Ujjawal Singh's Review On Manipal Academy Of Higher Education - [MAHE], Manipal

To summarize, my alma mater Manipal Academy of Higher Education has not only taught me the diminutive aspects of modern day banking but it has also helped me in inculcating and enhancing my emotional quotient, social quotient and intelligence quotient. The management of Manipal Academy has held our hands in each and every aspect of our daily student as well as personal lives during the tenure of whole 12 months. The management has been our friend, philosopher and guide right from our very first day till our graduating and final convocation day.

The course curriculum of PGDBF at Manipal Academy was aligned towards modern day banking and finance. The course curriculum taught us the various aspects of banking, its legal aspects, its day to day working. The course was quite relevant and research driven to meet the nitty-gritty of modern day banking scenario. The course required us to write exams every trimester apart from weekly tests, practicals etc. Apart from the scheduled tests, exams etc, the faculty also used to test our waters by asking us to prepare presentations, extempore on immediate basis. All in all, the course prepared us all to be able to sail into the difficult and rough waters of modern day banking and taught us to soak up all the pressure of working in a core public sector domain.

Though we all were already been hired by our employer before the starting of this course, however the academy had excellent placement arrangements in place with prominent private players of banking industry like HDFC, ICICI, Kotak Mahindra, Tamil Nadu Mercantile Bank etc. The entire recruitment process was similar in nature to that of initial hiring process wherein the stages of initial written exam was followed by a round of group discussion and lastly a round of personal interview. The institute also had awesome preparatory rounds for honing the skills of its students that normally were undertaken for a fortnight.

Even though my post graduate diploma was of a different kind in the manner that I was already having a conditional job offer in my hand even before commencing my PG diploma, the institute was having ample opportunities for its students to participate in extra curricular activities, management fests etc. Special mention must be made of the annual extravaganza of the Manipal academy wherein all the students were required to organize a sales festival and we were all required to display our cross selling, marketing, advertising skills. Students were also encourages to invent innovative products, services relevant to modern day banking through the mentioned festival.

The annual fee expenditure of the PG diploma was around Rs.2.50 lacs that included tuition fees, boarding and lodging as well.As per my individual opinion, the fee structure was quite affordable considering the living expenses of a metropolitan city like Bengaluru. The entire breakdown of the fee structure was being displayed on official website of Manipal Academy and the institute did not charge anything apart from the mentioned fees from us. The academy accepted the prescribed fees through any of the various modes of payment like through demand drafts, wire transfers, online payments etc.

Though I did not avail any student loan for funding my studies, the academy was having ample tie-ups with both public as well as private banking institutions to provide financial assistance at subsidized rates to its students. Some of the financial institutions providing such loan assistance were HDFC, ICICI, Tamil Nadu Mercantile bank etc. All students who were having admission letter from Manipal Academy were eligible for such loan assistance and the banks used to finance upto 90% of the tuition fees on a case to case basis.

The campus life during my tenure was quite vibrant and the institute used to encourage its students to participate regularly in extra curricular activities like weekly sports meets, fortnightly debate, singing contests that were open to all its students. The academy used to pay special attention to maintain gender diversity in its students as a result of which almost 55% of my batch comprised of female students. The institute took special pride in itself to show off its facilities specially built for differently abled individuals like a braille equipped computer lab & library etc.

The Manipal Academy provided its students with the excellent option of boarding and lodging in its on-campus hostels. These on-campus hostels were absolutely clean and hygienic. The hostel provided to me was a four storied building with an inbuilt mess facility. The rooms were having either double or triple occupancy with the exception of 3 rooms that were having a quadruple occupancy. All the rooms were having attached washroom and toilet facility. Apart from being spacious, the hostel also provided the on-site facility of recreation activities like a volleyball court, badminton court, a common room with internet connection and a television on every floor.

Since I was part of first ever batch of Manipal Academy's PGDBF batch for a public sector bank, hence I cannot comment accurately upon the senior students, however the institute always encouraged us to develop a strong and well connected alumni network as a result of which we all 350 students are connected till date through social networks like linkedin, whatsapp, tumblr etc. Owing to this strong alumni network, even today our junior batches connect and invite any of us for getting prep talks, inviting donations etc.

Post my engineering graduation, I was looking for employment opportunities both in public as well as in private sector. Initially I got the chance to serve in the insurance arm of General Electric. However after a brief stint of about a month, I appeared and cracked the all India banking personnel selection exam and as a mandatory precursor, we the chosen ones were packed to Manipal Academy of Higher Education in Bengaluru to undertake the year long arduous PG diploma in banking and finance. The entire process of getting selected into Manipal Academy was roughly divided into three stages-firstly I wrote the all India IBPS (Indian Banking Personnel Selection) exam that is held twice a year, followed by a round of group and discussion and lastly I had to appear before an interview panel. Post this initial stage, a final merit list was prepared based upon which I was allotted a public sector bank that again took my interview and packed me off to Manipal Academy to undertake the PG Diploma in Banking & Finance at Bengaluru.

The regular faculty at Manipal Academy was comprised of seasoned academicians, practitioners, researchers, scholars belonging to banking domain. We often used to attend the guest lectures of noted bankers from around the world on a frequent basis. The tentative no. of lectures per subject used to be around 30 every trimester during which the faculty used to impart the technicalities of the concerned subject through a plethora of medium like presentations, group discussions, theory, practicals. Almost all the faculty members were doctorates having sharp acumen of their respective fields.