Dr. N. M. Kondap,
Director General – Rajasthani Sammelan’s Deviprasad Goenka Management College
of Media Studies and Durgadevi Saraf Institute of Management Studies, Malad,
talks to Shraddha
Kamdar about the need for bringing about a change
There is always something to learn from him,
whenever I meet him. Not surprising, since he has decades of experience in
teaching and higher education. He has held important posts such as Vice
Chancellor and Professor of Marketing at SVKM’s NMIMS
(Deemed-to-be-University), Mumbai; and Chairman, Western Regional Committee,
All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE). And even now, he holds an
illustrious post. All of these designations, however, have not taken over the
heart of the teacher within him, for even today while interacting with the
undergraduate students on campus, he sheds his suit and tie for a more funky
garment – a T-shirt – and walks down to the quadrangle where he can mingle with
them and talk to them with a more personal touch. That’s Dr. N. M. Kondap,
Director General – Rajasthani Sammelan’s Deviprasad Goenka Management College
of Media Studies and Durgadevi Saraf Institute of Management Studies, Malad.
There are a thousand ideas in Dr. Kondap’s
head, but he starts with one that is close to my heart –one of the field of
media. “There is a strong need to develop professionals in the field of media
and entertainment currently, since this field is passing through a transition
phase – it is moving from the more individualistic approach to the more
professional approach,” he says. Another aspect that needs to be understood, he
adds, is that the concept of management needs to be applied across industries
and fields, even those of design and the arts.
Thus the idea of introducing management to
media, advertising, and communication, and so, students should be offered
knowledge in all aspects, from finance to production and much more. “Even
though each student may not be involved on the production side of things, he
should know how things are done,” says the eminent educationist. According to
Dr. Kondap, to pull off such ideas, more academic administrators are needed.
“Such an academic administrator needs to have knowledge beyond self. He should
constantly be thinking – what can I do next for the students which will add
value to them? These thoughts should change from thoughts to concepts and from
concepts to application,” he says.
Dr. Kondap mentions that this is the thought
behind the P.G. Diploma Course in Media and Entertainment offered by the
Deviprasad Goenka Management College of Media Studies. A 12-week internship
forms an integral part of the programme. With this internship, students
understand which segment of the field entails what kind of work, and then they
can develop their areas of interests accordingly, with a lot of clarity. For
instance, he says, if a student comes to him saying she wants to work in
production, he asks – film, television, radio or mobile? If she narrows it down
to television, his next question is – foreign, national or regional? If the
student says a national Hindi channel, then he asks which particular channel,
and then which particular segment or time slot. By slicing the needs of every
student to the finest, the idea is to create extreme focus in the student’s
mind while picking out an area of interest during this internship. This will
enable the students to comfortably make a decision during the placement period.
With such pointed focus, comes the need to
shift from a generalised approach to a more specialised approach, which to Dr.
Kondap is about skill development. Students need to develop technical skills
for working in their respective fields and also hone those people-oriented
skills which will take them a long way, including communication skills. “Do I
really understand the signals? That is a questions that students need to ask
themselves. Verbal and non-verbal communication is different, and they should
be aware of how each can and should be interpreted. This not only includes
personal behaviour and mannerisms, but attire as well,” he says.
That’s the difference Dr. Kondap is trying to
create. His vision for the institutes is that they should be institutes with a
difference. And this difference needs to be spotted in all aspects, however big
or small. For this, he aims to create differentiators in various terms. For
instance, he wants to create one for quality – the policy for which will cover
(besides the curriculum) – administration, finance, human resources,
accounting, systems, procedures, accreditation, accountability, research and
publication and so on. When I went to meet him, he was working on a quality
document that he felt could be used in the years to come. A document according
to him defines the who, what, why, etc., which will create a system-centric
approach rather than a person-centric one. In that way, in future even if a
person is not around for some reason, the guidance will be there. The quality
policy, Dr. Kondap says would focus on measurability, since everything is
measurable.
Moving on to the classroom, Dr. Kondap says
he strongly believes in nurturing the students to build confidence. And with that
in mind, several development initiatives are organised at the institutes for
benefit of the students. And that is a mark of a leader with a difference – a
leader with a sense of touching the lives of the students in the tiniest of
ways. He believes in breaking barriers and going to the students himself,
rather than summoning them to his office. That is the change is hopes to see in
the higher education industry as well. He offers a simple example – just
changing the nomenclature of ‘part-time students’ to ‘executive participants’
proved to them that someone cares for them. He aims to bring in such changes
for students which would lead to internal changes within them. He wants to
create a quadrangle where he can be a part of his students – go down and meet
them, and even eat a bite from their ‘dabbas’. He knows they will be extremely
touched, and he in turn would come away learning something new from them.
Another factor Dr. Kondap strongly feels
about is technology – and how it has consumed every aspect of our lives. “I
know it is necessary, but it cannot replace the human touch. We need to move
beyond technology, and that will be a differentiator,” he concludes.
Source | Free Press | 3 August 2015
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