In Conversation with Rev. Dr. Roshan David Pereira SJ, Director, SJIM Bangalore

St. Joseph’s Institute of Management (SJIM) Bangalore is a private college established in the year 1968. SJIM Bangalore courses are approved and accredited by AICTE. For SJIM Bangalore admissions, students must meet the eligibility criteria set by the institution.

In this exclusive conversation with Careers360, Rev. Dr. Roshan David Pereira SJ who is the Director at SJIM Bangalore shares his perspectives on the vision, mission, admission process, internships, placements, and more about SJIM Bangalore.

Careers360: SJIM Bangalore has a legacy of 50 years of imparting management education. How has the journey been so far?

Rev. Dr. Roshan David SJ: St. Joseph’s Institute of Management has a long and glorious legacy. Our institute was established in 1968, which was also the same decade as India’s first IIMs. In fact, during the fifties and sixties, graduate business programs were just beginning to take on their modern structure and form all over the world. So, for my Jesuit predecessors in 1960s Bangalore to offer a PGDM program to graduates was admirably far-sighted. In those days, our students came from the many large reputed public sector companies that our garden city was home to, such as HMT, ITI etc for a two-year evening program, and went back to take up leadership roles in their companies. Over the years, we grown in many ways including starting our two-year full-time program, shifting campus to our current state-of-the-art campus just off MG Road in Bengaluru, increasing our student body in both numbers and diversity, and increasing our faculty body to include many who have been trained at the best management schools in the country. Our strength is that we’re constantly striving for more: we constantly achieve new milestones in infrastructure, academic content, placement, rankings and accreditations. This is a natural outcome of our Jesuit character and a core value of our institution – the aspiration for Magis.

Careers360: In your view, what sets SJIM apart from other B-schools in India in terms of mission, pedagogy, and values?

Rev. Dr. Roshan David SJ: SJIM got AICTE approval for our current full time PGDM program in 1996. This was the post 1991, pre-2008 landscape - Indian economic reforms, the globalized, “flat world”, low barriers to business. From the beginning, we have nurtured young Indians to become managers in the burgeoning private sector and MNC space. While many business schools focus only on academic excellence, SJIM’s vision has always emphasized both academic excellence in management and business for the common good. We believe in engendering managers of the future who will have concern not only for their businesses, but also for society and the environment. This is core to our mission and percolates into our pedagogy as well.

Furthermore, in Bengaluru, as also the case elsewhere, there are many business schools who are perhaps in the space only as long as it is financially lucrative for them, without really having the requisite expertise to cater to students’ needs. Whereas, SJIM, apart from being the first business school in Karnataka, we are also part of the 400-year old network of Jesuit educational institutions. So we draw on this legacy to offer our students unique benefits compared to other Bengaluru business schools. We do all this in a familial atmosphere, with affordable fees and scholarships.

Careers360: What are the different foundational values at SJIM? How do these values influence its academic philosophy?

Rev. Dr. Roshan David SJ: The foundational values at SJIM include the Jesuit spirit of Magis, Inclusiveness, an Ethical outlook, and Social concern. These values play a major role in guiding our strategic planning and other perspectives. For example, at SJIM, we focus on enriching our students’ learning experience because our students are our chief focus and, as future managers, they form the institute’s largest body of ambassadors. Our Jesuit ethos drives us to strategize for academic excellence in our students, through curricular and co-curricular activities that increase their knowledge, skill, industry readiness and prepares them to be lifelong learners. One of the best practices that is followed every year is the rural immersion program, through which students are made aware of the prevailing socioeconomic conditions in the country. The objective of this program is to not only expose our students to the rural community, but also to make them aware of a society that lives beyond our familiar urban setting, and thus help them understand how sound business principles can be used to better the lives of those in rural India. This program has received international recognition at the annual Scholas Occurrentes Pontifical Foundation meetings.

We also aim for thought leadership in research, pedagogy and engagement with practice. Since its inception as the first business school in the state of Karnataka in 1968, SJIM has striven to be a torchbearer in management education. This strategic priority continues in that direction, and aims at SJIM finding its place in research, pedagogy and engagement with practice.

