Dr. Pragya Rathore is the Head of the Department of Bioscience at the Graduate School of Business. She holds a B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Microbiology. Thereafter, she went on to earn a PhD in Microbiology along with a postgraduate diploma in Nano Biotechnology. Since 1996, she has been working with top ranking institutes such as PMB Gujarati Science College, Sanghvi Institute of Management and Science, Suyash College, and Softvision College and Research Institute.

Ms. Rathore supervises PhD students with their theses. She holds memberships in committees like Microbiologists Society, India, for Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyala and the News Bulletin, MSI. She has also been a member of the Board of Studies in Microbiology at DAAV. Dr. Pragya is the author of three books and has published 41 papers in well-known journals. Moreover, she has presented numerous papers at national and international conferences. She regularly attends workshops, conferences and seminars and holds memberships in the American Society of Microbiology, Association of Microbiologists, Biotech Research Society of India, ISCA and Microbiologist’s Society of India.

Graduate School of Business

What is the latest program that you are offering in your dept. which will help students outperform and stand apart from the crowd?

The Department of Biosciences has Microbiology, Biotechnology, Bioinformatics and Pharmaceutical Chemistry courses at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. The choice of subjects under the New Education Policy is a meaningful combination that helps students to learn skills, enrich and make them industry-ready. They can combine our regular courses with other subjects like Biotechnology with Computer Science, Life Science and Microbiology with Life Science and all with Chemistry as a minor subject. We emphasise developing technical skills in students. The handling of glassware, media, and instruments and performing all experiments help increase confidence among the students. We also have several short-term pieces of training, workshops and internships related to the pharma, agricultural, food and dairy, medical and neutraceutical industries, which is our unique strength.

What are the factors that make this program the best for the students to opt?

We have a number of factors that contribute to making our institute and courses a success. We have the best laboratories in Central India with modern and state-of-the-art facilities. We also have a team of dedicated teachers who bring in their years of work experience to teach through hands-on training and practical sessions. We also have regular short-term training programs that are organized in the department.

What are the best practices in the course you’re offering? 

We make use of contemporary multimedia facilities to teach our classes. This makes learning easy and also makes for an effective teaching-learning process. We regularly update our courses and materials to stay up to date with industry trends. We have made our lecture notes, videos and PowerPoint presentations available to all our students after classroom teaching. We also provide extra training hours to upgrade the skills and have rigorous assignments, classroom teaching, regular mentoring and career guidance.

What are some valuable insights of the program that you are offering at your institute/dept.?

Our academic programmes are delivered on a yearly system for UG courses and semester systems for PG courses. This allows for concentrated work to be achieved across the session and provides students with an opportunity to cover a range of topics, thereby enhancing their breadth of knowledge. We have also established the practise of including uniquely-crafted experiential learning in the form specialisation programmes alongside the academic curriculum, which is innovative and ground-breaking in the current context. Through this, all our students have access to a set of structured opportunities for personal growth and professional development.

How does the program ensure that students are being prepared for the future?

One of the biggest things that students today need to succeed at work is the ability to work as a team. We teach this through our events that involve teamwork and coordination. One of the meticulously designed events targeted at building teamwork is Innovision. Students need to understand how to communicate, compromise and share credit so that they can be valuable contributors to projects. This is taught by encouraging teamwork on some projects and assignments. Real life begins at graduation for students; they begin to put their knowledge to use and manage their own life plans. So, we focus not just on the learning material but also on where it will take students later. We teach complex thinking skills, giving students context for decision-making and solving problems.

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 How did you train yourself/faculty to deliver this program to the students? 

Our faculty are the essence of our institution. They are directly responsible for delivering top-of-the-line knowledge and training students. It’s their passion, hard work and authentic interactions that help uphold the reputation of our institute. Our faculty attend conferences, read industry publications and exchange best practises with their personal teaching circles. Our institution takes the lead in offering training and development opportunities for faculty, and the impact is widespread.

How do you tend to build an industry connect with this program?

To build industry connections with the industry and the institute, students have in-house training, workshops and internships. We also have a useful and operational model that bridges the gap between academic research and the knowledge needs of students. There are regular industrial visits, webinars, and workshops that make the student connect with the live and practical approach of the industry. They also get to learn which skills are needed to work and survive in the industry.

What were the challenges that you faced while inculcating this program in your curriculum?

The BSc and MSc course projects require a lot of time investment, much more than any course we have had before. It is critical that you plan them properly and make sure you can focus on them completely. It is only possible to complete these projects if you can work on them full-time because otherwise you will be unable to finish them in time and the project will be aborted. In particular, it is not possible to combine any type of project with a full-time job. The biggest challenge is to make sure the projects are completed within the timeline and with appropriate results.

What are the types of projects that the students are working on through this program?

We offer several types of projects at our institute. There are BSc and MSc projects on topics related to Food, Dairy, Agricultural And Environmental Science, Microbiological and Molecular techniques, and Novel peptides. We allow our students to choose their own projects based on their interests, passions and career goals. 

What are the benefits and career options after pursuing this course?

If you consider getting a degree in B.Sc., there are plenty of subjects and specialisations to choose from. Students who have earned their B.Sc. degree can pursue a variety of career paths or work options, such as teaching, technical writing, and research analysis. However, to advance in their career, an M.Sc. degree is usually recommended. Candidates can gain an advantage over their competition by pursuing more specialised M.Sc. courses. The job roles an M.Sc. graduate is eligible for are Professor, Scientist, Lab Technician, Assistant Professor, Chemical Analyst, Food and Drug Inspector, Biochemist, Research Scientist or Junior and Senior Research Fellow.