Mr. Neeraj Bhatnagar has been working as the Deputy Director of Academics at Indraprastha Institute of Management, Gurgaon, Haryana. He has done his Graduation from Allahabad University and Post Graduation from AIMA as part of his education and holds a rich 25 years of work experience in domains like Software Marketing, Software Development and Teaching. His research areas are Supply Chain, Entrepreneurship, Operations Research, Production & Operations, Business Information System.

Mr. Neeraj Bhatnagar

Being the Deputy Director, what are your roles and responsibilities towards the institution and Students?

As a Deputy Director of the institution, taking care of academics comes under the scope of my work. In other words, I am responsible for supervising and monitoring what to be taught, how it ought to be taught, time frame about each topic, major topics which need more elaborate description and time etc. In addition to this, collaborating with the examination department of the institute to set question papers, collecting feedback from students about teachers general behavior and quality of education they offer to them in order to make necessary adjustments in teaching methodologies and educational policies on time are also part of my day to day job. Last but not the least, I am responsible for the final selection of our faculty members, assigning topics to them and helping them in every possible way so that they can deliver the best content to our ambitious students.

How do you plan the important programs and marketing campaigns for your college?

We organize a broad range of activities and events such as guest lectures and industrial visits on a regular basis in collaboration with industry experts and visiting faculties. And whenever we schedule these kinds of events, we plan things as per the norms and standards defined by our institution so that any student doesn't have to miss any of their lectures.

Apart from this, we give special attention while assigning any specific task to our faculty members or students in order to avoid overburdening them with lots of work. In other terms, we plan things ahead of time and post COVID we have also implemented such a system so that smooth transition could happen without any impact on content delivery, when it comes to arranging physical classes or digital lectures and vice-versa.
Check: Indraprasth Institute Of Management - [IIMG], Gurgaon - Course & Fees Details

What are the main reasons that have kept you connected to the education sector?

I started my professional journey as a Software Marketing Executive and later on worked as Software Developer on various kinds of Databases, Oracle DB and also developed Java based applications. But I always had the passion of teaching students and especially senior PG students since my childhood, so after spending some time in the corporate world, I moved to the wonderful, unpredictable and dynamic domain of education to make my childhood aspirations come true.

Also, we as an educator and mentor of students, feel elated and happy while guiding and sharing our knowledge with them whose career is about to take off. And, curious students always come with a set of questions, so it also helps me to explore various things I might not know at first and when we discuss things collaboratively in class, it helps others as well. Hence, I would say my passion for educating our younger generation and learning new things from them throughout the whole process are two biggest factors which have helped me to stay connected with the education sector for so long.

Which factors make your college different from others and how do you communicate that unique value proportion to students?

The way we deliver practical oriented education, share any information or latest developments, trends or requirements of the industrial and educational world with our students and make them corporate ready makes us unique and different from other institutions.

Also, during lectures, we don't spoon feed our students, but discuss together with them in-depth about any concept, its importance in today's time followed by its pros and cons.

In other words, we conduct a detailed discussion during each lecture and motivate our students to think and explore instead of delivering all content at once. In addition to this, with the intention to improve the analytical abilities of our students, we use real-time case studies as well and discuss the problem along with its possible solutions with our young minds, so that they can get conceptual clarity and reach a goal.
Check: Indraprasth Institute Of Management - [IIMG], Gurgaon - Placement

How do you maintain a healthy relationship and positive environment within your institute?

From my personal opinion and professional experience, I can confirm that if students feel satisfied and content with the kind of education and opportunities they receive from an educational institution like us, they will remain happy and positive else the situation can become very worse and escalate to a doom.

Hence to ensure a healthy and positive environment in my college, I regularly communicate with students and all stakeholders, provide them best quality and employment oriented education by recruiting highly qualified teachers and bringing growth opportunities in campus and never leave any misunderstanding, academic or non-academic issue or grievances of the students unaddressed or unresolved.

Which programs has your institute implemented to address the rising mental health issues among students and enhance their skills?

We start our day with the morning assembly, where first prayers are recited and then the National Anthem followed by a Jaikaara takes place.

And for the purpose of enhancing the skills of our students and supplementing their existing knowledge with additional resources, our college has developed a spacious and wonderful Library. And this library hosts a large collection of books which our students can read and can prepare notes from. Along with this, we have established sophisticated computing faculties too through which most of our students can stay updated, become tech savvy and easily browse the required content over the internet.

Last but not the least, we have built designated space for various kinds of indoor and outdoor sports activities, which students can play and stay physically and mentally fit.
Check: Indraprasth Institute Of Management - [IIMG], Gurgaon

Any valuable advice which you would like to give to students who are interested in pursuing a career in higher education and administration domain?

I firmly believe that our passion to impart knowledge plays a very crucial role in making us a successful Teacher, hence I would advise my younger generation to keep that spark and enthusiasm alive all the time.

And when we are associated with the education sector, so administrative responsibilities come over time and what happens sometimes is students consider their immediate teacher the best person to share their problems and academic issues with. But being a Teacher, we should be capable enough to help them convey their grievances directly to the concerned person and in a correct manner.

In addition to this, be sincere if you wish to work in the dynamic world of education. Because due to the unpredictable nature of this amazing sector, times will come when you have to deal with the issues of the institution as well as students and your sincere work attitude will help you to make the right decisions at the right time.