City B-school will rope in alumni to mentor students

While the Mumbai University is yet to begin initiatives to bridge the gap between industry and academia, Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS), a deemed university, is all set to do it first.

As part of its efforts to connect with its alumni, NMIMS will now include  former students from various sectors of the industry in academic activities. Since the industry finds majority of graduates unemployable, this move by NMIMS is expected to give a fillip to the quality of students passing out.

To begin with, the alumni have already been included in the admission process of the institute’s core-MBA programme and other specialised programmes. The alumni even conducted group discussions and personal interviews (GD/PI) of prospective candidates who cleared the institute’s entrance exam, NMAT.

The institute now plans to involve them in the process framing the curriculum. According to professor Piyush Shah, member of the alumni committee, the idea behind involving former students makes the whole process more transparent.

“By having an external source in the system, the process will be made transparent. Nobody can allege that the admission is manipulated and, moreimportantly, the alumni know the institute very well and what it demands from the students. Since the alumni are from the industry, they will know what students’ inclinations are,” he said.

Since the alumni are spread across the country, NMIMS also plans to rope them in to mentor the present batch of students once they get placed in new cities.