FAST FACTS
Location: Gurgaon
Other campuses: Delhi, Dubai
Director: Praveen Puri
Approval/Accreditation: Nil
Flagship programme: MBA Student intake: 180
Fees (full course): Rs. 298,000
Board & lodging (two years): Rs. 96,000
Admission test cut-offs: CAT/MAT/ATMA; 50
Full-time faculty: 12
Faculty with industry experience (over 10 years): 5
Average salary: Rs. 1.80 lakhs
Top recruiters: American Express, Airtel, Aztec Exim, Max New York, Mc Kinsey &
Company Students Festival: Manzeal
Web site: www.skylinecollege.com
Other programmes: PGDM (Part-time) for working executives 12 months

“We believe in quality rather than in mere quantity of the time spent with students,” says Praveen Puri, Director, when quizzed about the ratio of core to visiting faculty at the institute. Although full-time faculty comprises only 12 members as opposed to approximately 35 visiting faculty, the former has a good academic and organisational pedigree across subject areas and industry sectors. The other determining factor is that full-time faculty comes at a higher price.

Grooming students for a corporate profile seems to be a thrust area. “Our core focus is towards industry productivity and innovative ability,” he says. For three semesters, students attend five sessions on communication and presentation skills and general awareness, every week. In the fourth semester, students are busy with placements. The curriculum is spread over four semesters evenly and students can opt for specialisation from the third semester.

“We visit 40 summits annually and also participate in TV shows and conferences organised by the National HRD Network,” a student shares. The management is flexible when it comes to rescheduling classes if need be. “We need more focus on student exchange programmes and internships abroad,” says a student.

Clearly, the school’s aim for now is to focus on filling the demand of quality professionals in the employment market. With more than 15 years of industry experience - his last assignment being Vice President- Marketing with a prominent media house - Puri stresses on the need to “anticipate and manage change”. For instance, the e-marketing course was introduced five years back.

Rather than focusing on publishing research papers in academic journals, Skyline has introduced weekly newsletters in various areas like Travel, Global Business and Managing Talent, essentially compilations of the latest news in these areas and e-mailing them to their industry contacts. Their objective is to keep in touch with the industry professional by providing them with useful and relevant information.  “We will get into consulting and research activities once we start getting quality students as then we won’t need to focus our energies on personality development and can reallocate our resources to other areas,” says Puri, quite candidly.

Another novelty is the school’s focus on tourism, an area of specialisation, spearheaded by Prof. Amrish Sehgal, Dean Academics, who has 35 years of experience in the tourism industry.

With a rich collection of rare books on the subject in the library and companies such as Thomas Cook, Lufthansa and Emirates coming to hire, Skyline is probably the only school churning out MBAs in this sector.

The institute’s hostel is located off campus with around 200 students staying there. Skyline has been allotted 4 acres of land in the upcoming Rajiv Gandhi Institutional Area at Murthal and hopes to shift operations there by July 2012. The other areas requiring thrust are more inter-collegiate events, exchange programmes, and a clear focus on research and consulting.