Swati Ganeti is an accomplished business professional and academic leader, currently serving as the head of the Undergraduate Program at Master’s Union, a top-tier business school founded by alumni from Harvard, Stanford, and Wharton. She has earned her undergraduate degree from the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi and her MBA from the Wharton School in the United States. She is an alumnus of IIT Delhi and MBA from Wharton School, US. In her 10 years of work experience spanning across corporates and start-ups, she has worked for US-based Management Consulting Firm Bain & Co. and has been Chief of Staff at WhiteHat Jr.

Master's Union

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

As the head of a department in an educational institution, my roles and responsibilities towards the students are diverse and crucial for their academic and personal development. Some of the key responsibilities include academic leadership, faculty management, student advising and support, curriculum design and many more. This involves a combination of administrative, educational, and leadership tasks aimed at enhancing the educational experience for all students within the department.

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

Bringing a practical and industry-oriented approach to subjects within an academic department is essential to prepare students for real-world challenges and the business world. We at Masters’ Union are known for our practical and new-age approach towards education because we believe in focusing on the overall development of a student. You can check out our brand video as well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyMIGNBmRrg. Our unique curriculum allows students to learn both inside and outside the classroom and to facilitate this, we have outclass activities every alternate semester. As the name suggests, Outclass activities are an innovative way for students to apply their knowledge outside of the classroom through various programmes such as Dropshipping, Global Immersion Programme, Startup Weekends, Entrepreneurship Capstone, Industry Treks etc. These are important skill-building experiential interventions that help students immerse themselves in an entrepreneurial environment and work on unique startup ideas from start to finish.

What are the best practices offered by the department to the students that help them gain the necessary skills?

As for practices within the classroom, our curriculum includes new-age specializations in tech and business management such as Computing and Statistics, Finance and FinTech, Advanced Data Analytics, Product Management, Management and Strategy, Marketing and Design Thinking, Entrepreneurship, Digital E-Commerce and many more so that the student can learn what is relevant to the industry in today’s day and age. We have courses taught by 200+ CXOs and MDs from Amazon, Apple, IBM, and more. Apart from academics, our students can participate in extracurricular activities ranging from industry treks, public speaking or even sports tournaments which ensures an all-round development.

How do you help your student to cope up with the competition being so high in the outside world?

Some of our strategies include mentorship programmes where students get to connect with industry leaders who can provide guidance and share experiences. Students can also book sessions with our in-house career counsellors who help them set a road map for their time at Masters’ Union and beyond. Apart from that, we give them industry exposure and networking opportunities that empower their learning environment enough to not just cope with high competition but also thrive in the dynamic and competitive outside world.

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What do you see as the department’s/ college’s greatest strengths and how it can be enhanced?

One common compliment we get from people who often visit our campus is that “Masters’ Union is revolutionizing the education sector in India.” Our founding team consists of alumni from Harvard, Stanford, Wharton and IITs which only means that we have tried to take the best factors from these institutions and apply them to our education model. Through this, our biggest strength has become our practical approach to promoting quality education and learning. The only way it can be enhanced is with the help of our brilliant students who make the most of it by coming up with innovative business ideas and building their startups during their time here.

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

To explore each and every single one of their interests because everyone’s learning curve and career trajectory is unique and there’s no one-size-fits-all approach. As for the mentorship part, we will always be here to guide them.

How does the department/College enhance the skills of the faculty and prepare them according to the industry standards?

Our faculty consists of residential teachers. We conduct guest lecturers and consistently call CXOs and other business leaders to take up fireside discussions with our students. This seamless transition between a CXO who is so well aware of the business world and our student who is willing and excited to learn from him is what helps us stay up-to-date with industry trends and standards. To know more about our faculty, check out this video: https://youtu.be/wuxqvQATdXg 

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

Our students engage in many immersive learning experiences such as The Entrepreneurship Capstone, Creator Challenge, Local Consulting Challenge, Startup Weekends: https://youtu.be/xE-9_utwxkQ among others. As an example, The Entrepreneurship Capstone requires students to build a startup from scratch in 4 months including running marketing campaigns, managing supply chains, and interacting with customers. So these are the interventions that facilitate an immersive and hands-on learning experience at Masters’ Union.

What would you like people to know about Masters’ Union, that you think they may not know?

That Masters’ Union is more than just a business school, we encourage our students to think outside of the box and experiment with their ideas as much as they can. Disruptive and hands-on learning fosters creativity and innovation among the students and in turn, they create brilliance within these campus walls through their assignments and in the outside world by becoming CXOs and business leaders. For a detailed explanation of our undergraduate programme you can also watch this podcast: https://youtu.be/EVLEHJha2fY?feature=shared 

What is your leadership philosophy, and how would you apply it to lead the Institute effectively?

My leadership philosophy revolves around empowering our community at Masters’ Union through delegation and team-building. As an institute, we strive for excellence, foster a culture of collaboration, and ensure that we thrive in a dynamic educational environment.