We also seek to address all our stakeholders’ needs. Our stakeholders are both internal and external. They include students, faculty, alumni, parents, recruiters, community/ society. Community/ society refers to community groups, governments, organizations (both for-profit and nonprofit), Jesuit institutions and Jesuit bodies that are external to SJIM but are still relevant.

Careers360: SJIM flagship PGDM programme has NBA accreditation and is approved by AICTE. How do these recognitions benefit students?

Rev. Dr. Roshan David SJ: Apart from the mandated AICTE approval, we are accredited by the National Board of Accreditation (NBA) and our PGDM program is recognized as equivalent to an MBA by the government-appointed Association of Indian Universities (AIU). Both these recognitions make us more attractive for companies seeking fresh graduates for recruitment. We are in the process of accreditation by the USA-based AACSB, thus benchmarking our education to the standards met by the top 8% of business schools worldwide, thus ensuring that our students can access career opportunities globally. As a result of these recognitions, we have established several collaborations with industry bodies and international business schools. This wide network of industry connections brings in guest speakers, visiting faculty, and council members from the industry who contribute to the academic experience of the students at our institute.

Careers360: With multiple PGDM specialisations offered, how can students identify the one that best aligns with their interests and career goals?

Rev. Dr. Roshan David SJ: At SJIM, we offer students a chance to excel in two functional domains of business, namely, Finance, Marketing, HR, Operations, and Analytics/AI. This allows students to become proficient in two areas, thereby allowing them to work in either functional area or even to act as a bridge between departments – a highly coveted role in organizations. We have found that the dual specialization option gives students greater placement opportunity, future career mobility and higher job security, especially when they are in an interdepartmental role. During the first year, all students in the program have a common curriculum that spans the core knowledge and skills in each functional domain. This allows students to better understand the domains they are good at and have a natural talent for, which in turn, helps them to decide their choice of dual specialization by the end of the first year of their program.

Careers360: SJIM has several international collaborations - how do these partnerships enhance the learning experience for students?

Rev. Dr. Roshan David SJ: At SJIM, we have MoUs with business schools in the USA, Mexico, Spain, Philippines, Taiwan and Malaysia. Through these partnerships, we offer our students multiple ways to gain international exposure – our annual business plan competition, joint project teams and course modules, and immersion programs.

One of the best ways for international exposure that we have at SJIM is our annual SJIM-Albers International Business Plan Competition. This is a virtual competition in which students from our different partner universities (eight universities spread across six countries and three continents) are combined into virtual teams to work over the internet and harness different countries’ technical and social expertise towards a critical global issue. The competition has been running for nine years now and even our jury members hail from a wide range of countries. It is thus a truly international experience for the students that participate. This competition was listed as one of the best practices in several international higher education forums due to its no-cost high-impact benefit.

We also design our international immersion programs to give our students a concentrated immersive experience in another country. These programs are usually for about 8-10 days and include a three-pronged exposure to university life, to workplaces and business models, and to non-work-related culture in another country in collaboration with our international business school partners. In the past, our immersion programs have been very successful and students have gained a lot of international exposure through them.

Careers360: Can you talk about any recent enhancements or innovations introduced in the PGDM curriculum?

Rev. Dr. Roshan David SJ: At SJIM, we welcome students from diverse educational backgrounds, diverse economic backgrounds, diverse religions, diverse communities, diverse ethnicities, diverse regions, and diverse languages. It is a truly inclusive atmosphere intentionally created to be student-centric and to provide our students with the opportunity to learn through diversity. At the same time, the institute provides all students significant support for holistic development: sufficient sports facilities, sufficient extra-curricular activities to participate in, a full-time counsellor dedicated to the students and who also conducts stress management and personal growth sessions for all students, mentoring by faculty mentors, mentoring by seniors through a buddy-system, and foundational/bridging courses prior to the start of the program to enable all students to start on the same level irrespective of their educational background.

