At the helm of affairs at GBU, his first move is the launch of the School of Management which will start offering MBA programme this summer. MBAUniverse.com spoke to Prof Nirjar about the MBA programme, its focus and facilities, and future plans for the University. In this interview, Prof Nirjar says his MBA programme will be benchmarked to the IIMs and the University will be a modern educational hub with focus on Research.
Prof Nirjar has a Degree in Civil Engineering from Jodhpur University, Post Graduate Degree in Structural Engineering from Roorkee University and a Ph.D. from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland under the Commonwealth Scholarship Programme. In past, he has been associate with leading institutions including Birla Institute of Technology; Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur; Institute of Engineering and Technology, Lucknow; Motilal Nehru Regional Engineering College, Allahabad. Later, as Member Secretary in AICTE, New Delhi from 1999 onwards and later as its Chairman during 2001 he promoted the quality of Technical Education in India.
Prof. Nirjar has been Member of several Professional Bodies and Committees. To cite a few, he has been Member Board of Governors of IIT Kanpur, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, NIT Bhopal, NIT Jaipur, IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, IIM Calcutta, IIM Lucknow, IIM Indore; Management Development Institute, Gurgaon.
Gautam Buddha University, a newly established University, is being funded by Greater Noida Development Authority and Noida Development Authority, and is supported by Government of Uttar Pradesh.
Excerpts from the Q&A with Prof Nirjar:
Q: What is the objective behind setting up of Gautam Buddha University?
A: Through this university we want to provide affordable education at the highest level to the aspiring students. This is our aim. We want to focus on Post Graduate studies and Research so that more people at higher end of the value chain may be produced in India. Indian as a nation has to move to top end of the global value chain.
Our vision is to create a world class University in Gautam Buddh Nagar. We want to provide world class research facilities. We want to have a culture which will be based on the values and ethics. We will borrow from the teachings of Lord Buddha. Buddhism has been a non conflicting ideology that the so relevant for today's times. We will imbibe these learnings as part of our values oriented education.
Q: You are going to launch the School of Management first. What is the rationale behind this priority to management education?
A: We are starting management school first because there is a great demand of quality managers in India. When we see the admission trends at IIMs, there are over 200,000 people appearing in the exam of which only around 1500 candidates are admitted. There is also a strong demand for talent coming from good management institutes. The salaries are rising. So, it means if they can impart good education, then there will be great demand for it.
Q: When do you expect the MBA programme to begin?
A: We are planning to commence our MBA programme from August 2008.
Q: What kind of campus will host the programme?
A: Overall, the University will be based in a gigantic campus. We have 511 acres land near Delhi. So, we are developing a very big University campus. We will be having 8 faculty buildings. Every faculty building will be having area around 100,000 square feet. We will be having residential facilities for professor. We are arranging for 5,000 single seated rooms for students (almost 40-45% for girls). Further our campus will be wi-fi enabled and also very eco friendly.
Q: How many faculties are you going to appoint this year?
A: I am planning for 12 full time faculty members in the management area. This will be supported with visiting professors. We want to have inputs from the industry also.
Alongside, I am planning to put the academic staff for Bio-technology, Law, environmental studies as well. We are getting very good faculty applications and we will recruit the best.
Q: What will be the fee structure of the programme?
A: We are trying to provide the facilities which match the IIMs. Our fees too will be benchmarked with the IIMs. We will have roughly the same structure. Of course, we will provide concessions to candidates from the weaker sections.
Q: How do you plan to differentiate your management institute?
A: We are emphasizing on two important things: Firstly, we are putting efforts on value-based education. Secondly, we will have a strong emphasis on communication skills. We recognize the weakness in communication skills in students, particularly from the weaker sections.
Q: You will be holding an admission test called Graduate Proficiency Test on June 1, 2008. What is the pattern it will follow?
A: Our test will be similar to CAT and IIFT. The paper will be similar to the pattern of CAT. We shall be including some questions on general awareness. We also expect students to know something about our constitution, culture, political and social icons and India's freedom struggle.
We will hold Personal Interview. I don't have much faith in group discussion as it becomes too much subjective at times.
Q: What are the future plans of Gautam Buddha University?
A: We will soon start our School of Information & Communication, School of Bio-Tech and School of Law which will offer Post Graduate Programmes.
We will have collaborations with leading international institutions for various education programme.
