“Nurturing students is the best thing a teacher can do” – Dr. N. M. Kondap

“Nurturing students is the best thing a teacher can do” – Dr. N. M. Kondap

Dr. N. M. Kondap, Director General – Rajasthani Sammelan’s Deviprasad Goenka Management College of Media Studies and Durgadevi Saraf Institute of Management Studies, Malad, talks to Shraddha Kamdar about the need for bringing about a change

There is always something to learn from him, whenever I meet him. Not surprising, since he has decades of experience in teaching and higher education. He has held important posts such as Vice Chancellor and Professor of Marketing at SVKM’s NMIMS (Deemed-to-be-University), Mumbai; and Chairman, Western Regional Committee, All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE). And even now, he holds an illustrious post. All of these designations, however, have not taken over the heart of the teacher within him, for even today while interacting with the undergraduate students on campus, he sheds his suit and tie for a more funky garment – a T-shirt – and walks down to the quadrangle where he can mingle with them and talk to them with a more personal touch. That’s Dr. N. M. Kondap, Director General – Rajasthani Sammelan’s Deviprasad Goenka Management College of Media Studies and Durgadevi Saraf Institute of Management Studies, Malad.

There are a thousand ideas in Dr. Kondap’s head, but he starts with one that is close to my heart –one of the field of media. “There is a strong need to develop professionals in the field of media and entertainment currently, since this field is passing through a transition phase – it is moving from the more individualistic approach to the more professional approach,” he says. Another aspect that needs to be understood, he adds, is that the concept of management needs to be applied across industries and fields, even those of design and the arts.

Thus the idea of introducing management to media, advertising, and communication, and so, students should be offered knowledge in all aspects, from finance to production and much more. “Even though each student may not be involved on the production side of things, he should know how things are done,” says the eminent educationist. According to Dr. Kondap, to pull off such ideas, more academic administrators are needed. “Such an academic administrator needs to have knowledge beyond self. He should constantly be thinking – what can I do next for the students which will add value to them? These thoughts should change from thoughts to concepts and from concepts to application,” he says.

Dr. Kondap mentions that this is the thought behind the P.G. Diploma Course in Media and Entertainment offered by the Deviprasad Goenka Management College of Media Studies. A 12-week internship forms an integral part of the programme. With this internship, students understand which segment of the field entails what kind of work, and then they can develop their areas of interests accordingly, with a lot of clarity. For instance, he says, if a student comes to him saying she wants to work in production, he asks – film, television, radio or mobile? If she narrows it down to television, his next question is – foreign, national or regional? If the student says a national Hindi channel, then he asks which particular channel, and then which particular segment or time slot. By slicing the needs of every student to the finest, the idea is to create extreme focus in the student’s mind while picking out an area of interest during this internship. This will enable the students to comfortably make a decision during the placement period.

With such pointed focus, comes the need to shift from a generalised approach to a more specialised approach, which to Dr. Kondap is about skill development. Students need to develop technical skills for working in their respective fields and also hone those people-oriented skills which will take them a long way, including communication skills. “Do I really understand the signals? That is a questions that students need to ask themselves. Verbal and non-verbal communication is different, and they should be aware of how each can and should be interpreted. This not only includes personal behaviour and mannerisms, but attire as well,” he says.

That’s the difference Dr. Kondap is trying to create. His vision for the institutes is that they should be institutes with a difference. And this difference needs to be spotted in all aspects, however big or small. For this, he aims to create differentiators in various terms. For instance, he wants to create one for quality – the policy for which will cover (besides the curriculum) – administration, finance, human resources, accounting, systems, procedures, accreditation, accountability, research and publication and so on. When I went to meet him, he was working on a quality document that he felt could be used in the years to come. A document according to him defines the who, what, why, etc., which will create a system-centric approach rather than a person-centric one. In that way, in future even if a person is not around for some reason, the guidance will be there. The quality policy, Dr. Kondap says would focus on measurability, since everything is measurable.

Moving on to the classroom, Dr. Kondap says he strongly believes in nurturing the students to build confidence. And with that in mind, several development initiatives are organised at the institutes for benefit of the students. And that is a mark of a leader with a difference – a leader with a sense of touching the lives of the students in the tiniest of ways. He believes in breaking barriers and going to the students himself, rather than summoning them to his office. That is the change is hopes to see in the higher education industry as well. He offers a simple example – just changing the nomenclature of ‘part-time students’ to ‘executive participants’ proved to them that someone cares for them. He aims to bring in such changes for students which would lead to internal changes within them. He wants to create a quadrangle where he can be a part of his students – go down and meet them, and even eat a bite from their ‘dabbas’. He knows they will be extremely touched, and he in turn would come away learning something new from them.

Another factor Dr. Kondap strongly feels about is technology – and how it has consumed every aspect of our lives. “I know it is necessary, but it cannot replace the human touch. We need to move beyond technology, and that will be a differentiator,” he concludes.

Source | Free Press | 3 August 2015

 

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