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KUSOM envisions establishing itself among the top 20 Universities in the South Asian region by 2020. The case discussions are no more novel as it is practiced in almost all business schools in Kathmandu. The number of applicants who apply for MBA program at KUSOM has been falling at every admission period.
KUSOM envisions establishing itself among the top 20 Universities in the South Asian region by 2020. The case discussions are no more novel as it is practiced in almost all business schools in Kathmandu. The number of applicants who apply for MBA program at KUSOM has been falling at every admission period.
KUSOM envisions establishing itself among the top 20 Universities in the South Asian region by 2020. The case discussions are no more novel as it is practiced in almost all business schools in Kathmandu. The number of applicants who apply for MBA program at KUSOM has been falling at every admission period.
Step One: Problem identification An interaction with the project group members and few of the ex-KUSOMites revealed that currently, KUSOM was lagging in one unique element that would distinguish itself from the other MBA colleges in town. Background of the problem The above mentioned problem is a very broad one. Though the problem is not an urgent one, still its significance cannot be overlooked. KUSOM envisions establishing itself among the top 20 Universities in the South Asian region by 2020. Undoubtedly, it has been working for it since long and the recent MBA restructuring project is one of the initiatives for it. KUSOM is still recognized as the best business school in Nepal, known for practical education. It is via the case discussions and minor simulation project that the practical education is being delivered. But now, it is high time to have a shift in the pedagogy. The case discussions are no more novel as it is practiced in almost all business schools in Kathmandu. Therefore, currently, there is something missing to out-stand KUSOM among others in the huge competition. KUSOM has always created a different stand for itself since from its establishment. It has been considered different from other business schools as it follows strict KU calendar (it organizes its examinations always on time and completes the course within the time committed), has updated its course in regular intervals so as to incorporate the new changes essential. But, this cant ensure the regular priority to KUSOM by the students. When we analyze the number of applicants who apply for MBA program at KUSOM during last few admission periods, we can see a depressing trend. The number of applicants has been falling at every admission period which has forced us to find the reason for this falling number. KUSOM has been able to establish itself as premier management college and been a priority to all due to its case based teaching pedagogy which focuses on real life scenario more than theories but, now every business schools has started following the pattern so, its high time that KUSOM find something that differentiates itself from other business schools. Thus, through this study we want to offer a unique differentiating factor to KUSOM that would help it to stand high in a crowd. Step Two: Consultation with a behavioral scientist The Organization Development practitioner we looked for was Mr. Sabin Pant, Asst Professor in KUSOM. While in consultation with him, the problem was looked into seriously and new dimensions were added. The discussion suggested bringing the newness from the perspective of Finance management. The area of Finance management was chosen basically for two reasons. Firstly, the scope of is in rising phase. As were the banking and institutions few years ago, now the students can kick start a promising career in the field of investment management mostly in the mutual funds, financial analytics, etc. Secondly, there is a significant availability of resource persons to pursue in this particular field in KUSOM. The discussion revealed that the new project introduced should support three of the following elements: 1. Learning of the student: The new initiative intended for a competitive edge should be student oriented. The students should learn from it and it should benefit them for their professional development. 2. Social Responsibility- KUSOM, being a premier educational institute, it has to shoulder some social responsibility. So, the new initiative should somehow help the academicians, practitioners and public at large. Be it by disseminating information or increasing awareness, it should benefit the larger society. 3. Resource mobilization- Since the project would be finance perspective, the new initiative should aid in the resource mobilization (fund) of KUSOM as well. Step Three: Team Formation The team to work for the project comprises of the group members: Bidha Sharma, Niyati Sharma Aryal, Prajol Joshi, Sajan Majarjan, faculty member Mr. Sabin Pant and Mr. Niranjan Phuyal with one year time frame
Step Four: Research Design Research question: Within the periphery of financial management genre, what is the current gap and how can that be enhanced to out-stand KUSOM among other institutions in todays competitive market? Research Objective 1. To identify the significance of the gap, that is the absence of the unique element 2. To analyze the prospect of introducing the change in the field of Finance management 3. To identify the intervention area within the periphery of Finance management 4. To design and implement action programs that can distinguish KUSOM from other institutions Step Five: Data gathering and preliminary diagnosis To have more information on the subject matter, a mini research was undertaken. The research was basically qualitative and informal in nature. The respondents comprised of the current MBA students and the KUSOM alumni. This mix would give a comprehensive idea on the perspective of the pass out graduates who are already in the job market and is aware of the brand value of KUSOM in the market. Similarly, the current students perspective would reflect their expectations from KUSOM. There were several rounds of informal discussion carried out to uncover the different aspects of the subject matter. After the informal discussions been held with the sample participants, it was revealed that there was an utmost need for a unique identity for KUSOM that would differentiates it from other business schools. The first most important change was suggested in formation of such club that would be the simulation of real life scenario which would be run by the students along with the guidance of resource persons from the management and would do the real job. Step Six: Feedback to Client/ Sharing information After the collection of survey results from the participants, the Change team has collected following information: KUSOM has been considered a premier management institute of the country and has been consistently awarded with