What are the top challenges that you want to solve today for your institution?
- To identify the new, growing and rapidly expanding mass communication and media sectors of the economy and industry and to simultaneously evolve, deliver state of the art learning modules for empowering students to meet the business challenges in the field of mass media.
- To reach out to diverse, multi-disciplinary and cosmopolitan student community so as to select quality students who are passionate for excellence, have capacity to put in disciplined and sustained extended hours of work under academic pressure.
- The most challenging task is to identify, sustain and continuously develop premium faculty, guest speakers and industry professionals who possess the scholastic strength and keen eye for knowledge application and enhancement, balancing academic rigors with compassion of the student community and society.
Would you choose to be called an academic or an administrator? Why?
I believe, it is for the Head of the institution to balance between academics and administration so as to evolve, build and sustain a platform and an environment where knowledge streams converge to deliver high quality learning systems so as to achieve a fusion of theories with applications through participatory learning experiences, ensuring resolution of market challenges. Similar, to the fusion of the left brain and the right brain.
It is a common knowledge that academicians often build theories and laws, while administrators apply them to a given situation. One must continue to build modules which could be moulded to meet a given fluid situation to mutual satisfaction, thus achieving dynamic positioning of the learning systems. Particularly, in the field of mass media and communication, theories and practicals, faculties and industry professionals build a perfect blend of academic and administration for productive results. Thus, the institute Head balances the two.
How would you want to solve the problem of Quality Faculty in Mass Media Management Education? Can we follow a framework for the same?
The Quality of a brand is defined by its customer satisfaction and repeat purchase. The Brand equity! It is multidimensional and dynamic, always seeking to deliver excellence in an ever changing market place. Invariably the faculty chosen holds the foundations of the building blocks of mass media education. This needs to be supplemented, augmented and facilitated by continuously exposing them to the demands of the mass media market place on one hand and access to high quality knowledge hardware, software tools and systems, to boost the academic rigour of the mass media institute. This is possible through the learning environment offered by MET and engaging the faculty, industry professionals and students to face the mass com challenges of today into the future.
What’s your biggest achievement as a part of this Institution?
Since 2005 this is the 10th batch of the Post Graduate programme in mass media specializing in the fields of Advertising, Journalism, Entertainment, PR and Events covering multimedia challenges. The alumni of the institute are placed and are delivering in senior respected positions in the industry today. All of them are placed or have launched on their own, in leading organizations and brands, not just in India but overseas also. The mass media alumni are living up to the expectations of the market place, giving MET the biggest satisfaction of our journey in the academic field of mass media over the past nine years. Their continuous interest in academics and placements and their willingness to involve with the activities at MET mass media even today is our core strength and joy.
MET Institute of Mass Media over the past nine years has only grown inspite of competition, growing multifold in depth and geographically. Today compared to the past there are hundreds of schools which offer more programmes and more specializations on various functions of mass media. MET has withstood the competitive onslaught through inward and outward focus. Changes, challenges and progress has been the pillars at MET mass media.
According to you, what’s the ideal profile of a candidate whom you would accept into your program?
Inherent capacity to put in hard work both in academics and field work helps shape the long distant player in the field of mass media. Graduates abound in these virtues get themselves selected ahead of the other streams. Ultimately one who joins the programme does get group support and thus passes the mark of an ideal candidate. Overall a candidate’s Emotional Quotient, Intellectual Quotient and Spiritual Quotient based on certain admission, selection tests created at MET, help to identify the correct candidate for this programme.
Above all the candidates’ passion, interest and attitude coupled with positive counseling and groomed soft skills help in shaping the candidate for a prospective career in the field of mass media at MET.