The Higher Education Review

Business Quizzes, HR Events and Product Launches are nothing new for the Management students of Ballari Institute of Technology and Management, located in Ballari, Karnataka, primarily an engineering college running a management wing that is equally cared for. College is NAAC Accredited, an ISO 9001:2008 Certified and member of All India Management Association (AIMA). Students regularly attend product launches, seminars and conferences, where they learn about the real time implementation of their theory classes. “What we do is cultivate an environment where the students become more and more inclined towards their subject and gets the optimum learning experience,” says Prof. Prithviraj, Deputy Director, BITM.The department of management studies of the institution is known for their excellent industry connects and producing skilled and industry ready professionals. Being located away from the city did not restrict the institution from creating strong industry relationships. Remaining a step ahead of the competition, BITM has set up a corporate relations cell in Bangalore to manage the industry relations. The center serves as a connection between the institution and the industries. With the help of the center, the establishment maintains several MoUs for exchange programs, training and internships. The MoUs help the institution remain in touch with the changing industry trends and keep the students updated with the changes as it happens. The most important MoUs they maintain are with Reliance capital, SPSS-IBM and number of B schools, which facilitate various student and faculty exchange programs. The MoU with Reliance capital and SPSS-IBM help the institution provide several training and projects that are very helpful for the students in the long run.

The training and placement cell of the institution collaborate with these companies and facilitate various activities which are beneficial for the management students such as trainings on soft skills, personality development, regular industrial visits, conferences and seminars and guest lectures by renowned entrepreneurs. All the trainings are initiated from the very first semester itself. The institution also sends the students for internships and most of the time students are absorbed by the same companies. Every year in the placement drives numerous companies visit the campus and take their pick, major recruiters of the institution are Oracle Financial Services , Kotak Mahindra Bank, ICICI Prudential, Capital IQ, Jaro Education and Eureka Forbes who offers packages as high as Rs. 6 lakhs and more. The placements are not the only thing that has remained constant in the institute; the entrepreneurship development cell has been another feature of the institution which has remained constant in its efforts of encouraging entrepreneurship among the students. College is proud to have 15 students who have turned Entrepreneurs.“We prepare the students not only on entrepreneurial grounds but on social entrepreneurship as well, we tell them just do not solve business problems but also look at the social problems in terms of business

value,” adds Prof. Prithviraj, while discussing the entrepreneurial cell in the campus. The institution maintains an entrepreneurship development cell which works with the corporate relations cell and brings in several dignitaries from the industry for interactions and lectures to motivate the students on their entrepreneurial goals. The team working behind the entrepreneurship cell has followed four steps as an oath since the beginning; first, they organize events such as lectures, quizzes and seminars to inspire the students, second, they help the students achieve originality of idea, third, they help students build strong business base for their idea and in the end they assist the students get funding for the idea.The institution not only has an excellent entrepreneurship development and placement cells but also maintains a management research center where the faculties act as mentors to the students and help them publish papers and complete projects on time. Many students have published high impact papers in reputed journals and presented papers in national and international seminars. From the trainings to the research activities, everything has been included in the curriculum, designed with the help of independent industry advisory board consisting of experts from IBM, Microsoft and other reputed companies and academicians. The institution follows a blended learning method where they use traditional and modern techniques together to explain during regular sessions. As a part of the blended method, the concept of flipped classroom is also implemented in the regular teaching routine. With well designed curriculum and well qualified, industry experienced faculty, BITM is gradually becoming one of the most preferred destinations for aspiring management students in Karnataka.