best business school awards. The vision of the college is also to be ranked as a top business school in South Asia. To achieve this vision and remain as a premier management institute of the country, it should differentiate itself from other business schools. The students want more real life experience and learning through those experiences rather than just theoretical knowledge. Though, college has been adopting the simulation based projects for the student i.e. Human Resource Simulation project, Investment simulation etc. but, that wouldnt be enough in todays competitive market. Students want to have more practical knowledge and for which they feel the need for establishment of separate clubs with dedicated funds from the University that would provide an opportunity to the students to have real life working experience and knowledge. The alumni participants had mentioned that they are not so satisfied with just simulation projects and those assignments are rated just average in helping them in their post-education work life. The real life scenario is far complicated that simulation assignments and projects so they claimed that KUSOM could differentiate itself from other business schools if they get an opportunity to work in real life working environment. Step Seven: Joint Diagnosis In the sharing workshop with KUSOM resource person and the participants, the issues identified were: 1. How KUSOM could differentiate itself from other business schools of the country? 2. How KUSOM could constantly upgrade its teaching pedagogy? 3. How students of KUSOM could get real life experience that would actually help in their post-education work life? 4. How KUSOM could fulfill its responsibility toward the society? Step Eight: Joint Action Planning After the joint diagnosis, the change team has conducted a series of meetings with the participants along with the KUSOM resource person and even done a brief background study on the problems identified by the participant and finally comes up with different change programs. The first and foremast change program that should be adopted would be that college management and administration keep a regular track on new changes in international universities and initiate a change at KUSOM accordingly to make it more competitive. In addition, a regular market survey on requirements of every job needs to be conducted. Change is inevitable in todays competitive world and the students must be prepared to accept and cope with the changes required. The job requirement has been escalating every year and, the students also need to improve their skills and develop themselves accordingly. The second change program that should be adopted is the establishment of different clubs which would provide a platform for the student to implement what they have learned in theories and implement the theoretical knowledge into real-world scenario. Among those clubs, most important would be Investment Club that would act as an active investor forum. The club would be regularly studying the stock market, commodities trading in Nepal and other investment alternatives. It would act as an investment advisor and, would provide various investment advices to the clients on certain charge. In addition, it would establish and regularly update the website that would be a discussion platform for all the investors. In addition, the University could allocate certain amount as a seed fund to the club and the club would act as a wealth manager of Kathmandu University. Step Nine: Action The Change team submitted the change programs to KUSOM management for implementation. The detail program of change program and the formation of KUSOM Investment club is detailed below: KUSOM Investment Club: The KUSOM Investment Club would be a student-run organization within the Kathmandu University School of Management. Membership is open to all University students, not just for finance specialization students, who are willing to make a commitment to managing a real portion of the Universitys Seed Fund. The mission of the KUSOM Investment Club is to provide a valuable educational experience to its members by allowing them to manage a real money investment portfolio. By managing the portfolio and listening to guest speakers, the members will learn about various aspects of Finance and investing. Of equal importance is the development of strong analytical, decision making, public speaking, and teamwork skills through the Clubs weekly meetings and other Club-related activities. The KUSOM Investment Club seeks to outperform the Nepal stock market index on a risk- adjusted basis. To achieve this goal the Club takes a value approach to investing by identifying undervalued stocks and taking positions in them. This process is consistent with a long-term approach to investing. Furthermore, the Club is committed to diversifying its portfolio between different sectors to capture the full breadth of opportunity in the markets but to also minimize the risk from over-concentration of capital. The Club would be led by a five-person Executive Board, chaired by the resource person from KUSOM management. The Executive Board would include Alumni student, current students with finance specialization. The investment club would be divided into eight different sectors: (a) Commercial Banks (b) Development banks (c) saving deposits and treasury bills (d) finance companies (e) Insurance Companies (f) Hydropower companies (g) Hotels and Manufacturing business (h) Other Investment sectors. The board would appoint Sector Heads to lead the eight sectors that the fund is divided into, in addition to a Market Analysis Team Manager. The KUSOM investment club would be consistently advised and supervised by a faculty member from the Kathmandu University School of Management. The seed fund required for investment would be collected from the students fund itself. The security deposits that the student must pay to the KUSOM during their admission would be utilized by as seed fund. The KUSOM have to commit around 50% of the funds collected from the students as the Security Deposits. The maturity period for funds refund to the college management would be two or four years depending on the students stay at KUSOM. In addition, the students who want to work as Investment fund manager or in the club should invest small amount of money themselves so as to make them responsible towards their work. The KUSOM Investment Forum would be created and linked through the official website of KUSOM: www.kusom.edu.np. A separate link would be joined with the main website which would be a platform where the interested people can visit and get a live streaming of the market transactions being held and different market news. Once the KUSOM Investment club receives the certain positive feedback from their market analysis and they earn a good brand name then, they would even work as an Investment advisor who would offer various investment advising decisions to the clients for a charge.