THE IMPORTANCE OF CORPORATE INTERFACE FOR PGDM STUDENTS

Today, the definition of a good management institute offering PGDM courses is largely dependent on its ability to offer industry interface to its students that helps them to enhance their practical knowledge and acumen, and make them ready for the corporate world. The focus of a top B-School like Asian Business School in Delhi NCR is entirely to create industry-ready employable candidates. In times of cut-throat competition where everyone strives hard for a successful career, industry interface works out to be of prime importance.

THE ACADEMIA-INDUSTRY COLLABORATION

The academia-industry collaboration or the corporate interface program is designed for the management students pursuing courses like PGDM in which the student is required to work with a corporate for some part of their course duration.

The need for highly-skilled professionals is going up every day. The initiative of academia-industry collaboration is the idea of PGDM colleges to prepare their students for the corporate world outside and help them sustain in this highly competitive world. The urgent need of making the PGDM students employable or in other terms industry-ready has compelled the management schools to redefine their curriculum and make industry interface as an important part of the course. The concept of ‘classroom to industry’ is gaining popularity and with more fresh students enrolling themselves for PGDM courses, this concept helps them in being at par with the experienced students.

HOW THE STUDENTS CAN BENEFIT?

When studying in a top PGDM college and looking forward to a bright future, gaining practical knowledge other than lectures and theories becomes important.  In order to be at par with the rapidly changing scenarios of the job market, it is important for the PGDM student to be industry-ready. A company looking for a PGDM candidate will want him to have some practical knowledge about the industry, what are the latest trends and happenings in the industry.  Anyone who wants to pursue higher education in the field of management by way of a PGDM course should make a thorough research about the colleges. The decision should definitely be based on corporate interface tie-ups of the colleges offering Post Graduate Diploma in Management.

OTHER STUDENT BENEFIT INCLUDES:

• The building of confidence and instilling of a positive attitude towards the work culture
• Providing equal opportunity to the students who have zero work experience
• Nurturing skills as well as knowledge
• Creating better employment prospects

WHAT ARE THE TYPES OF INDUSTRY INTERFACE?

Exposure to the corporate world is widely related to working experiences in an organization. The industry interface has various types through which it can be included in the course curriculum of PGDM colleges. Some of these types are:

• Internship Opportunities: A great chance to gain experience, learn about the industry and polish your skills. A PGDM student can find an internship of its choice as the number of MNC’s offer summer internship to management students.  PGDM colleges with the help of corporate tie-ups can also help their students to get the best internships.
• Seminars & Forums: The industries today organize a lot of seminars, forums, trade shows and interactive sessions where students can gain core knowledge about the industry, its working culture and more.
• Guest Lectures: The best PGDM colleges in India keenly organize guest lectures that are industry-specific which helps the students learn from someone who is already a part of the industry.

HOW THE CORPORATES CAN BENEFIT?

It is always a two-sided game. The industry interface program not only benefits the PGDM students but also helps the corporates to find the ‘right one’.  The corporates are equally gaining a lot of benefits. Some include:

• Minimizing training cost as the students have already been trained under the internship program that they undertook
• Increased association with the educational institutes that can help the organizations build courses that require specializations in a particular field
• Getting a more efficient workforce that will require minimum training
• Reducing its hiring costs as campus placements will go up
• Opportunity to pick sustainable candidates

Apart from building a student industry relationship, the industry interface program also helps the B- Schools build a brand name for themselves. These programs are an effective way of preparing the PGDM students with the best industrial practices that help them to connect to the outside world.

Hence, in a nutshell, the industry interface for PGDM students enhances their practical knowledge, provides a secured future to the applicants, and minimizes the time and capital invested in grooming the candidates.