The Higher Education Review

Situated on Mumbai-Nagpur route of Central Railway and about 220 kilometers away from Aurangabad airport, Shegaon is an important centre of commerce in the district of Buldhana, Maharashtra. More prominently, Shegaon is the home of Shri Sant Gajanan Maharaj, who was believed to be blessed with miraculous powers. The Gajanan Maharaj Sansthan, Shegaon, established in the very presence of the Divine Saint in 1908, has since initiated several philanthropic projects that have led to providing education, medical aid, social services and empowerment facilities for those in needs including tribal communities. Shri Gajanan Maharaj Sansthan runs 42 types of philanthropic services; one of these projects is Shri Sant Gajanan Maharaj College of Engineering (SSGMCE), which is one of the most sought after institutions for students aspiring for Bachelor Engineering, Master of Business Administration (MBA) and Master of Engineering.
“SSGMCE was established in 1983 to impart technical education in rural areas of Vidarbha region of Maharashtra. It is spread over an area of 82 acres of lush green campus well equipped with state-of-the-art amenities. The Department of Business Administration and Research (DBA & R) was established in 1994 to impart two year full time Post-Graduate Degree Course of Master of Business Administration (MBA) with prior approval from AICTE, New Delhi and affiliated to Sant Gadge Baba Amravati University,” says Dr. S.B. Somani, Principal, SSGMCE.

The DBA&R works with a philosophy of ‘Sarve Bhawantu Sukhinah’ to create moral renegades capable of bringing a change for the society. Students of the institute are taught about the need to serve the humanity and this ideology is followed by making students actively participate in various community development programs. Entrepreneurship awareness program, training for ground water and rain water harvesting, zero budget farming (Samagra Vikas Aghadi) and among them.

“We do realize that MBA course is an adoptive education, and hence we follow the project based learning to groom the students according to the corporate expectations,” says Dr. Somani. The project based learning method helps the students to understand the relevance of theoretical concepts with the practices of the industry, leading to a close interaction of the institute with the corporate world. Hence, the institute is in tie- ups with the local industries in Akola, Khamgaon and Shegaon region and with Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) at national level, ISBA Govt. of India, Maharashtra Chamber of Commerce Industry and Agriculture (MACCIA), Mumbai at state level and Vidarbha Industries Association (VIA), MSME-DI, Nagpur and so on through MoUs. The Institute has IIT’s Remote Centre under ‘Eklavya Project’ for continuing education program. The institute was selected as Network Institute under TEQIP phase-I, MHRD Govt. of India (World Bank Project). The institute established Skill Development Centre with view to impart technical, interpersonal, methodological and analytical skills amongst students in order to serve the society, industry and so on at national as well as global level.

The institute also indulges in various other activities to bridge the industry academics gap. The multidimensional management event named ‘Pariskriti’ held once in every year at the end of the academic year helps the students to become ready for the industry. As a motivation, the institute also organizes a national level competition named ‘Prakalpakriti’ based on summer internship of MBA participants.

The competition provides a platform for the management students from different parts of the country to come closer and interact, fostering their learning through sharing of innovative ideas. “Quality is our benchmark and we strive to ensure this quality in all that we offer,” says Dr. Somani. Academic visits abroad, participation in national and international conferences, publications, case developments and completion of sponsored projects, consultancy projects and doctoral researches under faculty members, community development activities, and business simulation are a part of the learning at DBA&R. Gajanan Entrepreneurship Centre is active within the institute for imbibing entrepreneurship skills and skills for managing small businesses. With time, the institute also intends to become a globally recognized center-of-excellence in management education, research and thought leadership and thus it collaborates with the prestigious universities and institutions globally including a few in Europe like De Montfort University, Leicester, UK. The institute is associated with the various Professional Organizations and Associations like AIMS, ISTD, IEEE- New York, ASME-New York, ASM, SAE, CSI, IETE, IE, ISTE, MEDA, ISCEE, Calcutta Mathematical Society, National Geographical Society and so on providing a platform for students and faculty to enhance all sets of skills.

With the aim of making a change in the society, the institute also focuses on various co-curricular and extracurricular activities to sharpen the teamwork, leadership and social skills of students. This has been duly recognized in form of various national awards to it like Dewang Mehta Business School Affair Educational Leadership Award, 3-4 times program accreditation to all its courses by National Board of Accreditation (NBA), New Delhi, institutional re-accreditation by National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), Bangalore. Through all the possible means, the institute aims at producing competent entrepreneurial and committed technical and managerial talent to serve the society at national as well as global level.