Aurora's Business School : Offering Endless Opportunities

HER Team
Dr. Raghu Naga Prabhakar, Director Aurora's Business School
Since most of the companies now look for a need based hiring instead of future based mass recruiting, the country's business schools are witnessing a dip in campus placements. Hyderabad based Aurora's Business School (ABS), however, is in a different league. With names like Google, TCS, Ranbaxy, ITC, Deloitte, GE Capital, Bank of America and HSBC in the regular recruiter list, ABS has been successful in facilitating student communities with the most sought-after career opportunities. "Now, the country is in need of people who can productively work for the society and a management institute is expected to create the ones with logical and rational minds. We understand the career aspirations of students and train them to be apt for their dream jobs," says Dr. Sreenivas Reddy, Dean, ABS.

ABS is part of Aurora Group, a leading name in the field of education offering quality Undergraduate and Postgraduate level professional courses in Engineering, Management, Commerce, Science, Education, Law, Pharmacy, Architecture and Information Technology for the past two decades. Today, Aurora Consortium has more than 6,000 students enrolled each year. At any given point of time, there are close to 16,000 students pursuing their studies with the Aurora Group, which has a one of the largest alumni base in the state with over 50,000 professionals who are working in India and abroad with leading corporate companies. ABS is the only institution in the Aurora group offering Post Graduate Diploma in Management (PGDM) approved by All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), Ministry of HRD. Since its establishment in 2005, ABS has seen a steady growth in the reputation.

The academic ambience at the ABS is designed to fulfil individual requirements in the learning process

"Business management needs subtle decision makers. We motivate our students to think originally and act innovatively, which will eventually help them to enhance their critical thinking," states Dr. Reddy. ABS has incorporated many learning activities in the curriculum that are equally collaborative and participative. It creates an active spirit of teamwork within the self-motivated students who are capable of making right decisions. Accordingly, ABS has managed to change the learning habits of its student. "Now, our students do not take whatever has been given to them. Instead, they seek for more and we have made all the arrangements to offer them an education that goes beyond the prescribed syllabus," claims Dr. Reddy.

The academic ambience at the ABS is designed to fulfil individual's requirements in the learning process. It equips the students with not just the theoretical knowledge, but also awakens in them the courage to explore the world. The guidance of experts from premier business schools like IIMA, IRMA, XLRI and TISS has also created an impact on ABS curriculum design. "We design the course with the requirements of students as the axis of learning," pinpoints Dr. Reddy. The institute has implemented a strategy where classroom lectures are reduced and the focus is laid on the self-learning through case studies, group discussions, role-plays, workshops and so on. Small time bound projects are integrated into the coursework of each trimester. As a part of these projects, students are given field works, survey projects, research works, industrial exposures and CIS (Course of independent study).

Fieldwork enables students to understand and apply their theoretical learning in the field wherein students observe, interact and present their findings in small groups. Through the surveys, students become capable of designing the questionnaires, administering the same by choosing the right sample and right respondents. Research projects also enhance the critical thinking and the industrial visits provide them with a vital insight into the processes involved in the functioning of an organization. These industrial visits also try to deal with the common issue of the gap between the industry and academics, as they get to observe the atmosphere in an organization, making them comprehend critical management concepts and theories. CIS stands as an exclusive strategy opted by ABS in which the students explore a topic in-depth, integrating several fields of study in searching for solutions to a single problem. This approach comprises of an investigation followed by a written report and interpretation.

Further, the role-play exercises play as a significant method in building apt managerial skills. "Here, each student concentrates on playing the role of a stakeholder defined in a case or a real life situation to solve problems from the student's perspective. This role plays helps in them the right spirit of a professional and they become capable of finding alternate solutions to the problems," claims Dr. Reddy. One role-play is conducted per trimester. "In all the ways, the mentors here stand as the facilitators of the knowledge imparted to the students", claims Dr. Reddy.

According to the teaching learning process executed in the institute, it can be clearly said that the teacher is not the sole source of knowledge. By imparting a student centric approach, ABS is in a mode of transformation and this transformation is not just within the institute, but they are trying to bring about a generation who can lead the world.

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