ISB–IIMB Doctoral Consortium trains next Gen B-School faculty

The participants are taught how to teach, engage and use state-of-the-art facilities in a classroom.

The Indian School of Business (ISB) and the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB) have come together to host the ISB-IIMB Doctoral Consortium on teaching, for doctoral candidates. These candidates will soon be starting their career as faculty at various Indian b-schools.

We know that teaching students is not an easy task, and that too for higher studies. The quality of students depends on the professor’s merit and teaching excellence. While possession of vast knowledge is important for professors, it is equally important for this knowledge to be delivered properly. There may be situations where the professors are unable to engage students and deliver the lectures despite having a gamut of information.

This consortium—in its fourth year now—is organised with the objective of giving final year FPM/PHD/doctoral students a head start in their careers. The participating candidates are required to teach and are provided with feedback. They also receive the recording of their teaching sessions for review and reflection. 

The consortium saw participation of doctoral students from ISB and the IIMs of Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Lucknow, Indore and IIM Kozhikode.

These doctoral candidates were given training on effective teaching and classroom management by using student-centered learning approaches to teaching, conducting effective case discussions, as well as understanding the changing role of technology inside and outside the classroom. The participants were explained the importance of student learning styles, how to engage with them better and ways of designing a compelling learning experience for students.

According to Professor Arun Pereira, executive director of the Centre for Learning and Management (CLMP) of ISB, “The ISB-IIMB Consortium is a fine example of how collaboration among Indian b-schools can raise the bar for management education in India. If Indian b-schools are to grow in quality and global stature, it is critical that the quality of faculty and teaching standards are on par with the best in the world, and programmes, such as this, help to make that a reality. The ISB–IIMB association is unique in that it meets an increasingly urgent need to build capacity for India’s burgeoning management education sector.”

Professor Sourav Mukherji, dean of academic programmes at IIMB, and one of the lead faculty for the programme, said “The ISB-IIMB Doctoral Consortium addresses a long-felt demand of the doctoral student community to provide key inputs towards honing teaching skills from the master teachers of ISB and IIM Bangalore. While several doctoral consortia have in the past focussed on enhancing much- needed research skills, the uniqueness of this programme lies in its focus on teaching, which given the enormous shortage of high-quality business school faculty, caters to an important national agenda.”

The participants at the consortium said that they learned how to teach, engage and use state-of-the-art facilities in a classroom. It was an eye opener for them as they were just embarking on their teaching career.