An Interaction with Jinal Kothari (PGPM Student) from IBS Kolkata

Q1. Tell us something about yourself such as from which place are you from?

A) I am born and brought up in Kolkata but my native place is Rajkot, Gujarat.

Q2. Presently which course are you pursuing and in which year are you?

A) Presently I am pursuing PGPM course from the ICFAI Business School, Kolkata, and I am in Semester 2 of 1st year.

Q3. Did you face any difficulty in the initial months when you joined the institute?

A) Not at all. We, the students, were provided with orientation classes before the commencement of our actual sessions, where we were introduced to all our faculty members who made sure that we feel comfortable in the Institute.

Q4. What activities are offered in the institute? Are there any clubs etc for the various extracurricular activities? Which ones have you taken up and are a part of?

A) There are many activities for the students here, to keep us engaged and connected to the business/corporate world. We have several clubs here like the Analytics club, Social Responsibilities club, Cultural Club, Marketing Club, and many more. We also have fests and competitions to take part in, recently I along with my 4 friends took part in an event named “Rising Star” which was about evaluating students’ knowledge and application in Marketing, Finance, Sports, and other educational fields.

Q5. Describe a typical day at your institute – what do you do from the time you wake up till you go to sleep?

A) Our college begins from 9:30 am and continues till 6:15 pm. Normally I reach college by 9 am, we have 3 periods in 1st half i.e., before break, it continues till 1:35 pm then we have lunch break till 2:10 pm, and then again 3 periods till 6:15 pm.

Q6. Tell us about the faculty-student ratio here and about the teacher-student relationship in your understanding.

A) At my institution IBS Kolkata, the faculty-student ratio is 1:13. I believe that this is a very good ratio, as it allows faculty members to provide more personalized attention to each and every student. A teacher-student relationship is characterized by mutual respect, trust, and support. My college offers personal mentors to students after dividing them into small groups so that in case of any problem the students can freely take help and suggestions from their mentors and get personalised attention.

Q7. What all facilities do you have in the campus? What do you like here the most which you feel is unique and differentiating?

A) Other than the excellent infrastructure, we also have a canteen, a library and a games room in our campus. What I like here is the library of our college, as it has a huge variety of books for us to read, along with many business magazines and books to refer to.

Q8. How comfortable are your hostels and how about the cleanliness factor over there?

A) Since I am from Kolkata and I am studying in Kolkata campus itself, so I did not opt to stay in any hostel and stay at my own house.

Q9. What about the medical facilities? Can you avail requisite medical attention if needed in an emergency?

A) College provides excellent and very quick medication whenever needed. Few days back I slipped off the stairs and hurt my left legs ankle very badly, I was taken to the medical department and the teacher in charge there took care of me very nicely and instant medication was provided to me for relief.

Q10. How do you balance your studies, projects, exams and other activities?

A) Teachers here teach in a very detailed manner, so I generally do not have to repeat what we are taught in the class after coming home. So generally, I just revise whatever is taught in the class everyday after coming home and then work on the assignments/projects given to us, so it is not very difficult to manage my projects and exams along with my studies.

Q11. Tell us about the clubs and societies at the campus and how significant are they from your point of view or students’ point of view?

A) All the clubs here are designed in such a manner that all the activities that take place in that club are not only interesting but also very value adding for the students. Each and every activity that takes place here, adds value to the student’s development and helps them learn more and more about the corporate world.

Few of our clubs are: -

Social Responsibility Club

Marketing Club

Finance Club

Sports Club

Cultural Club

Analytics Club

They are much important for the overall growth of students and improving their expertise and managerial abilities to work in all kinds of environments.

Q12. Is there any in-house magazine or journal for the latest events or happenings at the institute?

A) yes, we do have few inhouse magazines and journals, some of which are :-

• The Mind-Movers which is an e-paper.

• Volume of Business Times which gives us access to the daily news updates.

• The IBS Kolkata Magazine “Konnects” is a platform where we showcase the diverse talents and perspectives of our student community.

• Marketonics and other newsletters of the other Clubs, too.

Q13. What are the popular hangouts at the institute? What, according to you, are the most-visited places nearby?

A) There are many hangout places nearby such as cafes like Raise The Bar, Club Barrocks, food joints like: - Rang de Basanti Dhaba, Burger King, Dominos and Idligo. Other than that, roadside fruit stalls, fast food stalls and more.

Most visited place according to me is the small tea stall right outside our campus, it is the only place where all the students are seen spending time along with the teachers, enjoying over a cup of tea and local biscuits

Q14. How do you spend your leisure time at the campus?

A) I usually spend my leisure time in the campus by playing Table Tennis in the Games Room with my friends.

Q15. Do you have any Facebook page of your campus where the students express their views jokes or ideas, or maybe even a blog where they write about their experience of life at campus?

A) Yes; we do have a social media page, which is handled by the members of our Student Council and the Digital Ambassadors. Here all the quiz questions, jokes, facts and event history are posted.

Q16. What type of companies come for campus recruitment and what percentage of students get placed every year? How is the recruitment process here?

A) Companies like Deloitte, PwC, E&Y, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Property Pistol and few more top companies come to our campus for recruitment. Almost 99% of students get placed every year in our campus. And the recruitment process is very organized and the students are always well informed & trained about it, in order to have us well prepared for the interview process.