FAST FACTS
Location: Aluva, Cochin
Director: Dr. V Raman Nair
Approval/ Accreditation: AICTE approved, NBA accredited
Flagship programme: PGDM
Student intake: 180
Fees (full course): Rs. 465,000
Board & lodging (two years): Rs. 72,000
Admission test cut-offs: CAT - 70.13, MAT - NA
Full-time faculty: 27(Professors - 20, Asst Professors - 3, Lecturers - 4)
Faculty with industry experience (over 10 years): 15
Average placement salary: Rs. 3.5 lakhs
Top recruiters: Axis Bank, Atlanta Elevators, EMKE Group, TCS, 3M India
Conferences: Panorama (national level management meet)
Student activities: Tarang (annual cultural fest), Finance forum
Web site: www.scmsgroup.org


“It’s not just another school in the backwaters; we aspire to be a national school,” says Pramod Thevennor, a Director of the trust which manages SCMS,  a school that has come a long way from training students only in the area of public relations.

With three sectoral programmes and a strength of approximately 330 students, it is in fact one of the largest in the southern part of the country, especially amongst AICTE-approved ones. However, the national character does not reflect in the faculty, which is predominantly south-based.

An interesting feature of the school is that it is mandatory for all students to specialise in marketing, and do an additional course in a range of specialisations. The ostensible reason for the same is that it does improve their chances at landing a job. Now this is a double-edged sword, since it could result in the school permanently being branded as a school for recruiting marketing kids, and the other sectoral jobs which might be available may also move away in the medium term.

The school deserves a pat for being obsessive about corporate interaction. Every week, without fail it brings a corporate executive to address the students. The profile varies from CEOs to regional managers. For a state not known for its industrial presence, this is an achievement and a learning experience for any student seeking exposure  to corporate culture.

SCMS had a long-standing reputation for being good at public relations and communications. The absence of a sectoral programme in that domain does appear puzzling. With ambitions to be accredited internationally, the school wants to be more process-driven. Some courses are being redesigned and an attempt is being made to measure deliverables for each course. “We intend applying for ACESB certification, claims Pradeep Thevennor, another director. But without an effective online learning system, it appears to be a challenge and its relevance to students is not visible.

Some faculty members have taken the initiative to conduct research activities. For instance, a two-year old project has  been initiated wherein students in association with Local Administration Department spend over two weeks in a village, monitoring the implementation and access to various schemes and services offered by the state. In addition to being a good CSR initiative for the school, students vouch for the value the experience  offers them in understanding the rural market dynamics. However, the institute could work towards making it an official institutional initiative.

The school is not fully residential, yet. Most local students stay off campus, a  pet peeve with students. Making hostel facilities compulsory would definitely add to the learning experience. Another grouse is the lack of industry-experienced faculty, in their prime; most of the faculty with industry experience have 20-30 years or more of work experience, whereas a student is more interested in faculty in their mid-40s, as their experience would be current and relevant. 

With its reasonably good placement record and cosmopolitan ambience, the school does offer a good value proposition. But the challenge is to move beyond being a marketing school and develop saleable competencies in other functional domains, also.