High Level of Interactions Between Students and Professors

  We are living in a time when the education we pursue has little to do compare to the institute we obtain it from. I feel glad to have had the experience of two of the best business schools collaborate and give us what we call today as the T.A. Pai Management Institute -University of Dubai MBA program. Being a part of the five students who were given the prestigious opportunity to be a part of this program, I took this opportunity whole heartedly and without a doubt, one of the best decisions of my life. I personally was sceptical at the beginning of being part of the very first batch of this program, but all my doubts were taken away when I saw the stupendous level of teaching pedagogy and learning involved in the process when I joined T.A. Pai Management Institute (TAPMI) in July 2014. For a course that was going to last me for a total of 18 months, equally distributed in India and United Arab Emirates, I was excited at the very thought of making it through this pilot MBA collaboration. Having completed my Bachelorís in Chemical Engineering from Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal University a month before the start of my Masterís program, I did not really have a problem adjusting to the climate and the student-friendly world of Manipal. One of the most beautiful towns of the coastal state of Karnataka, it hosts a variety of educational institutions part of one of the top ranked universities of India, Manipal University. However, TAPMI is an autonomous institution and located at the outskirts of the town with a huge, beautiful campus of its own. An environment to learn through its rigorous course, it has students coming in from various disciplines such as Engineering, Management, Science backgrounds among many others. This particularly was an added factor as it gave a chance to learn from different experiences of different individuals. One of the small hiccups faced was the attestations of the degree certificates required for the second phase of the program in Dubai. This is one of the aspects which have been taken care of for the subsequent batches. The 9 months at TAPMI were spent along with the regular PGDM course candidates who were particularly very supportive and uplifting in attitude and it was rather a pleasure to have been a part of the course that was about to change my life in some months. After completing the 9 months at TAPMI which required us to achieve a minimum of B+ grade in every course, we moved to the most awaited part of the program, the course at Dubai. Personally, I was too excited to pursue my final stage of higher studies at Dubai and even today, 3 months into the program and settled nicely, that excitement is still there. We were provided internships in different companies according to the majors we had opted. I had opted for the double majors in International Business and marketing among the 4 options we were offered. University of Dubai was particularly different since this institution is much more student-centric in terms of the level of freedom and the ability to choose the courses that were offered. The level of understanding among the professors and the students has been by far the most interactive I have ever seen.† The professors and the support staff at the Internship and career development centre of the university are highly approachable and are able to deliver on the needs and the requirements of the students. Aware of the fact that the international students have come a long way away from home to pursue their education at Dubai, the concern and the support provided is even more. The new campus is on its way which has been an added factor for the University which has been growing to different levels and has made itself a leader among the best universities of the United Arab Emirates. With about 5 months still remaining in the completion of this program, the decision to take up management as a career option and to have been pursuing it from such a well collaborated program seems to be a well-timed and a well-made decision that has helped me improve my personality and skills overall in just some months. If I was to advice someone on taking this program and being in two minds whether or not it is going to be worthwhile, my simple advice to you would be: GO TAKE IT while you still have the time and option. You will lose a big chance if you donít.