E-Paper
Principal speak: SIMS director on creating leaders who make a difference
Brig Rajiv Divekar (Retd), director, Symbiosis Institute of Management Studies (SIMS), Pune
Brig Rajiv Divekar (Retd) is a veteran soldier and an academician. He had a very distinguished career in the Army which included service with the United Nations in Somalia and Lebanon. He was a faculty at Indian Military Academy, College of Engineering, Defence Services Staff College and Army War College. He is recipient of the Rajiv Gandhi Education Excellence Award, Rashtriya Vidya Gaurav Gold Medal Award and Education Leadership Award.
Your elevator pitch for Symbiosis Institute of Management Studies (SIMS)?
Symbiosis Institute of Management Studies (SIMS), Pune is a constituent of the Symbiosis International (Deemed University). SIMS is the only institute in India which is dedicated to defence dependents. The institute is UGC approved has been accredited in Grade ‘A’ by National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC). SIMS is a B-School that aims at creating leaders who will make a difference.
In terms of student skills, what would you say is the plan of action?
SIMS continually focuses to boost student skill set in the form of various certification courses such as Six Sigma, Power BI, Tableau and R which help them to learn various tools and technique which are relevant in the industry. SIMS promotes experiential learning where students are given various options to learn and enhance their skill by undertaking dissertation, online courses, research papers/project. This empowers students with enthusiasm, courage and ability to work with relevant skills in the corporate world. The institute also organises industry-based simulation which help them to understand the real world problem and their multiple solutions. There is an adoption of flipped classroom in SIMS where the focus is on student-centric learning which builds a broader knowledge base.
Is there room and scope to upgrade? And how is that going to happen?
SIMS is one of the few institutes which has a Bloomberg terminal that brings the global financial database to its student managers. SIMS is the programme implementing agency of DST (Department of Science and Technology, Government of India) for promoting entrepreneurship and startups. SIMS also has tie up with NSE (National Stock Exchange Academy Limited) for its various certification programmes which help the students to learn and upgrade their knowledge. There is a greater emphasis on promotion and development of startups where SIMS has been organising various programmes. SIMS is approved business incubator by ministry of MSME . There is a proper blend of online and offline teaching in the pedagogy of SIMS which helps the students to learn and gain knowledge in different forms.
What are your plans for the future?
One of the key aspects of SIMS education is to create self-disciplined professionals with leadership skills. SIMS is aspiring to become a global institute where international faculty would be an integral part of the teaching and learning process for the students and there is going to be greater emphasis on multi-disciplinary learning and research opportunities for the students as well as for the faculty. All this will help and promote internationalisation at various levels.