In recent times, we have introduced Business Analytics as a specialization into the curriculum to meet the current requirements of industry. We have also significantly improved our curriculum and academic processes through expert advisory committees, and therefore, the institute is steadily progressing towards the prestigious international AACSB accreditation. Furthermore, the institute has organized several certificate courses for students related to emerging areas in AI and analytics. The institute has also recently given all students an open scholarship if they complete online courses on EdX from top universities or companies related to AI, analytics and emerging technologies (open scholarship means reimbursement for a course completed on this platform). Faculty are also granted a significant amount every year to develop and train and upskill themselves to meet new trends, emerging technologies, and so on. This helps them to bring current knowledge and skills into their pedagogy. Institute-wide adoption of AI technology, digitally supported pedagogical tools, and other analytical tools is also set to roll out very soon. This would facilitate faculty members to utilize these tools for the purpose of improving the students’ learning experience.

Careers360: How involved are SJIM’s alumni in supporting mentorship, placements, and institutional development?

Rev. Dr. Roshan David SJ: SJIM has ramped up its industry-connect especially through its alumni network. Alumni are involved in curriculum development, serve on our academic council, interact with our students through guest lectures, “fire side” chats, conclaves, as jury members, and more. Many alumni come back to their alma mater to select students for recruitment and summer internships.

Due to our long history, our alumni hold prominent corporate positions in India and abroad. A great example is Mr. Muthuraman, former Vice Chairman of Tata Steel and Padma Bhushan awardee for his contribution to industry. Our students do well in the industry, so much so that those who take up HR positions come back in a few years as recruiters – this is again a great advantage of our alumni network.

Careers360: What are the emerging placement trends at SJIM, and how is the institute preparing students for future job markets?

Rev. Dr. Roshan David SJ: Our placements are very strong both in terms of the percentage of students placed as well as their starting salaries. We consistently place almost 100 percent of our students (essentially every student who wants to be placed is facilitated by the placement cell). These are great achievements considering almost all of our students have no prior work experience and no networks in the industry. We place our students as per their preferences, in a domain of their choice: marketing, finance, HR, analytics, or operations.

The training given to students and the institute-led industry connect are major contributors to the success of our students in their placements. SJIM coaches and counsels students before the placement season begins and right until they get placed, even if this takes many months. Of course, credit also goes to the knowledge imparted by our esteemed faculty body and the significant efforts put in from our placement cell.

Careers360: Lastly, what would be your message to future applicants aspiring to become part of SJIM?

Rev. Dr. Roshan David SJ: Studying at SJIM means being part of an institution that, for over 50 years, has academically catered to the business and management environment in India, through our pedagogical innovations, research and industry interfaces. We are the only business school in Bengaluru in the central business district, with a new campus at the heart of the city, off MG Road. We are consistently ranked in the country’s top 100 business schools in most major rankings. We have been placed in the Government of India’s NIRF rankings three out of seven times. Our placements are personalized, and we facilitate each student till they get placed in a well-paying role of their choice. We welcome sincere students from diverse backgrounds and give you personalized attention to build you into competent and ethical managers.

Short Bio of Rev. Dr. Roshan David Pereira SJ
Rev. Dr. Roshan David Pereira SJ is the Director of St. Joseph’s Institute of Management (SJIM), Bengaluru, and a dedicated academician and administrator with extensive experience across Jesuit higher education institutions. He holds a PhD in Green Marketing from Bharathidasan University and teaches Business Ethics and Marketing. His research focuses on marketing, green consumerism, and sustainable business practices, with publications in reputed national journals.

Over the years, he has served in multiple leadership roles—including Director, Assistant Professor, and Hostel Administrator—across institutions in Bengaluru, Hassan, and Mangaluru. He has been actively involved in national and international conferences, workshops, and faculty development programmes, and has contributed as a resource person for leadership and value-based training programmes. His work reflects a commitment to academic excellence, student development, and environmentally responsible business thought.

Disclaimer: This article is published as a marketing initiative between SJIM Bangalore and Careers360.