Quality always cuts through the clutter; Newly launched Vijay Patil School of Management (VPSM) will be a Top 10 B-school: Dr Prafulla Y Agnihotri, Founding Dean, VPSM; Former Director, IIM Trichy & IIMC Professor

Add Review

close
MBA ADMISSION ALERT! LAST DATES FOR TOP CAT, XAT COLLEGES
Welingkar Mumbai & Bengaluru Admission 2024 Open   | Apply Now
S P Jain Global GMBA & MGB Admission Open   | Apply Now
JAGSoM Bangalore (Avg. Salary Rs. 13.3 LPA) Open   | Apply Now
BIMTECH Greater Noida (Avg. Salary Rs. 11.24 LPA) Open   | Apply Now
IFMR GSB Krea University (Avg. Salary Rs. 13.5 LPA) Open   | Apply Now
Woxsen University Hyderabad MBA Admission 2024 Open   | Apply Now
Jaipuria Noida, Lucknow, Indore and Jaipur Open   | Apply Now
Sri Balaji University Pune MBA Admission Open   | Apply Now
NDIM New Delhi Admission 2024 Open   | Apply Now
MBAUniverse.com News Desk |
May 26, 2021
Founding Director of IIM Trichy and Placement Head of IIM Calcutta during the 2009 crisis, the marketing thought leader - Dr Prafulla Y Agnihotri is launching Vijay Patil School of Management (VPSM) in Navi Mumbai under the aegis of DY Patil University as its Founding Dean. He is confident and believes that quality always cuts the clutter and is envisioning that his new B-school will be ranked amongst the Top 10 B-schools in India.
Vijay Patil School of Management (VPSM) will be a Top 10 B-school

After a successful innings as the Founding Director of IIM Trichy and Placement Head of IIM Calcutta during the 2009 crisis, the marketing thought leader - Dr Prafulla Y Agnihotri has taken up his next challenge – to launch a start-up B-school in a highly cluttered India MBA marketplace during the Covid times. Dr Agnihotri is confident and believes that quality always cuts the clutter and is envisioning that his new B-school will be ranked amongst the Top 10  B-schools in India.

Vijay Patil School of Management (VPSM) Mumbai Admission Open: Apply Now

Dr Agnihotri is launching Vijay Patil School of Management (VPSM) in Navi Mumbai under the aegis of DY Patil University as its Founding Dean. After a long assocation, he recently quit IIM Calcutta to join VPSM and has prepared a blueprint for its launch and strong foundations.

DY Patil University is located in a world-class 68-acre campus in Navi Mumbai. There are 12 diverse institutes running that enrol over 30,000 students every year. VPSM is the newest addition. VPSM is named after Dr. Vijay Patil, the Chancellor of DY Patil University who envisioned and created the internationally acclaimed 40,000 seater DY Patil Sports Stadium within the campus, which is rated as the words 6th best cricket stadium by the Architect’s Journal of Britain. Dr Vijay Patil convinced Dr Agnihotri to leave his cushy IIM Calcutta job and create a new top-class B-school from the scratch.

Dr Agnihotri’s 25-year academic journey started when he joined NMIMS Mumbai in 1996 after being a practicing manager for over ten years. In 2006, when he was the Head of Marketing Department at NMIMS, he moved to IIM Calcutta as a Professor in Marketing Group. Then, he was the Founding Director of IIM Tiruchirappalli from February 2011 till April 2017.  He also co-authored a marketing to me with Dr Philip Kotler. Dr Agnihotri is also on the Board of SBI Mutual Funds as an Independent Director.

To learn from this distinguished leadership journey, and to know his plans for VPSM Navi Mumbai, MBAUniverse.com conducted a detailed interview with Dr PY Agnihotri. Edited excerpts follow.

Q: After an illustrious academic career of over 25 years, where you were part of the leadership teams at IIM Calcutta, IIM Trichy and NMIMS Mumbai, you have accepted the offer to lead Vijay Patil School of Management, a completely new B-school. How did this come about!
A:
Actually, I had no intentions of leaving IIM Calcutta…I was happy there as a Professor of Marketing. I was also being considered for the post of the Director for a couple of IIMs. But when I met Dr Vijay Patil, the President of DY Patil University, he explained me his dream project of setting up of a ‘world-class’ business school, it attracted me. I felt as if he was speaking about my dream. We were on the same page, and the same line....And, for the first time in about 15 years, I felt like quitting IIM Calcutta to chase my dream of setting up a world class business school which would not only offer the best education but also will look after all round development of its students.

