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  IIM Gurus Reach Out To Career Launcher Students    

New Delhi: Education corporate Career Launcher (CL), which has a major presence in the MBA preparation segment, organised its first Students Outreach Seminar, at the FICCI Auditorium on February 24. Prof. Debashis Chatterjee, Head, Centre for Leadership and Human Values, Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow, (IIM-L), Dr. Abhijit Gangopadhyay, Dean IIM, Indore and Prof. K. K. Mehta, behavioural scientist and corporate trainer were the speakers who spoke on the topic 'Management Education Today'. The audience comprised 250 students of CL who had received call letters from the top B-schools of the country.
















Speaking on how the contemporary MBA program has been reacting to the changes in the world economic order, Prof. Gangopadhyay said that the only way to deal with the pace of change is to constantly update curriculum according to the needs of the times. He was of the opinion that a global mindset is required, along with cross-cultural sensitivity, to prepare students to face international exposure. These are the times for e-business, cross-border mergers, convergence of technologies and telecommunication, said Prof. Gangopadhyay.

IIM, Indore has intensified its focus on Information Technology and International Business as a result of these sectors throwing up more challenges in recent times. There is a greater emphasis on experiential learning and case pedagogy in a modular system, giving participants the freedom to integrate across functional areas.

Prof. Chatterjee also dwelled on the same subject but with a different perspective. He said that IIM, Lucknow, was making a paradigm shift, from churning out mere managers to grooming leaders. Leaders create opportunities, break fresh ground and look at things differently, stated the professor.

Prof. Chatterjee kept the 250-strong CL student audience spellbound with his innumerable anecdotes stemming from various parts of the world. Traditional methods so successful till date will be seriously questioned in the next few years, he said. Leaders are people who remain flexible and focussed at the same time. Thus, they can usher in a balance between what has-been and what is-to-be.

Talking about the method of grooming a leader, Prof. Chatterjee categorically said that an individual has to be comfortable with who he is and not try to merely imitate an icon. Ultimately, it is the progressive refinement of our attention that will lead to a better processing of knowledge and to the conversion of knowledge to active contribution. Think clearly is the call of the day.

Prof. K. K. Mehta aptly rounded up the seminar. Drawing from his experience in teaching at institutions like IIM, Ahmedabad, and NITIE, Prof. K.K. Mehta (or 'KK' as he likes to be called), spoke on how to transform dreams into reality. He also said that there are four ways of learning - experience, reflection, conclusion and experiment. One only has to understand this process in order to make those dreams come true.

The young MBA aspirants had a question-answer session at the end of the seminar with the professors. Enthused with the feedback of this first seminar, Career Launcher plans to incorporate SOS in its website www.careerlauncher.com and organise more seminars showcasing the best in management education in India.