IBS Hyderabad, Director: Prof. Venu Gopal Rao K S Interview

Prof Venu Gopal Rao K S has been working as the Director and Professor at IBS, Hyderabad, a renowned college of academic excellence. Prior to joining ICFAI Business School, he dedicated close to 6 years to serving as a faculty member at a prominent college. Furthermore, his rich corporate experience of 14 years in core sales and marketing, spanning diverse industries such as consumer electronics, IT, and construction, has greatly benefited his students. This real-life expertise and knowledge have provided invaluable insights to the aspiring professionals under his guidance. Looking back at his journey, Prof. Venu Gopal Rao K S began as an Assistant Professor in the Marketing area at IBS. In recognition of his exceptional contributions, he was promoted to the position of Associate Professor in 2011, followed by his appointment as Associate Dean - Research in January 2012. Building on his expertise, he assumed the position of Area Head-Marketing in January 2013 before eventually being appointed as the Director of Hyderabad.

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What is that one factor which made you excited to join IBS Hyderabad?

I have worked for different organizations before joining IBS and each had its own characteristics. But IBS Hyderabad was different in many aspects and the very first attractive factor was that it was built on foundations of academic freedom and respect for individuals. And prior to joining IBS, I could sense the zeal of an organization that was willing to invest in people, processes and physical infrastructure that were so vital for growth and development. Apart from this, the institute believes in the pursuit of quality in all its activities, has a laser-like focus on students, hires bright faculty talent and has nurtured a research culture and rewarding excellence and merit is the only criterion for student intake. And all these factors together encourage me to join IBS as I could not have asked for a better environment to join and grow along with it. 

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

While at school and college, I got opportunities to take part in several extra-curricular activities and my teachers encouraged me to take part in competitions as I had a natural flair for public speaking. Also, my schooling at Military School Belgaum exposed me to the finer aspects of teamwork and leadership and after working in industry for over a decade I switched to Academics driven by my passion for teaching and training. Hence, the values of selfless service and combined work experiences has helped me take on and succeed in a career in academics and academic leadership roles. 

Which differentiating factors of your IBS College makes it different and unique in comparison to other institutions?

ICFAI Business School (IBS) Hyderabad started its journey in management education in the early 90s when very few business schools existed in the private sector. Prof. NJ Yasaswy, the visionary founder of our college, saw the potential for growth of management education in the country. He believed that the sector will grow only when it is democratized and quality education made accessible to the maximum number of students. Hence, IBS was incorporated on the premise that good quality leads to good outcomes and rigorous investments in quality infrastructure, well qualified faculty, a strong research culture and academic freedom helped our institute to grow consistently over the years. Below mentioned are some of the other factors which makes us different in comparison to others.

We do have a Case Research Center (CRC) for developing business cases in India and abroad and 7000+ cases have been developed so far. 

• We have also adopted the Unique Pedagogical mix for our MBA program and significant investment has been made in the ICT Infrastructure and digital classrooms we have on our campus.
• Unique summer internship program of 12 weeks is offered to students where two mentors assist and guide them for their project work.
• Apart from all this, we have established a PhD Program, which in return has successfully created its own model by adopting global best practices. Nearly 75 Scholars have successfully graduated and are doing exceedingly well in teaching and research in India and all over the world.
• Our college hosts students from all over the country and the gender divide is clearly in favor of girl students (52:48). Also, 200+ faculty from nearly 17 states work at IBS Hyderabad and all this makes our college a true Mini-India. 
• Faculty having both industry and academic experience are our biggest source of strength and students get the best quality education that adds to it. And relatively young faculty members having an average age of 37 years bring greater dynamism and adaptability to the constantly evolving business environment. 
• We also have a consistent Placement record of 96% and we offer flexible and industry relevant courses to young minds of society and courses categories ranges from Analytics, AI, Positive Psychology and Marketing Technology etc.
• Last but not the least, IBS is a constituent of IFHE which has recently received the NAAC A++ grade in 2022 and our college too has received the prestigious AACSB accreditation in February 2020 as a recognition for continuous improvement and upholding quality benchmarks. 

What steps do you generally take to ensure that the curriculum of your institution remains compliant with the industry standards and demands?

Curriculum management at IBS Hyderabad is a dynamic process and as we firmly believe that curriculum should be relevant for its immediate stakeholders i.e. its students. And to update the curriculum on a regular basis and make it more industry relevant, we regularly collaborate with corporate experts and academicians of leading institutions to take feedback and suggestions from them. Also, learning goals of each program are assessed beforehand so that they can be aligned with our institute mission and interventions are incorporated from time to time based on a strong assurance of the learning process. Lastly, all the courses in the MBA program are taught using the popular case method to provide a blend of theory and their practical applications to students. And the proof of our dynamic curricula management process is reflected in the quality of placements and growth in average salary of graduating student’s year on year. 

