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Enter a typical B-school class and more often than not, you would find a lively discussion being carried out over a case study. Over the years, case studies have become a popular mode of imparting nuances of the business to the participants of the MBA courses.

Tracking the course of action followed by a company or an industry at a particular time in certain key areas helps students learn by example. However, learning by example is not just restricted to case studies as I found out on being exposed to a new methodology adopted in my class.

The new methodology is based on a more innovative approach. Popularly known as the ET Sessions, this is a series of special sessions designed and included within the pedagogy to help the students apply the knowledge gained during the regular course lectures to the current issues. These sessions were conceptualized by Dr. M. L. Shrikant, (Dean, SPJIMR-Mumbai) and are conducted under the aegis of Prof. Jiban Mukkopadhay (Former Economic Adviser, Tata Group) and Dr. Pallavi Mody (Consulting Economist, K. R. Choksey Shares & Securities Pvt Ltd.).

The sessions consisting of all the participants, a couple of professors and an industry expert are interactive in nature. The participants are expected to browse over major headlines from some of the leading financial dailies especially The Economic Times and The Economist, for the preceding one week. They are then expected to deliberate on those issues for some time before coming to the session, to attain an insight into the subtleties of each issue, headline or news item.

The scope of such sessions is then further increased by dividing the participants into groups. Each group is entrusted with the responsibility of taking up a current issue or an event and carrying out an in-depth research on the same. Some of the topics covered recently included the Arcelor-Mittal deal, the Railways turn-around story, the over-heating of the Chinese economy, etc.

Discussions and presentations are then carried out in the classroom, over various factors surrounding the issues / events and an attempt is made at applying, the concepts learned during the course, to such events. The entire proceedings are moderated by the professors who chip in with relevant insights wherever appropriate. The industry expert provides his/her opinion on the way the industry is moving or shaping.

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* Contributed by -
Manish Purang (Campus Associate),
Student of One-year PGDM Course,
SPJIMR, Mumbai.