Q: So, was it an easy decision to accept to head a start up B-school when you could have continued to comfortably teach and consult?
A:
Yes, you are right. Once you are established in your field, teaching becomes somewhat routine and less challenging. You also have flourishing consulting which offers money and experience to deal with corporate and solve their problems.

Heading a start up is never easy. I had experienced the same challenge when I had joined IIM Trichy. I was employee no. 1 when I joined IIM Trichy. NIT Trichy was our temporary campus and it had given me a 10 x10 room with a table and AC as my office. IIM Trichy was born in that room. Using my own laptop and mobile phone, I used to work for more than 14 hours a day initially on different fronts simultaneously – recruiting faculty and staff, admissions of students, setting up the temporary campus....well, the list is long. However, when I look back now and see IIM Trichy doing so good and being the most preferred IIM among the contemporary IIMs, I feel happy!

Comparatively, challenges at VPSM are less. Most importantly, an excellent academic facility is already constructed. By virtue of being in Mumbai, getting well-qualified faculty members who have earned their PhDs from IIMs or the best schools in the world is not difficult (we already have recruited 10 full-time faculty members with PhDs from some of the best schools in India and the world),  further being in Mumbai, getting support from the industry for guest / visiting faculty is a lot easier.

Q: As the Founder Director of IIM Trichy, the 11th IIM in India, what were the key challenges and how did you overcome?
A:
Trichy is a nice, quiet but small town. It is located 330 kms south-west of Chennai. Being a small and very traditional town, it lacks a lot of social infrastructure like decent Cinema theatres, which would show Hindi or English movies, libraries that would offer books in English, gardens and play area, restaurants that would offer different cuisine, etc. Moreover, being a small place, it could not offer employment for spouses of the faculty members. We could attract some of the best faculty members but their spouses could not get an employment there. Today, most of the couples are professionally qualified and career oriented. Under the circumstances, Trichy had a major challenge to keep the spouses happy.

Another difficulty that we faced in Trichy was its location and inaccessibility. Then there was no direct flight to Trichy. One had to fly through Chennai with a layover of a few hours there.

Obviously, the company managers would be reluctant to travel as it would involve almost a full day in travel.

Understanding this difficulty, we invested in video conferencing so that the senior industry leaders and managers could interact with our students without needing to step out of their offices.

Vijay Patil School of Management (VPSM) Mumbai Admission Open: Apply Now

Q: What were the key learnings from institution building perspective? How do you plan to utilize them for VPSM?
A: 
Oh, there are many learnings! The most important is that the faculty members are the soul of an educational institution. The quality of faculty members and the quality of the academic processes go hand in hand.

Second, the quality of learning depends on the rigour of the academic processes. IIMs, especially the older IIMs, are known for that rigour. Hence we prefer to select those who have acquired their PhDs from IIMs or the best of the schools abroad as they would be familiar with the academic rigour. We want to offer the same experience to our students that the students from IIMs A, B and C get.

Third, a good quality faculty member expects academic freedom and autonomy in his work. He would like to follow his own research and teaching agenda. A good academic leader will offer that freedom to the faculty.

Fourth, if you select a good faculty, s/he doesn’t need a constant supervision. In fact, if someone keeps looking over his / her shoulder all the time, he / she would feel dejected.Leave them free and they would surprise you by their involvement and commitment.

Fifth, a leader is like a chain in the diamond necklace. The chain is not visible; all it does is to keep the diamonds together and enhance their collective worth.

Sixth, most of my colleagues at IIM Trichy were fresh PhDs (then they were called as FPs) from IIMs; though they had studied in IIMs or IITs, they had no work experience. So, I had to invest a lot of time in grooming them.

Seventh, participative decision-making works wonders when your colleagues are intellectuals, capable and willing to contribute.  It makes them feel oneness with the organisation and improves their commitment to the decision made and also to the organisation.

Eighth and perhaps the most important, a leader deals with human beings. He/she must be empathetic and humane in his/ her approach. People will make mistakes; if they are genuine mistakes, s/he must learn to overlook them and encourage her/his juniors to learn from the mistakes and go ahead. S/He must delegate but still keep the doors open for consultation and advise, if required by her/his colleagues.