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

Our IBS Hyderabad believes in hiring faculty having passion for research, hence we regularly promote a culture where research is given due importance besides teaching and our college also has an attractive research incentive policy where faculty are paid in cash based on the category they have published their research papers in.

Along with this, an attractive point based variable income policy was recently introduced to further enhance the cash incentive component and it makes me immensely proud to tell you that over the years the quality of research has improved appreciably. And as we all know that for an educational institution who needs to deliver an MBA program within the framework of regularly changing industry dynamics requires rigorous investments in faculty training, therefore we regularly motivate our teachers to attend training programs conducted by the ICFAI Staff college and even grants are provided to help them attend FDPs organized by reputed institutions such as IITs and IIMs. 

How do you leverage technology and online platforms to enhance the delivery of business education in your college?

Our institute has made significant investments in technology such as digital boards, licenses for different software’s and an extensive IT lab that has 250 PCs installed and 12 Bloomberg terminals are installed on campus for students who are pursuing a Finance based course. Apart from this, simulation licenses are procured from leading vendors and we also do have subscriptions for leading databases such as ProQuest and Ebscohost in the physical library. Also, our entire campus is Wi-Fi enabled for seamless connectivity and since Covid pandemic brought to the fore the active use of online and hybrid learning models, hence at present our faculty members are well versed with both offline and online teaching platforms. Last but not the least, students are also encouraged to register for courses on the Swayam platform where they can earn additional credits before graduating from the MBA program. 

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Being the Director of IBS Hyderabad, what are the challenging aspects of your job and how do you handle them?

The best part of my job as the Director of IBS is that it is both challenging yet exciting and I sometimes face difficulties while recruiting highly educated faculty members and retaining them as well for a longer period of time. Apart from this, constant review of college’s curriculum for relevance and rigor, sustaining quality of teaching and research and ensuring students get the true worth of their education as reflected in quality placements also possess roadblocks in one or the other form. 

And because IBS believes in hiring the best faculty who can grow with the organization, hence we have given adequate academic freedom to our faculty members, foster a collaborative research culture and provide opportunities for their professional development so that they don’t leave the college easily. Also, IBS has very low faculty turnover as compared to many leading business schools. Following are some of the other approaches I use to handle issues and hurdles that come my way on a daily basis. 

• As we all know that research is driven by self-motivated faculty, hence our college provides the necessary infrastructure support, an attractive incentive and growth opportunities to all our teachers so that they can collaborate more with each other and publish research papers in reputed journals.
• Also, faculty who have a flair for training and consultancy are free to pursue their areas of interest and decision making is decentralized, hence many faculty members are part of several academic and organizing committees which are present in our institute.. 
• Apart from this, I regularly communicate with teachers of my institute and also with industry people to ensure that curriculum can be updated and learning goals can be achieved on time. Regular group meetings and reviews by the concerned faculty ensures uniformity in program delivery. 
• Teaching quality is sustained by an active peer feedback and review system and faculty members are encouraged regularly to attend sessions of their colleagues and provide constructive feedback from time to time. And to enhance the professional competency of faculties, regular training programs are conducted by us.

What kind of support does your college provide to students for entrepreneurship and innovation?

Our college provides adequate support to nurture entrepreneurship and innovation skills in students through formal teaching and institutional support mechanisms and we are also offering Undergraduate and Postgraduate level courses for the same. Along with this, the University Institute Innovation Council was formed to promote incubation based startups, and it has received generous monetary support from the management.And it gives me immense happiness while telling that under IIC, 20+ startups have been incubated successfully and then IIC efforts are complemented by the active support of our highly qualified faculty members. We also teach students through formal courses and using a pedagogical mix of theory with practice where they work in simulated environments and operate businesses from start to finish. 

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

IBS Hyderabad has grown to be a sought after institute for aspiring business management graduates over the years and this transformation is possible due to the active support that I receive from different stakeholders with whom I connect and gather feedback on a regular basis.

And just like any other organizations, our college relies on a structured approach to define its annual, short and long term goals, all of which we elaborately capture in the Institute Development Plan. Apart from this, financial approvals for investments are sought from time to time and we regularly review things to monitor and assess our progress and achievements.

And if I talk about my role as a Director, then I network with peers from India and abroad because I am also a member of leading business and networking organizations. Last but not the least, I connect regularly with faculty members of leading institutions to seek their active participation in academic processes such as Board of Studies and Academic Council deliberations. Given below are some of the other responsibilities I need to fulfill as part of my job.

• Attracting and nurturing good faculty members along with leveraging faculty diversity and intellectual capital
• Expanding activities into Executive Education and offering programs to students in collaboration with corporate experts. 
• Fostering and sustaining a Research Culture for professional growth and development of faculty.
• Connecting with Alumni and Industry is an important responsibility as a Director at IBS. 
• Internationalization through fruitful collaborations with leading universities abroad, planning immersion programs and engaging in inter institute activities such as Joint conferences.