JAGSoM adopts unique 3-step Pedagogy of Learning By Solving; Partners with Corporates to Deepen Student Learning by cracking real-time Industry problems

Often, Industry leaders decry that B-schools approach them with a transactional mindset – to merely seek Placements and Internships for their students. On the flip side, B-schools opine that most industry professionals are short on time, and are unavailable for developmental goals. One B-school that has developed a strategic pathway for effective corporate engagement is JAGSoM, an AACSB Accredited B-school with campuses in Bangalore and Greater Mumbai. JAGSoM has adopted a unique 3-step Pedagogy of ‘Learning By Solving’ that partners with Corporates to deepen Student Learning by solving real-time industry problems. This achieves desired results for both students and industry and creates a deep engagement cycle where placement is a natural outcome.

But, before we move forward, here is a quick recap of the eventful journey of Jagdish Sheth School of Management (JAGSoM):

JAGSoM’s Journey – Key milestones

• In 2010, BITS Alumni & Tech-entrepreneur Sanjay Padode took over as the Chairman of IFIM Business School, set up in 1995 by his Father late Shri VB Padode, founder of Dalal Street Journal (DSJ) Group.
• In 2018, IFIM Business School became the sixth B-school in India after ISB, TAPMI, IIM Calcutta, IMT Ghaziabad, and XLRI, to be AACSB Accredited.
• In the same year, Dr. Atish Chattopadhyay, former Director of IMT Ghaziabad, Dean of MICA, and Deputy Director at SPJIMR Mumbai joined IFIM Business School.
• In 2020, QS Masters in Marketing Ranking 2021 ranked JAGSoM amongst the Top 100 such programs in the world.
• On October 21, 2020, IFIM Business School Bangalore got rechristened as JAGSoM after globally respected management guru Padma Bhushan Dr. Jagdish Sheth.

JAGSoM has developed a Curriculum based on a study of Industry 4.0 needs in collaboration with the National HRD Network (NHRDN). This Curriculum is delivered through the unique pedagogy of ‘Learning by Solving’where students work in groups to solve real-life problems supported by Industry partners and mentored by faculty.

Now, let’s come to the unique 3-step Pedagogy of ‘Learning by Solving’ adopted by JAGSoM.

3-step pathway for ‘Learning by Solving’
There are 3 key interventions that every student at JAGSoM’s PGDM program goes through:

Step 1: Research Incubation or Innovation Incubation (RI/II):

Students work in small groups either on Research Projects or Start-Up Ideas, under the guidance of faculty mentors.

In the Research Incubation practice course, the focus is on research topics that impact practice where students get an in-depth understanding of various domains through sector and company analysis.

The Innovation Incubation practice course is aimed at developing the entrepreneurial mindset of students and at providing them with a structured path to creating and launching their startups.

Step 2: Career Track Program & Request for Problem (RFP) Project
Now comes the second step. The same student groups from the Research Incubation and Innovation Incubation practice courses, then move on to work on a live industry project in the Career Track program. Students select a Career Track aligned to their professional goals and do a deep dive immersion to acquire the required competencies and critical skills to become industry-ready. Career Tracks are offered to students in MarTech, Sales & Service, FinTech, Capital Markets, Banking, Business Analytics and HR-Digital Transformation.

The ‘Request for Problem’ (RFP) project is an integral component of the ‘Career Track’ Program. Each year, JAGSoM invites industry partners to refer business problems that they are currently facing which student consulting teams help to solve, each led by a full-time faculty member (or an interdisciplinary team of faculty members).

Step 3: Long Industry Internship Program (IIP)
The third and final step in the pathway is the unique 4 and a half month long industry Internship where the students intern with new-age companies to get hands-on experience. The IIP is an intensive immersion, enabling the students to apply the domain knowledge acquired in Research/Innovation Incubation, Career Track and RFP projects, while also understanding real-world industry applications.

Learning by Solving in Action: The Numly Case-study
The students of graduating batch of 2022 have made their way through the three-step learning pathway and the results have provided ‘proof of concept’ of the impact of this approach. One such case study is the student team who worked under Prof. Anand Narasimha, Professor in Marketing area at JAGSoM.

Led by Mr. Madhukar Govindaraju, Silicon Valley-based Numly's mission is to improve employee performance and employee engagement through the development of soft skills. Mr. Madhukar has attended the Doctoral program in Computer Engineering at the University of California, Irvine, and holds an M.S. in Computer Science from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. He has also attended the Executive Leadership Program at the University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business.

Start with Research Incubation
The student team working with Prof. Anand Narasimhainitiated the Integrated Pathway journey by working on a research paper titled ‘Applying Artificial Intelligence in the Customer Journey for Digital Shopping’ in their Research Incubation program. This research paper provided students with rich insights on fast-growing Digital Business and AI domains.

Then comes ‘Request for Proposal’
Thereafter, the student team moved on to working on an RFP project for Numly Inc., a Silicon-Valley based company. Numlyoffers AI-powered Peer Coaching on Critical Skills for large Enterprises, as part of their Career Track program in MarTech.

