Mr. P.N. Jha is the Director at SMS Varanasi. He has pursued MBA, PGDAM, Ph.D. (Mgmt.), and D. Litt. (Mgmt.). He has an experience of 35 years in the teaching field. He has 19 years of experience working in AICTE-approved management institutes. He has been selected among the 100 most influential directors of India as per the World Education Congress.

SMS Varanasi

You have held key positions at various education institutes throughout your professional career. What are the key factors that keep you connected with the education sector?

My whole family has been in the same line except my father, so, I guess that I inherited family interests. As you know, I did my MBA in the 80s when the corporate sector was a luxury and highly regarded degree. Even at that time, I chose teaching as my profession and straight away joined one of the best business institutes as a lecturer, and from that day I entered the education industry and serving it now as well, I also feel that this is the most noble and gentle field.

Being the Director of SMS Varanasi, what are your views on leadership, and how would you describe your leadership style?

Though we have studied many leadership styles, we know every leader has to develop their style to lead people. In education Institutes, we need a good environment and empowerment for the teachers and opportunities where they can enhance their teaching capabilities, they can write papers, work for a consultancy, and other interests along with management without workload. In SMS Varanasi, we have seen results in the past 16 years from when I joined through multiple awards and rankings, and it was only possible due to the trust and loyalty of the faculty towards the leader.

How does the curriculum of SMS Varanasi ensure the best practice for the industry?

At SMS Varanasi, we are running courses that are affiliated with some universities, either AKTU Lucknow or Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidya Peeth Varanasi. So they provide the curriculum and we cannot make any changes to the same. However, we always put suggestions for the betterment. We have added a few extra curriculum activities as per the corporate requirements as we are always in touch with corporate people through our good relations and terms.

What is the strength of SMS Varanasi?

If you go and see the profiles of our faculties, you will realize that all of them are Ph.D. holders and have experience of more than 15 years. So, we focus on providing quality education here. Also, the ambiance is decent, and all the required things are available on the campus itself as far as economic conditions are concerned our fees are affordable and we have kept it economical for the students. Colleges in NCR or Bangalore region are charging double or more for the same facilities we provide here at SMS Varanasi at a cheaper cost.

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What do you think should be the Institute’s priority for the next ten years?

I would say it is too early to decide the priority for the next ten years as you might have heard that the government is planning to launch a new education policy in that case scenarios will be changed and we shall have to strategize accordingly.

What was your vision while joining SMS Varanasi? And are you able to fulfill the same?

As you know, I was the Director before joining SMS Varanasi. So my top priority was to improve the ranking of the institute and I started working in the same way from the day I joined. I started publishing the generals at that time. Only one general was published. I made the PD program compulsory among the faculty, and I announced incentives for the same. Due to my friendly behaviour or you can say ready to help nature within 3 to 4 years majority of the faculty did their Ph.D. This was the reason that within 4-5 years we became A+++ in the rankings and came under top 50 business schools.

What would you like people to know about your institute that they might not know?

Although we try to make sure that all our developments and programs are public through media publications and other various modes. However, I would like to tell you that we are one of the pioneers when it comes to organizing international and global conferences, if anyone ever visits the institute at that time, you’ll find a huge Gathering and see interactions all around. So I want upcoming students to know that SMS has been a leader in establishing the image of the lost wisdom and we are soon going to open a research center for students as well as our faculty.

Would you like to give any suggestions to the current and aspiring students?

I would suggest students not pursue any course without having an interest and temperament for the same. Course or stream selection should be their top priority and it should be based on interests only.