term strategic decisions by applying scientific data-driven approach. For instance, ISMR provides handholding support to the students in analyzing industry through case studies, organization study programs and direct interaction with industry stalwarts. “We believe that education and learning are more important at the time of application of knowledge. Thus, we reinforce student’s capability in increasing grasping of new business terminologies with curious mindsets. This is in accordance with the third pillar as mentioned above to inculcate life-long learning,” explains Bhutada.
In Tune with the Industry
Bhutada and his team at ISMR consider industry and academic collaboration as the essence of management learning. He opines, “It is the soul of management education. Industry tie ups enable predication of current trends in management practice and enable help us to give a demonstration of industry practices, which supports student learning.” ISMR approaches industry tie-ups not only to secure placements but to expand the area of live learning experience for the students. The institute has fully-fledged resources completely dedicated to enabling industry tie-ups and interaction. In building corporate relations, ISMR puts its efforts for long-term mutual collaborations. “We organize guest lectures of prominent industry practitioners and also provide memberships of the various management associations to the students with an objective to streamline students in management arena,” shares Bhutada.
With an active industry-industry interface, ISMR has been able to offer excellent placement opportunities to its students. Augmenting the placement opportunities at ISMR is its dynamic Corporate Relations Department (CRD) that works with the primary objective of sharpening student’s skills in opportunity evaluation and helping them to understand the task, decisions and knowledge that are required to turn job opportunity into stepping-stone. The CRD is responsible for industry interface, Summer Internship and Final Placements activities at ISMR. “We have developed a rigorous structured training on enhancing on employability skills to ensure high-end best MBA placements in different industry verticals,” pinpoints Bhutada. ISMR has been able to fetch more than 90 percent placement over the past few years. The prominent recruitment partners are; Allstate, Eclerx, Bajaj, IDFC First Bank, Indusind Bank, Kingfish Consultants, Jaro Education, CCD, MRCC Software and Justdial.
On the other side, ISMR gives special emphasis to the startup movement and entrepreneurship environment. Bhutada says, “We have created an ecosystem of entrepreneurship by having an Incubation Centre at the campus. Entrepreneurship subjects have been given full credits. We also host the journeys of various entrepreneurs at the campus. We are a member of TIE Pune, Kirloskar Incubation Centre, Ecoexist India.” NSDM India is one of the successful ventures started by the students of IMSR. NSDM now provides classroom training and online digital marketing courses to impart practical internet marketing skills.
Today, ISMR is on a mission to be recognized as one of the premier management schools in India. To reach that stage, the institute is following a three-pronged approach: ASPIRE, ACQUIRE and ACHIEVE. Bhutada explains, “We will ASPIRE to grow our capacity, but do so in a thoughtful and strategic manner. ACQUIRE an unshakeable commitment to foster a diverse and inclusive community of learners, driven by values and energized by the meritocracy that should mark our institute. ACHIEVE a high-performance work environment by emphasizing and supporting a climate of autonomy, stretch, and teamwork.” While the world is witnessing global churn and unrest, a new hope is rising in India. “We are embarked on a fresh round of liberalization one that will take our economy to a higher peak. Let’s join hands to leverage this fresh liberalization. Join ISMR, where the sun never sets,” concludes Bhutada.