The student group worked onNumly’s RFP project titled ‘Studying the Product-Market Fit for Numly’s Offerings among Indian Enterprises’.

One of the JAGSoM students who worked on this project, Akshay Praneeth, summed up his experience as, “During the project, our team had a bundle of real-time corporate interactions which helped us not only to just accomplish the research objective but also to develop an evolved understanding of the work culture across a large number of Indian enterprises. This has made us well equipped and ready to conquer our career aspirations in Industry 4.0.”

Students earn valuable Industry Internship
Now comes the third stage – Industry Internship. Based on their performance in the RFP project and subsequent interviews, three students were selected for Internship by Numly and are currently interning there in marketing roles.

Situ Rani, PGDM 2020-22 Batch, who did her IIP with Numly shared her experience, “As an intern I found myself surrounded by mentors who were dedicated and helped me succeed. I was assigned tasks that challenged me and allowed me to put my classroom skills to the test in real-world circumstances.”

The icing on the cake was that Situ Rani was also offered the job at Numlyafter her IIP ended! Situ Rani said, “I am grateful to Numly for converting me as a full-time employee post the internship duration and welcoming me into their family.”

So, the experience of the students clearly shows the impact of the ‘Learning by Solving’ Integrated Pathway in enabling students to become industry ready for new-age roles by acquiring domain expertise.

‘Learning by Solving’ leads to Corporate Delight
JAGSoM’s Pedagogy of ‘Learning by Solving’ that partners with companies to deepen Student Learning by cracking real-time Industry problems is leading to Corporate Delight.

Mr. Madhukar Govindaraju, CEO & Founder, Numly, appreciated the output of the RFP project saying “For the first time, the students took a one-page Concept Card to speak to the customers and understand their needs. The project work generated key insights about how companies in India perceive their needs around Learning & Development and identified key gaps where companies need to invest more in their employees, by enabling People Managers to coach their teams and help in structured, data-driven, careers pathing.”

The above case study of Numly is just one of its many case studies, says JAGSoM. The Final Placements at JAGSoM is thus an engagement-driven process, and are the result of the Learning by Solving Integrated Pathway. So, let’s look at the latest JAGSoM Placements.

JAGSoM completes strong Placements 2022
JAGSoMhas completed Final Placements for its graduating PGDM Batch of 2022 with a significant shift in the recruitment profile in terms of roles, salaries, and recruiters. Let’s look at some of the key placement highlights.

JAGSoM Placements 2022: Key Highlights

Highest Salary: INR 22.25 Lakhs Per Annum CTC.

Average Compensation: INR 10.58 Lakhs Per Annum CTC.

Companies Visiting: 90+ recruiters with 40% of offers provided by the IT and ITes sectors, followed by the Financial Services and Management Consulting sectors.

Total Number of Offers: JAGSoM students have clinched more than 240 jobs from leading organizations including new participating companies

Top Recruiters: ZS Associates, SAP Labs, IBM, MerkleSokrati, Informatica, Decimal Point Analytics, Arcesium, BNY Mellon, Dell, Virtusa, Hexaware Technologies, Sonata Software, Wipro Digital, Aditya Birla Retail, Schneider Electric, Edelweiss, Brickwork Ratings among others.

Top Job Roles Offered: Consultant - Business Intelligence, Business Analyst, Analyst – Data Management, Business Strategy, Associate Analytics Consultant, Customer Success, Analyst - Hedgemark Risk, Strategic Capital Operations, Retail Lending - Operations, Analyst – Delivery Services, Project Management, Process Automation, Catalogue Lead, Digital Marketing.

Speaking about the Learning by Solving pedagogy and its impact on Placements, Isha Mukesh, PGDM 2020-2022 student, who is now working with Amazon, said “JAGSoM for me, has been a learning destination that has provided me with an amazing cohort of industry mentors who taught me to navigate my way in the dynamic market. JAGSoM's bespoke curriculum and Learning by Solving pedagogy provided me with a plethora of Career Track programs that groomed us for Industry 4.0 futuristic careers.I will be forever grateful for getting an opportunity to be a part of this amazing institution”.

Barun Jha, VP – Placements & Internship Committee, JAGSoM added, “The career track in MarTech, 'Request for Problem' and 'Industry Internship Program' experience helped me to apply concepts in real-life scenarios.”

JAGSoM informs that the students of the PGDM 2020-22 batch have also secured 100% Internships. The average stipend of JAGSoM students has risen by 42% with more than 60% of the students receiving Pre-Placement Offers (PPO) with their Internships. The highest stipend offered to students was INR 185,476 per month and the average stipend offered was INR 39,773 per month. 70+ companies participated in the recruitment process with 34% of the students being offered Internships by Information Technology and Services companies.

So, to answer the Industry’s outcry, JAGSoM’s strategic road map for effective corporate engagementmay be a useful model for other B-schools too. JAGSoM’s 3-step Pedagogy of ‘Learning By Solving’ partners with Corporates to deepen Student Learning by cracking real-time industry problems. As shared above, this model is achieving desired results for both students and industry and creates a deep engagement cycle where placement is a natural outcome.

Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more updates on JAGSoM, Bangalore