Q: Thank you for sharing your IIM Trichy experience and learning in so much detail. Certainly, it will help next generation of B-school Leaders. Moving on, what is your vision for VPSM? Where do you see it in next 5 years and 10 years…?
A: VPSM shall be one of the three best schools in Mumbai in next 5 years and one of the top 10  business schools (as per the NIRF ranking) in India in next 10 years.

Eventually, we would like us to be considered as an alternative to IIMs A, B and C. In the long run, VPSM will be one of the global destinations for the management education.

Q: From a student’s perspective, what are the USPs ofVPSM?
A: 
We have many strengths. Let me share a few USPs.

  1. Excellent faculty members: VPSM has three types of faculty members:

(a) academic track faculty members with PhDs from the best schools in India and abroad,

(b) industry track faculty members with long experience of working in the senior management level with the industry. They will offer a strategic and practical perspective to the students, and

(c) dual track faculty members who are renowned faculty members in  reputed schools abroad. They will visit VPSM to teach a course and/or interact with the students over video conferencing.

2. State of the art, class defining infrastructure: VPSM has been designed by Foster and Partners, a reputed UK based firm of architects who have designed campuses for many reputed schools all over the world. The campus has been designed keeping in mind every single need of the learning community.

3. Location: VPSM is located just an hour of driving distance from the places where most of the companies have their Head Offices. It offers us a great opportunity to connect with the industry. The practising managers can visit us for guest lectures, students can visit them for their projects and assignments, and so on.

4. Campus life: VPSM understands the importance of extra-curricular activities like sports, dramatics, inter-collegiate tournaments, music, etc and encourages its students to participate in them. Such activities mould the personalities of the students and groom them in leadership skills, communication and coordination, dealing with emergencies, event management, etc. These skills cannot be taught in the class rooms, they must be learnt hands on. VPSM also offers an excellent sports and recreational facilities to its students.

Q: Today, Indian MBA marketis highly cluttered with so many B-schools…How do you plan to break the clutter!
A: 
There is only one word that will distinguish VPSM from the 6000+ business schools – QUALITY! We promise the quality education with an all-round development of our students. We have invested heavily in the faculty members and in the infrastructure to offer the best learning experience to our students.

Q: 2020 and 2021 will be remembered for the massive Covid 19 disruptions. Do you feel confident launching a new B-school in such a tough year?
A:
Yes.2020 and 2021 were the two worst years in the history of mankind. If it were possible, we would have loved to erase them...however, things are going to change, they are not going to remain the same.This is the right time to invest in education and acquire new qualification and skills so that when things return to normalcy, one would be better equipped to encash on the new opportunities that would emerge then.

Vijay Patil School of Management (VPSM) Mumbai Admission Open: Apply Now

Q: Moving on, you co-authored ‘Principles of Marketing’ with Philip Kotler. What are your views about marketing of “higher and management education institutions”? What frameworks and principles apply here?
A:
Marketing teaches us to look at your own business from the consumer’s point of view. The same principle, if applied to the field of education, tells us to be consumer-centric.

We have several consumers here in the field of education: first, the students who seek admissions. They seek admissions to MBA so that they can join a company as a manager or establish/run their own businesses. Thus, the course curriculum that a business school develops must take care of this need of the students. The curriculum as well as the pedagogy that we shall follow at VPSM would be highly contemporary and participant-centric using case studies, simulation games, projects and exercises. It will involve a lot of interaction with industry champions in the form of guest lectures, the managers can offer live projects to our students that will give them a hands on experience of dealing with some of the managerial issues.

The second consumer and an equally important stakeholder for the educational institute is the Industry who recruits the MBA students. VPSM curriculum takes care of the industry needs. It offers practical application of the theoretical concepts and their strategic implications. The third important stakeholder is the society. VPSM believes in making its students sensitive to the social causes and makes them aware of their responsibilities towards the society.

Moreover, VPSM has collaboration with the Harvard Business School Online which distinguishes VPSM from the rest of the b-schools as it is one of the very few business schools in India to have collaboration with HBS Online. This collaboration shall enable our students to learn some of the courses directly from the faculty members of HBS along with the global students’ community. This HBS experience will enrich our students enormously.

Q: You taught at IIM Calcutta from 2006 till 2021. You were also theChairman of Career Development and Placement during tough years of 2008-10. What are the key learnings...
A:
IIM Calcutta is one of the three best b-schools in India and one of the best in the world. I am proud of my association with IIM Calcutta and grateful to it for grooming me as a faculty. My stint at IIM Calcutta was very enriching. I could see what has made it as one of the best b-schools in the country. The quality is number 1 priority in everything they do.

