The Higher Education Review

Higher education institutions across India have been facing challenges when it comes to imparting industry-oriented education to their students and equip them with the required skills needed to thrive in the world and most students are lacking the ability to think critically and are lacking intellectual curiosity. With the industry-academia gap widening, many pioneering institutions have been striving to come up with solutions to tackle this issue. EMPI Business School is one among the very few higher education institutions in the country that has been able to consistently nurture inspired learners that have the ability to make a name for themselves in the respective industries. By combining the perfect blend of theoretical and practical education, EMPI has been able to create the perfect learning environment for their students to hone their skills. Their unique teaching pedagogies have helped them to stand out from the rest in the crowded Indian higher education strata. EMPI has been honest with all their operations and this has helped them to create a unique platform that the students can use to leverage their growth.

Maintaining Uniqueness at its Core
EMPI is like a tough gurukul that operates with a mission to create innovative, inter-disciplinary, paradigms that transform minds and impacts society. The institute strives to nurture world-class innovative centre for excellence that integrates academia, research and consulting not only for knowledge dissemination but also for knowledge creation. By becoming a resource centre for adapting the best practices of top-notch universities from across the world, EMPI aims to be a unique Indian educational institution that is capable of bridging the prevalent industry-academia gap. The B-school has a diversified program portfolio that includes programs such as PGDM, PGP, SAFI as well as various other certificate courses.

With their unique curriculum that is constantly updated with the inputs from industry experts, EMPI ensures that their programs are at pace with the changing dynamics and the requirements of the industry. By offering experiential learning coupled with regular industry interactions and project works, EMPI ensures that their students are job-ready. Unlike many other B-schools in

the country that are finding it hard to keep pace with the changes happening in the industry, EMPI thrives under these challenging scenarios and owing to their unique teaching pedagogies, innovation and futuristic product offerings make sure that they always stay on top of their game.

“By combining the perfect blend of theoretical and practical education, EMPI has been able to create the perfect learning environment for their students to hone their skills”

When asked about the unique endeavours that EMPI has been a part of over the years, Pankaj Saran, President, EMPI says, "We are looking at innovation and futurization and that is something that we have maintained right from the beginning. We have gone on to do absolute firsts in the country and we were the first to set up the EU-India International Business Management Center with the University of Torino, Italy and Helsinki School of Economics, Finland along with industry partners Fiat & Nokia. We were also the first to float a Participative Public Policy Forum called `We Think for India, that created the manufacturing policy draft for the government of India using a decentralized process, which was released by the then Prime Minister of India, Shri. Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ji. We had almost over 167 institutions and companies who applied to us including the IIMs, and IITs and companies like Maruti and BHEL.

Another initiative that we took was the `Mission Innovative India' which was flagged off by President, Hon'ble Shri APJ Abdul Kalam. We were one of the first in the country who talked about organizational innovation and brought innovations from various sectors including the Government, Corporate, Non-Corporate and Network of Organizations in one platform. Over 2621 organizations across various industry verticals participated in this initiative. Back in the year 2007, we worked closely with the Knowledge Process Outsourcing industry, NASSCOM and the Department of IT, Government of India to identify their training needs and consequently launched the first programme on Research and Business Analytics in India. We are also the first institution that floated the concept of an innovation city and have addressed so many issues that can impact the society and the country".

Balancing Research and Education
Research plays a crucial role in modern-day education and EMPI strives to offer research-oriented education to their students. The institute acknowledges the importance of conducting research that will have an impact and strives to take up research

projects that will bring value-edition to their education, the industry and the society as a whole. Adding about the important research activities that EMPI has conducted, Pankaj says, "We give more importance to theme-based research and last year we have mapped the entire new mobility sector of India and we also conducted India's first International mobility festival, supported by the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, Government of India and with Nissan as Mission Partner.

This year, we are working with the National Health Authority, Government of India (Aayushman Bharat) and we are also running an initiative called REME-DIY (Remote Monitoring, Evaluation, Diagnostics, Intervention, Analytics in Healthcare) Innovation Grand Challenge for Innovation, Acceleration and Growth of Start-ups, MSMEs and Companies in the emerging healthcare sector, which is focused on disrupting healthcare from traditional health institutions to pervasive healthcare. We are working with many organizations in the developing countries and with Taiwan for this initiative."

EMPI ensures that their students are exposed to real-world scenarios and are capable of working under pressure. By following a rigorous curriculum that pushes their students to let them realize their true potential, EMPI is playing a crucial role in the holistic development of their students. Combining this with their top-notch incubation centers and entrepreneurial programs, students of EMPI are perfectly poised to become job creators rather than job seekers in the future. By creating inspired learners who can have a positive impact on the world, EMPI aims to cement their legacy as a modern-day center of excellence. Going forward, EMPI is aiming to continue their quest to take the Indian management education strata to new frontiers and be at level pegging with other top-tier b-schools from across the world.

Pankaj Saran, President, EMPI
Pankaj has held respectable positions in multiple reputed organizations and his knowledge and expertise have been a major catalyst behind the growth of EMPI. He has also been a part of major national level innovative futuristic initiatives that have attracted wide-spread attention. Pankaj has always been a constant advocate of developing the students intellectual curiosity and critical thinking capabilities.

Designation: President, EMPI Group, Hony. Consul General, St. Vincent & Grenadines to the Republic of India Director, AIC-EMPI (Supported by AIM, NITI Aayog, Govt. of India) Co-Founder & Director, AP Aerospace & Defence Electronics Park (A JV of AP Govt. & EMPI Innovation Park).