The Higher Education Review

When speaking of communities that over the time have left their footprints in the map of Indian business scenario, one cannot just miss but mention the Marwari community that is almost synonymous with business. Since the pre-independence period to till date, this community has been greatly contributing to uplifting the economy of the country. The list of such iconic personalities from the community will unequivocally remain incomplete without acknowledging the visionary founders of JK organization, Lala Kamlapat Singhania and Lala Juggilal Singhania. This father and son duo laid the foundation of JK organization in 1918 and since then the group has been growing from strength to strength through running diverse industries and undertaking initiatives in the field of education. Commenced in the year 2006, JK Business School (JKBS) is an endeavor of the Shri Govind Hari Singhania, who was the Vice President of JK Organization and Director in various other JK Group's companies.

Dr. Sanjiv Marwah, Director, JKBS, says, "JK Group has been instrumental in setting up several educational institutions ranging from schools, colleges, institutes of specialized education and research. The initiation of JKBS, however, is to develop leaders, efficient managers, and technocrats who can create, transform and sustain successful organizations throughout the world." The major USP that the institute is standing upon is in its offerings which include fostering a diversified academic environment by giving admissions to students and recruiting faculty members from different parts of the country. This not only helps the members of the institute to share a vast knowledge with each other, but also lets the students learn the art of co-existing and co-working, which is considered as one of the many characteristics of a competent leader.

From international visiting faculty members to educationists with extensive academic as well as industry experience, the students of JKBS can get access to the best brains of the education arena.

"As a non-profit organization, we take the plunge to select applicants who belong to the lower-middle class and middle-class background making sure every potential learner of the country get access to quality management education," pinpoints Dr. Sridhar Manohar, Program Coordinator and Assistant Professor. The institute offers a specialized 2 years Post Graduate Diploma in Management (PGDM) programme along with a BBA programme. Dr. Sridhar adds, "We ensure to impart the latest education to our students. Given which, before beginning the course, the faculty members of JKBS sits together with a team of industry experts and decides on including the subjects and topics which will be in demand after two years when our students will complete their course tenure." From time to time, the institute keeps on adding modules such as ERP/SAP, Business Analytics, Supply Chain Management and so on, in the curriculum.

Preparing Adaptable Professionals
Set up amidst a vibrant location in Gurugram, Haryana, JKBS encompasses state-of-the-art facilities within the campus for letting the students' blossom into wholesome citizens. The institute exposes the students in a whole new world which is filled with mesmerizing opportunities and scopes. Dr. Marwah states, "At JKBS, we enjoy a great rapport and tie-ups with numerous international organization, owing to which our students become eligible to undergo two months summer internships in foreign universities, where half the fee is been paid by the students and the other half is provided by the institute. We also extend several scholarships based on merit, physically challenged and Govind Hari Singhania Global Immersion Scholarship to our students for lessening their financial burdens." Having a completely digitized campus, the faculty members make sure to deliver lectures through adopting latest teaching methodologies. AT JKBS, teaching usually happens by using case studies and real-time projects instead of following traditional teaching methods.

"In this respect, we work very closely with the industry. For instance, we have a tie-up with a company named Business Analytics where they share essential data with us on analytics, out of which the JKBS faculty members write various case studies and take it to the classroom for teaching the same subject," elaborates Dr. M. Sridhar. The institute further believes in continuous evaluation of the students and conducting online

exams through Google Siphon and Google Classroom coupled with providing the students the necessary contents in the very beginning of the course, so that they can always get back to the materials whenever they are confused regarding any topic. Research, on the other hand, is given sizeable importance at JKBS, where both faculty members and students are motivated to contribute in the institutes' own journal, JK international journal of management and social science.

The students also are motivated to engage in entrepreneurship activities that are organized by the institute, where the students are given a sum of money to invest in the small experimental business as an assignment and if they earn profits, they are free to keep it and in case of loss, the Institute bears it. "We put a good focus in grooming our students. Experts, HR professionals, and trainers are invited frequently for preparing the future leaders on varied aspects of excelling in placement drives through giving classes in skill development and working effectively in top-notch companies," shares Dr. Marwah. Achieving a decent placement rate over the years by placing students with an average salary package of 4.5-5 lakhs per annum, the institute is looking forward to intensifying the packages for the fresh graduates and offer certification programme and MOOC courses for which JKBS has already associated with Capsim and IIM Bangalore respectively.

Dr. Sanjiv Marwah, Director
Dr. Sanjiv Marwah is PhD in Customer Relationship Management. He is an expert in the areas of Strategic Management and Customer Retention. He is the founder editor of University Journal of Management Practices, a refereed journal published by MM University (MMU). He has published two course books: Research Methodology and Project Management. He has more than two decades of experience in corporate functioning, academics and administration of academic institutions.

Dr. M. Sridhar, PGP Convener & Assistant Professor
Dr. M. Sridhar is a doctorate in the area of Services Marketing. He holds B.Tech and MBA degrees and also has completed FDP at IIM-A. He has expertise in Scale Development Process and Multivariate Analytics and teaches Research Methodology and Marketing Management at JKBS. He has also published papers in various International Journals.