FAST FACTS
Location: Off Paud Road, Pune
Director: Professor (Gp Capt) D P Apte
Approval/ Accreditation: AICTE approved
Flagship programme: PGDM
Student intake: 60
Fees (full course): Rs. 400,000
Board & lodging (two years): Rs. 120,000
Admission test cut-offs: CAT: 50; MAT: 550; MBA CET: 75
Full-time faculty: 45 (Professors - 6; Asst Professors - 13;  Sr Lecturers - 5; Lecturers - 21)
Faculty with industry experience (over 10 years): 13
Average placement salary: Rs. 2.75 lakhs
Top recruiters: Atlanta Tourism and Cargos, Adani Enterprises, Axis Bank, Oglivy & Mather Advertising
Student activities: Alumni meet, Akriti (in-house magazine), annual festival, Nirman (NGO interface)
Web site: www.mitsob.com
Other programmes: PGDM-Marketing: 24 months; PGDM-Finance: 24 months; PGDM-HR: 24 months

MIT set up its engineering college in 1983, while management education took off in 1987 with the setting up of an autonomous institute, the MIT School of Management (MITSOM). In 2005, MITSOB, the business school, was established, which offered non-AICTE approved courses.

Their first AICTE-approved PGDM batch of (marketing, HR, finance) will graduate in 2010. MITSOM, located in the same campus continues to offer an MBA, which is affiliated to the University of Pune. Rahul Karad, Executive Director and son of Professor Dr. Vishwanath Karad, Founder, MAEER’s MIT Group of Institutions, informs us that MIT comprises 54 institutions and 45,000 students.

Professor DP Apte, Director, MITSOB says that the PGDM programme’s pedagogy draws heavily from Harvard Business School, and practical learning through case studies. The faculty put learning processes in perspective.For instance, stress is laid on lateral thinking. Students are offered 5+5 courses in their third and fourth semester. Courses comprise a bouquet of
different functional specialisations (marketing, HR and finance) and 26 complementary and supplementary subjects.

The students are exposed to a 14-day European industrial tour. While the academic course structure and delivery is robust, it’s evident that the research focus of the institute needs to be improved; publishing in journals by faculty is limited as is consultancy. Close to 10 percent of the faculty members at MITSOB hold a PhD degree.

Faculty has a novel way of keeping track of a student’s performance; the attendance sheet also has a seating plan along photographs of the students. Students are interrogated in class, regularly. This practice, known as “cold call”, ensures that students come to class, very well prepared.

According to students, there were two main reasons for choosing MITSOB over other schools in the western region. One, case-based learning and its application. Two, AICTE approval. While some of them also mention admirable infrastructure, placements, discipline and focus on soft skills, others suggest that a rigourous academic schedule prepares them for the tough road ahead in the corporate sector.

On the students’ wish list is linking course structure with current affairs, a stringent selection process for better quality of student intake, more industry visits and better communication with the administration.