A great business school shall always respect and recruit the best faculty members, offer them due freedom to decide their teaching and research agenda, offer a conducive environment to grow and publish their research work in reputed journals, respect diversity and also the differences of opinions.

Students and faculty members share a great bond and their academic association and learning extends beyond the classrooms. Further, the students at IIM Calcutta are involved in a lot of extra-curricular activities which develop the team spirit, leadership skills, organisational abilities, and train them in handling emergencies and unforeseen situations. All these skills cannot be taught in the classroom. VPSM shall also encourage its students to participate in various extra-curricular activities.

Placements at a B-school are of paramount importance. The companies visit campuses twice – once for the summer internships and the other for the final placements. Placements are the outcome of all the activities – both academic and extra-curricular - performed by the students. An institution is just a facilitator in the process. Generally, if students have spent the two years productively and have studied diligently, they get good placements. I was fortunate to be the Chairman of Placement during 2009; one of the worst years in last 20 + years for placements. However, I am glad to report that IIM Calcutta was the only (or one of the very few) institute in India to have 100% placements across all the programs like PGP, PGPEX and PGPEX-VLMP in 2009.

Q: Coming back to VPSM, what kind of students are you looking to admit?
A:
We are looking for graduates in any discipline with consistently brilliant academic record. Extra weightage may be given to those who have participated in extra-curricular activities or having a professional qualification like CA/ ICMA/ CS/ CFA/ PMP, etc. or work experience in reputed companies.The students must exhibit a strong urge to learn and have a positive attitude and leadership skills. In short, we are looking for an all-round personality and not just a book worm who has a brilliant academic record but knows nothing otherwise.

Q: Please share total MBA seats for 2021, and what is the overall admission process? When are you expecting to close the admissions?
A:
We have 200 seats for MBA for 2021.The overall admission process includes shortlisting on the basis of CAT score and the overall profile of the candidate. There would be a personal interview of the shortlisted candidates to check their learning orientation, attitude and the overall personality.

Q: What is the CAT 2020 Cut Off Percentile for the Inaugural Batch?
A:
This being the first year and the year plagued by the pandemic, the CAT 2020 cut off percentile has been fixed at 90%; the same is applicable for the GMAT and GRE scores.

Q: MBA aspirants give a lot of emphasis to Placements. What is your placements strategy?
A:
VPSM acknowledges the fact that placements are important part of the whole process. It shall have strong ties with the industry. The industry representatives are involved in every activity – right from the selection of faculty members, students’ admission interviews to taking full courses as a visiting faculty. Moreover, the DY Patil University has a legacy of over 38 years; many of our alumni are placed at very senior levels in the industry and they are spread across the world. They would be happy to recruit students from their alma mater.

We believe that a management school and the industry are two wheels of a chariot and both of them have to work hand in hand. The output of the academia is the input of the industry and hence both must collaborate to create effective managers. One big advantage that VPSM has is that it is located in an hour’s driving distance from the business centres like BKC, Lower Parel and Nariman Point where most of the corporates have their HQs. Similarly, the Pimpri-Chinchwad belt near Pune is also not far away.  It would be easier for their managers to drive to VPSM and engage with our students.

Like IIMs, we shall also be inviting the companies for the summer and final placements to our campus. If required our students can also visit the companies for the placement process.

Q: Finally, what is your message to MBA aspirants who are in process of admissions this year?
A:
My simple advise for them is to choose the institute wisely. Look for the quality of the faculty that the school has. Ultimately, it is the quality of the faculty and the infrastructure on the campus that are going to drive their academic learning and overall experience during their stay on the campus. The placement is the outcome of the process. If a student has studied, he/she will get a good placement. VPSM recruits its faculty members who have earned their PhDs from the best of the schools in India and abroad. Just a look at our faculty page on the website will tell them the quality of our faculty.

VPSM has a great location. It can partner with the industry in a number of ways. And thus can offer its students the best of learning from its own full-time faculty members as well as the visiting faculty from the industry.We are proud of our infrastructure. Foster and Partners, one of the best firms of architects from the UK have designed our campus by considering every single need of the academic community to make learning enjoyable.

Finally, I wish them all the best in their careers.

Vijay Patil School of Management (VPSM) Mumbai Admission Open: Apply Now

Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more updates on Vijay Patil School of Management (VPSM): DY Patil University Navi Mumbai