Dr. Uma C. Saha is the HOD of Research & Development at Xavier Institute of Development Action and Studies. Prof. Dr. Uma C. Saha holds a Doctoral Degree in Population Studies from the International Institute of Population Studies, Mumbai. She has secured a Government of India Fellowship for Masters in Population Studies from IIPS, Mumbai, and received the Chandrasekharan gold medal for outstanding performance. She has also cleared UGC-JRF-NET in 1998. She has completed her Post Graduate Diploma in Bioethics from IGNOU funded by NIH, USA. She was also awarded a Ford Foundation Grant during her Ph.D. work. She joined XIDAS as an Assistant Professor in 2004. She takes Research Methodology, Quantitative Techniques, and Health Management for the PGDM and PGDM-RM students. She has conducted more than 20 Research Studies for various national and international funding agencies. She has 36 publications to her credit, both in National and International Journals and book chapters. She has also presented 20 papers in national and international forums. She has won the Young Scientist Award from ICMR WHO in 2009.

Xavier Institute of Development Action and Studies (XIDAS)

Being the Faculty of the Department, what are your roles and responsibilities towards the students?

As a faculty, I take the subject allotted by the Dean’s Office in the Academic Planning Meeting. Based on my core competency I usually take Research Methodology - Basic and Advanced, Qualitative Techniques, Market Research, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (R&R), Health care Management, etc. As a faculty, I continuously enhance my students’ teaching ability and technique through self-development, develop case studies for students, guide the students in the Summer Internship Programme and Dissertation students, and prepare the students for participation in different conferences, workshops, and competitions along with other regular teaching. 

What valuable advice would you like to the students for them to have a prosperous career ahead? 

Choosing PGDM today is like diving into an ocean wherein more than 5600 institutes are there in India offering these courses having a wide scope. The benefits of industry-tailored PGDM course makes the students industry-ready and employable and therefore it has high demand resulting in throat competition in this field.

What are the interventions and approaches you bring in apart from the curriculum to train/ teach the students?

Every year, we have a series of Academic Planning meetings wherein our suggestions from alumni, eminent visiting faculties, industry partners, and placement partners are taken care of to update the curriculum.

How does the curriculum of your department ensure the best practice of the industry?

As a Department of Research & Development, the curriculum of my subject ensures the best practices of the industry by collecting accurate, relevant, and actionable data for businesses and organizations. The curriculum incorporates different updated techniques of clearly defining objectives, choosing the Right Research Methodology, Sample Selection and Size, Design a Structured Questionnaire or Interview Guide and appropriate method of data collection, data validation, Quality Control and analysis, maintaining Privacy and Ethics, and preparation of a professionally SMART report with Actionable Recommendations.

Check XIDAS Courses & Fees

When you came to XIDAS, what was your vision and how are you trying to achieve it?

When I joined XIDAS in 2004, after completing my Ph.D. in Population Studies/ Demographer from the country’s most reputed institutes like IIPS, and Mumbai, I aimed to improve the academic quality of the subject research, qualitative, and market research, and give inputs on advanced Excel, SPSS, CSpro, anthropac, etc. More research and consultancy services, I have brought more than 21 projects to the Institute. My funding organization was NTPC, POWER Grid, ADB, NABARD, UNICEF, CARITAS, IGSSS, MoHFW, CDC, Atlanta, DFID-WAterAid, etc.

What are your views on the placements and higher education of the students from your department How does your department prepare students for higher education?

By developing research skills, professional and smart report writing, and data mining, train them with the recent data analysis packages.

How do you strategize the curriculum and how often does it get updated to make it beneficial for the students?

It was already mentioned earlier that an upgrade took place every year based on alumni suggestions, the requirements of the industry, and placement organization.

How do you try to bring in a practical approach towards subjects and make it industry-oriented?

By Involving the students in live projects - our students get involved in a project funded by HPCL, NTPC, Aravalli Thermal Power Corporation, HDFC Bank, ASER-PRATHAM Foundation, etc.

How do you establish healthy relations with the students and fellow faculty?

By giving good academic inputs in the class and research field surveys, and accompanying them in their Summer internship, dissertation, and live projects. Some of them also publish papers in journals and magazines helping them in improving the paper quality.