ICFAI Business School (IBS) Gurgaon: An Interview with Prof. Suresh Chand Sharma (Senior Director)

Careers360: Tell us something about the institute; when it was set up, vision and mission.

Prof. Sharma: ICFAI Group was founded way back in 1984, by the Legendary Academician Prof. N J. Yasaswy with a vision to design and integrate management education with the needs of industry and businesses. Today we have 12 universities, 9 B-Schools including 5 PGPM campuses, 7 ICFAI Law Schools, 7 ICFAI Tech etc.

ICFAI Business Schools have been in existence for almost three decades. Today, we have more than 65,000 alumni working with the best of companies across the globe at various levels including top management positions. IBS Gurgaon has been at the forefront of management education in North India. The thrust of our teaching-learning process has all along been on imparting skill-based, practice oriented education to make the students industry ready.

IBS is a student-centric business school. Everything that we plan and do, is to create a better tomorrow for our students. Our curriculum is continuously updated to reflect the latest developments and innovative strides witnessed in financial and other markets and work places.

Careers360: Tell us something about the admission process.

Prof. Sharma: IBS has a centralized admission process. Candidates desiring to take admission in the management program offered at 9 IBS Campuses must appear for an IBS Aptitude Test (IBSAT). Students who clear IBSAT are invited for Group Discussion and Personal Interviews. The allocation of centers is made on the basis of Merit and the choice of center exercised by the student.

Careers360: What kind of infrastructure can students expect at the institute? Please elaborate?

Prof. Sharma: At IBS Gurgaon, all classrooms are air conditioned, well equipped with state-of-the-art technology to facilitate the learning process. An efficient Wi-Fi campus assures access to the information inside and outside the classroom, making teaching learning a more productive and enjoyable experience.

The fully automated Library is a powerhouse of knowledge and prides itself on housing more than 36,000 volumes reflecting the research and teaching interests of the faculty and the students. It also provides unique assistance like company wise updates on business news, sharing company profiles with the students during the placement period, maintaining students’ project reports etc. It also posts important articles and news to the faculty on a daily basis which subsequently become topics of rich discussions in the classroom and after class hang - outs.

Our computer center is fully equipped to provide students hands-on experience in IT training, advanced excel classes and to take aptitude and psychometric tests. During the placement season, the Computer Lab is extensively used for conducting various online tests designed by organizations which visit the campus for hiring.

The campus has a Language Lab, as well, which aims at transforming the communication skills of students to match with the standards and expectations of the corporates. In addition, the students are provided rich and diversified resource material, guidance and mentoring sessions by experienced Soft Skills Trainers. These initiatives enhance the students’ overall confidence, especially with respect to language delivery, making them highly employable.

The campus also has facilities for indoor and outdoor games like football, cricket, basketball, badminton, carom, table tennis etc. It also has reading rooms, activity rooms, a lounge, an alumni room, a seminar room, an auditorium and a cafeteria.

Careers360: There is a lot of stress that is being made with regard to interaction with the industry as well as companies that recruit. What are the steps being taken by the institute in this direction?

Prof. Sharma: IBS strongly believes in establishing a strong interface between the academic delivery, management education and industry professionals. To make this possible, the campus provides a large number of opportunities to the students to sharpen their skills, even outside the classroom.

IBS Gurgaon takes pride in its highly accomplished faculty drawn from academia and industry, who are not only teachers but mentors to the students. This makes the learning process refreshing and enjoyable. A special emphasis is laid on Soft Skills which is a full credit course. The focus of the subject is to expose the student to business etiquette, leadership skills, networking, negotiation, teamwork and much more. These classes groom students for Group Discussions and Personal Interviews and build their resume. Professionals from the industry are regularly invited to take mock interviews for our students. Feedback from the industry professionals and faculty members to the students help them to better prepare themselves for the placement process at the campus.

Under the Practicing Managers initiative, senior professionals working in corporates are invited to the campus to take course sessions for the students, along with the faculty members. The value addition brought in by the practicing managers to the classroom is invaluable. In the academic year 2022-23, close to 40 professionals from the industry partially taught a few courses at IBS Gurgaon campus and helped students understand the practical applications of the concepts and the current trends in the industry.

Regular guest lectures taking place in the classrooms also richly contribute towards holistic development of our students and in building a strong association with industry. To supplement the classroom learning with practical exposure from the industry, IBS organizes industry visits for the students. Through such educational industry visits, the students get an exposure to the real working environment. Apart from the regular classes, projects and activities, the students are offered contemporary certification courses in collaboration with the industry to equip students with the latest skill sets.

Apart from the regular classes, projects and activities, the students are given special ‘requirement specific’ classes, advance excel classes, aptitude and psychometric classes, certification programs in digital marketing and market research, financial analytics etc. Apart from other initiatives, Weekly IBS Monitoring Placement Advisory Counselling and Training classes are held for students, where students interact with a team of faculty members comprising domain faculty, soft skills faculty and a placement Manager to enhance their employability prospects.

The campus has a dedicated placement team which works closely with the students and corporates all the year round, not only for placements but for building long term relationships with industry to understand the emerging market trends and recruiter’s expectations in dynamic market conditions. The campus also has a team of dedicated mentors who identify students in the need of an extra push in the areas of communication, business etiquettes, attitude or confidence. These students are mentored one on one to help them overcome their specific areas of concern.

Careers360: Internships are now mandatory as per AICTE guidelines. Does the institute help students with this? If yes, how?

Prof. Sharma: Summer Internship Program (SIP) is an important component of education at IBS. Under this, the students undertake a 14-week SIP at any organization/ company during the intervening period between the close of semester-II and the commencement of semester-III.

A host of companies are invited to the campus for the summer internship hiring. In the academic year 2022-23, over 90 companies across different sectors offered internships to the students at IBS G.

Students are encouraged to take up time bound multi-disciplinary and goal-oriented assignments involving teamwork. The SIP helps the students to undergo the rigor of the professional environment both in form and substance. It exposes them to technical skills and social skills.

Throughout the SIP, the students are guided and mentored by faculty guides and company guides. A close monitoring and feedback process is followed to ensure that the student is able to add value to themselves through the internship. The faculty members at IBS also visit the company 2-3 times during the internship period. The students are required to make a final presentation on the basis of the work done and their learnings during SIP on the basis of which they are evaluated. The best few students are awarded the BEST SIP AWARD with a cash prize of Rs. 10,000/- each.

Careers360: Can you please share details if there is any collaboration with universities abroad?

Prof. Sharma: IBS has recently entered into an MOU with FAIRFIELD UNIVERSITY, USA - Dolan School of Business and BRYANT UNIVERSITY, College of Business Smithfield, RI, USA. These initiatives will enable IBS students to pursue DBA in these Universities.

Careers360: Please share placement statistics with information on the average package, highest and lowest package, number of students placed and details of companies that have recruited.

Prof. Sharma: IBS Gurgaon has always been achieving 98% plus placements for students every year. Our average salary for the batch of 2023 was 7.80 LPA, the highest being 12 LPA for domestic and 22.93 LPA for international placements. We have a strong presence & recognition in various sectors for recruitment like Consulting, Media, BFSI, Education, Research, Analytics, E- Commerce, Construction, IT/ITES, Pharma etc., Best of organizations from the industry, from across sectors, pick our students year after year.