Archives for October 2015

Bengaluru: Amidst the high walls and cocooned shell of the three and a half acre campus of Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, Bengaluru, they say what happens here; indeed does stay in the campus.

So let’s take a journey into the lives of the 341 students who strive each moment to meet deadlines, complete tasks and assignments, and try to accomplish higher standards. In the process, we are left to wonder if 24 hours is actually enough for an MBA student? But, what sets us apart is the level of student involvement in the day-to day functioning of the college. Being a student driven college primarily, we are involved in each and every activity, from placements to making sure of the quality of food available; from organizing the festivities to being the face of SIBM-B in the mass media. It’s all about the students. With 11 committees and 12 clubs; SIBM-B aims to achieve excellence in all avenues. The institute aims to inculcate in each individual a sense of responsibility, independence skill development and healthy competition. With the constant floods of tests, assignments and events and live projects, each of us eventually learn how to survive on average four hours of sleep.

The state-of-the-art faculty at SIBM-B is a cross section of both members from the industry as well as academia. Each faculty member is a sea of knowledge, and sometimes is not possible to impart it all during lectures. Hence, they take up individual doubts very patiently in class and any time offline too. The various clubs focus on each of the functional areas of specializations like HR, Finance, Marketing and Operations. The main aim of the clubs is to provide knowledge beyond the course books to match up with current industry requirements. All this, again managed by the students themselves.

A holistic environment congenial for adequate growth opportunities is provided at each level. There is a healthy level of student-teacher interaction through mentorships too, where each student is assigned a mentor whom they can fall back to at all times. Analyzing Harvard Business Review case studies, various other case discussions and making PowerPoint presentations is what each of us knows like the back of our hands by now.

The mess has variety of foods available with the good part being that there is no limit on the amount of intake. The college also has an amphitheater where street plays, musical concerts, and movie projections are held from time to time to give students a break. If that was not enough, there is a 24 hours-open reading room, a library, a well-equipped gymnasium, a basketball court, an indoor badminton court and a volleyball court. In short, there are adequate recreational provisions made, which each of us manage to make use of.

The day starts at 9 am and ends by 6:15 pm for most of us. After which, one can straight away see herds of students flocking to the reading room or the library; some to the gym; some to the cafeteria; and some to flex their muscles by playing a sport.

SIBM-B is seldom asleep. Be it at 2 am, one will always either find groups of students studying at one end or a group singing at another. From chit-chatting at one end to making assignments at another, the balance seems to be just right.

To survive in the rat-race that the world is now, one not only needs to be hard working but also needs to develop and hone other key skills. Keeping this in mind, the curriculum is very challenging, intense and beneficial. They say, MBA is all about developing people skills, network, professional knowledge and rigorous mindset. And no better place could offer this than SIBM-B. Focusing on all the key aspects simultaneously as well as making each moment worth a memory is what we all are going to take from our two years here.