Dr. Murali Manohar, Dean, D Y Patil Agriculture &
Technical University, Kolhapur
I am a person with more than three decades of professional
experience across the globe, to be precise, in Asia, Europe, North America, and
Africa. I started my career soon after completing my MBA (1989) in Marketing
and got into teaching accidentally.
It took quite an effort to shift from industry to
academia, and today I enjoy doing what I have been doing since 1991. I moved to
Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore (then Vellore Engineering College), in
1994 and worked there until December 22, 2021. I have transformed myself into a
professional with the solid exposure I gained at VIT. I have played an
important role in the transformation of VIT from VEC into an Internationally
renowned and world-class educational institution. I have played a pivotal role
at VIT Business School as a Senior Professor and member of the core team
for getting ACBSP (Co-Champion) and AACSB accreditation for both the
Vellore and Chennai campuses.
As a Convenor of VIT’s Riviera (2008–10)
International Sports & Culture Festival, I had the opportunity to showcase
my organisational skills to one and all by taking Riviera to new heights in
terms of footfall and sponsorship for various events.
As a Director, VIT Library-Knowledge Resource
Centre (2018–21), I could transform the functioning of the library by
adopting open source LMS Koha from licenced Libsys software. I am proud to roll
out multi-access to all digital resources both on and off campus by adopting a
state-of-the art solution. I have prepared the library as KRC by procuring lots
of e-books and e-journals for all the campuses of VIT.
I had the opportunity to secure a Group Study
Exchange (GSE) fellowship from Rotary International to visit North
Yorkshire, UK, during 1999, and a DAAD fellowship for a Professor assignment
at the University of Cologne in Germany during October 2011 to March 2012.
Four Ph.D. scholars have completed their Ph.D. under
my guidance to date, and one scholar has submitted his thesis to VIT. This is a
more satisfactory aspect of an academic career than any other aspect, as it
provides an intellectual contribution to knowledge.
Shifted to D Y Patil Group’s newly established D
Y Patil Agriculture & Technical University, Kolhapur, on December 24,
2021, as Professor & Dean, School of Commerce & Management. Later, I
also took on the additional responsibility of Dean – Research at DYPATU and
started the Ph.D. program inprogram January 2022.
Could you tell us about your educational background?
I completed an MBA from (CSIBER) Shivaji University in
1989, a M. Com. from Kakatiya University in 1991, and a M. Phil. from Nagpur
University in 1994. I got an opportunity in Management at Ahmedabad (IIM-A) in
1998. This is a unique programme designed on the lines of the International
Teacher’s Programme (ITP) offered by HBS at IIMA and sponsored by the Ford
Foundation, USA. This enabled me to undertake a one-year (three trimesters)
full-time FDPM programme at IIM A and thus become a proud alumnus of IIMA.
I have decided to move on to pursue a Ph.D. in
E-Commerce and took admission for the same at Sri Venkateswara University in
the School of Commerce, Management, and Computer Application. I successfully
completed the same in December 2008.
National and international experience as a teacher
I have spent a major part of my professional career at
VIT (27 years) out of 34 years of work experience. VIT has provided me with the
opportunity to transform myself by attending FDPM at IIM A during 1997–98 and
undertaking teaching assignments with the Ministry of Higher Education,
Government of Ethiopia, under UNDP from 2003–05. Later to be associated with
the University of Michigan, Dearborn campus, for guiding the thesis work of MS
students who went on credit transfer basis for a twinning programme from VIT
for more than 5 years.
The best exposure was gained by undertaking the DAAD
fellowship-enabled Visiting Professor assignment with CMIS, University of
Cologne, Germany, from October 2011 until March 2012 (six months). During this
period, I have taught MBA and Ph.D. students.
Experiential learning and live case discussions are
new teaching styles
I believe in adopting the experiential learning method
to make the students who have registered for the courses offered by me feel at
home, be it in India or abroad. I extensively use lots of research articles and
reports to assist the students’ learning process.
Another existing approach adopted by me is using live
case discussions to enable the students to be aware of the happenings across
the globe on various themes for their own benefit.
Success is defined by lifelong learning
The most important aspect of a successful life is to
keep learning throughout your life. I believe in the concept of "unlearn
to relearn".
The second-most important aspect of a successful life
will be enhancing one’s communication skills (both oral and written).
The last aspect should be being open to adapting to
the changes happening around the world. One aspect is important to note:
"change is inevitable" in our lives.
The most important books to lead a successful life
The following are the most important books to read for
success in life:
- Blue Ocean Strategy
by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne
- Giants of Enterprise by
Richard S. Tedlow
- The Innovator’s Dilemma by
Clayton M. Christensen
- The fortune at the bottom of
the pyramid by C K Prahalad and Stuart L Hart
- Wings of fire by Dr. A P J
Abdul Kalam
Favourite memory from theses to teaching
The most favourite memory for me will be when I saw my
thesis submitted at IIM A get published in the ICWAI journal Management
Accountant in April 1999. This being the first publication, it will remain very
close to me.
Another memorable aspect will be grooming the first
and second batches of MBA students at VIT during 1994–96 and 1995–97. We were
closer as family, as it was a small batch of students, and seeing them succeed
in various walks of life across the globe will be a more satisfactory aspect
for me as Professor and Mentor.
Last but not the least, the happy memories of teaching
the students in Ethiopia and Germany. The intellectual capabilities of the
students, wary in terms of exposure and grasping, gave me the opportunity to
see the extreme ends of the world, and teaching at VIT for both Management and
Engineering streams was the peak of my career.
Currently proudly associated with one of India’s
leading educational groups, viz., D Y P Group, ever since 2021 till date in
building a world-class Agriculture & Technical University at Kolhapur. The
Management of the University is quite encouraging and supportive to convert the
dream into reality of a world class educational facility for the benefit of
end-users in this part of the country.
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