Dr. Pathak has 44 years of experience (25 years of corporate banking experience and 19 years of teaching experience). He has designed Management Development Programs for corporate executives on topics ranging from Tax Management to Risk Management.

He has published several research articles in various journals of repute and has edited several books in the areas of Finance and Banking. He is a member of the Economic Affairs, Finance & Taxation committee, Economic Research Cell at Cll, Kolkata. He has also been nominated as the co-director of PRMIA, USA for the Kolkata Chapter to create awareness about Risk Management among professionals.

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What is that one thing that made you excited and be a part of IBS and share your experience of 0+ journey in IBS?

It has been a great shift for me after spending 25 years in Corporate Banking. I always wanted to teach and IBS gave me a great opportunity to work with them since more than twenty-two years. Every day is a day of exciting journey for me at IBS due to the freedom given in mentoring and guiding students and faculty members. Whatever we think is the best for the stakeholders, we decide and execute.

What motivated you to pursue a career in academia and leadership in management?

The bug of teaching caught me at the end of my banking career when I took a session in the Training college in the Bank. When I joined IBS, my late founder N J Yasaswy goaded me in pursuing PhD. I went back to my alma mater at IIT Kharagpur and completed my PhD at the young age of 58 years. This gave me lot of confidence and took up the leadership role in 2011. Since then it has been a long journey, as my self-leadership paved the way towards shared leadership. Our students and faculty members are our strengths and important internal resources as we continue to leverage them for betterment of IBS and the society at large. 

As a director of - IBS School of Business, what do you feel is the USP or what are the differentiating factors that make IBS stand out from other Business schools?

Students joining IBS have aspirations and we strongly believe that these students can be churned through regular classes and clubs oriented activities which develops their personality in the shortest possible time of two years. IBS is different from other Business Schools and its USP are the following:

  1. Industry relevant course curriculum
  2. Excellent faculty with a mix of corporate experience and academically qualified
  3. Student centric learnings through Case studies
  4. Industry oriented certifications
  5. Development of well-rounded personality of students through club activities
  6. Place ability of each and every student every year

What steps would you take to ensure that the business school's curriculum remains relevant, aligns with industry demands, and prepares students for successful careers?

We continue to have our discussions with the corporate leaders which ensure that our courses are industry relevant and placement oriented. We introduced Analytics in our curriculum several years back when other business schools were thinking about it. We now offer certifications in Digital marketing, Power BI, Data Visualization, AI and ML and many more which improves the probability of placement of each and every student.

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How would you engage with faculty to promote research excellence, encourage innovation in teaching, and support their professional development?

It is necessary that each faculty continues to carry out their research in their domains and get their papers published in journals of repute. We encourage research from faculty members and students as well which improves the quality of deliverables and exchanges between the faculty and the students. Innovation in teaching happens through gamifications and simulations which supports professional development for every faculty. Management education has undergone significant changes at IBS as we move towards practice sessions by corporate leaders apart from student centric learning through case studies.

How do you plan to leverage technology and online platforms to enhance the delivery of business education and adapt to changing educational landscapes?

Our teaching and delivery in classes is 80% on physical mode and 20% on online mode. During Corona period we were 100% online and we took just one month to prepare online course contents for our students with the help of faculty members. Adequate support was provided to the students through our non-teaching staff during the difficult period of two years. All classes, exams and results happened real time and placements before time.

IBS can adapt to any changes in management education through their strategic leadership and plays a palpable role in guiding other UG colleges in moving towards excellence. 

What are the challenging part of being in the Director of business school role and how do you handle them?

We have students joining IBS from different backgrounds and far flung areas. Each student has a different set of mind and different intelligence. Such students have high expectations from us. We have to get into the minds of students to understand their desirability and employability. We connect with the students through our mentorship program which ensures that each faculty is well aware about aspirations of each student. The real challenge occurs when we match the profile of the students with the requirement of the corporates. In fact this is the key mantra and a great opportunity for us as we continue to place each and every student year after year since 1997.

Can you describe What is the significance and support IBS provides for entrepreneurship and innovation?

Students joining us are looking for placements and would like to have corporate experience for a few years before they think themselves as entrepreneurs. However, we encourage entrepreneurship as a part of our curriculum when mentors of startups come to the campus and deliver guest lectures. Some students join their family business and some students get guidance from our facilitators in pre-incubation centers to develop new thoughts and ideas.

We believe in innovations by modifying our course curriculum as per industry requirement and also introduce new methods of teaching. Inducting AI and ML in our course curriculum will be the game changer of tomorrow.

How do you envision the role of the Director in shaping the strategic direction and growth of IBS Business School?

Directors at IBS are the thought leaders. We focus on three requirements of students namely Knowledge, Skills and Attitude which is the present and future requirement of Corporates. We continue to understand the macro- environment in India and other countries. We continue to explore new geographies as we connect with our Alumni members all across the world. We collaborate with UG colleges for bettering the quality of students and faculty members through our various programs meant for them. Such initiatives will continue to have a positive impact on future growth of IBS.