With added focus on internships, liberal arts, new business school in Chennai seeks to be ahead of the curve

Four-day or week-long internship programs leading to a paid summer internship, three-month immersive learning on social issues with NGOs, and integration of liberal arts subjects like theatre, music and storytelling to develop communication skills – a new business school in Chennai is looking to do things differently to stay ahead of the curve.

While still in its infancy, the MCC Boyd-Tandon School of Business has successfully placed its first cohort 100% into paid summer internships. Principal P. David Jawahar said: “This is very unusual, not something you regularly achieve in 18 months of operation.”

The curriculum of the Postgraduate Diploma program has been prepared with an emphasis on topics such as theater skills, content writing, music appreciation and storytelling. These, management situations, will help develop communication skills.

Among other features, the curriculum includes a lab-based course on Generative AI to help students learn AI tools that will assist them in Business Analytics. In the third semester, students spend approximately 90 half-days at an NGO or working to solve a social problem as part of their social engagement studies. The school has placed 60% emphasis on formative assessment through case studies, assignments, exams and mini projects.

Following the School’s Global Advisory Board meeting on Tuesday, Tandon Capital Associates Founder Chandrika Tandon said the emphasis on internships, social engagement and integration of Liberal Arts subjects into the curriculum makes the course one of its kind. MRF Managing Director Rahul Mammen also echoed the same sentiments.

University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management Professor Srilata Zaheer said most of the students came from modest backgrounds, and one of the parents told her about her pride in how confident her daughter was. “We care about what we do to the students who entrust their two years to us,” said Som Mittal, former Chairman of NASSCOM. Harish Lakshman, Vice Chairman of Rane Group, said that the establishment of this institution will create a ripple effect when people start talking about it after a few years.

S. Gopal of Sanmar Group appreciated the promotion of entrepreneurial thinking among students and felt that this would pave the way for their success even as professional managers.

Sriram Sivaram, Joint Managing Director, Madras Engineering Industries, said the qualities a business school should develop among students should be the ability to solve problems and ways to communicate it without fear.

Zetwerk Electronics CEO Josh Foulgar observed that no other business school meets the need to focus on supply chain and operations, adding that his company has already hired six students from the school who will complete the course in May.

Christwood School CEO S. Alfred Devaprasad said the institution was born out of the MCC Board’s need to formalize leadership training that would produce down-to-earth, future-ready and ethically sound leaders.