The Higher Education Review

Management Education in India is undergoing a profound transition, and this transition is driven by globalization, technology, demographics and various other social imperatives. Still, most management institutes are not able to provide a fusion of all the best practices followed in a part-time/full-time MBA program thereby compromising on the quality of education and exposure to students.

Moreover, students miss out on networking opportunities as there is hardly any platform provided by management institutes for its distance learning students. Most management institutes are also failing to motivate distance learning students by ignoring to arrange industrial visits, experiential learning sessions and outbound programs. Bringing in new educational methodologies and positive changes in the Indian distance education learning landscape is Welingkar Institute of Management Development and Research (WeSchool).

Since their inception, the institute has been determined to build an environment that encourages the spirit of free-thinking and by doing that, they are imparting top-notch education to 1,00,000 plus students. WeSchoolalso operates with a unique vision to nurture thought leaders and practitioners through inventive education.

Be a part of the nation-building process
With a mission to focus on inventive education by offering practical, innovative and technology-driven programs, WeSchool strives to provide managerial talent with risk managing ability, passion for learning and creative thinking and values in rapidly evolving economic and social environment. The institute also prioritizes on contributing significantly to the Indian corporate world by preparing management graduates with a global mind set to build intellectual capital through faculty development, research, consultancy and publication.

Weschool has been a pioneer when it comes to integrating technology for delivering

experiential learning through online mode for nearly 15 years now. Since inception, the institute has emphasized on transforming students and professionals into industry-ready leaders. This has seen Weschool grow into an award-winning institute for their on-campus management programs and Hybrid PGDM distance learning programs.

As of now, WeSchool is providing PGDM with 18 different specializations including Marketing Management, Finance Management, Human Resource Management, Retail Management, Operations Management, Supply chain Management, Business Administration, E-Business Management, and Hospitality Management to name a few.

Adding about the uniqueness of the program offered at WeSchool, Group Director, Dr. Uday Salunkhe says, “While the standard features like online video recorded lectures, online live lectures, personal contact classroom lectures on weekends, e-learning toolkit, placement assistance, online video library and online student support helpdesk are offered to our distance learning students, to make the program unique we take students for industry visits, rural visit, spiritual visit and conduct outdoor experiential learning sessions even for our distance learning students.

“Bringing in new educational methodologies and positive changes in the Indian distance education learning landscape is Welingkar Institute of Management Development and Research”

Individual projects and viva are conducted and students are given a platform to showcase their expertise and deliver a video lecture through Peer to Peer Learning. Ample networking opportunities are provided through business simulation games and other workshops conducted at regular intervals”.

Strong infrastructure to backup quality education
WeSchool has created a centre for research, which is envisaged to develop a research climate among faculty members. The envisioned scope includes encouraging and undertaking quality research, projects, development programs, and institutional planning to set the process in various academic units; and extend all support to the faculty members and students to publish their academic research for the broader use of society.

This helps to support the school administration in carrying out conducting yearly planning activities in an effort to draw up short-term as well as long-term research priorities, develop domestic and international linkages to enhance the research output.

To make distance education effective while at the same time hassle free, students of WeSchool can access all the features of the program either online on their desktop/laptop through the website or through a mobile app 24/7. Apart from regular learning resources, students at WeSchool are also given access to an online video library for extra-curricular learnings.

The team associated with the Hybrid PGDM at WeSchool comes with years of experience in teaching, along with high-industry exposure. As mentors, they ensure that students are exposed to professional, functional and soft skill training to meet high-level corporate demands. Various workshops on popular topics such as conflict management, art of influencing people, problem-solving and decision making, carving paths less taken are also conducted by the institute.

Adding about the placement opportunities available to the students as well as their future plans, Uday adds, “Students have access to specialization-wise job vacancies on our website under the ‘Placement Opportunities’ section from the day of their admission. Also, 90 percent of our students have found a direct correlation between the program and growth opportunities in a 2017 internal survey. At WeSchool, we invest our efforts in bridging the distance between the industry and academia.

Our campus boasts of integrated innovation and knowledge cells, as well as research and publication labs. This is where students can imbibe and gain exposure to new concepts, gain a global outlook and become future-ready”.

Dr. Uday Salunkhe, Group Director, WeSchool
Ashok’s guidance has been crucial for the growth of the University and with him at the helm, LPU is aiming to achieve impressive strides not only in the Indian higher education space but in the global higher education realm. He was also awarded the prestigious Indian Red Cross Awardby the Governor of Punjab, V.P. Singh Badnore.