Visit to IIMB

The Banjara team learnt from the student representatives that students, particularly during their first year of the course are under a lot of pressure due to academic activities.

Date : 6th October 2011 (Thursday)
Banjara Team : Dr Ali Khwaja, Raja Reddy, Asha Sidd and Shubha Rao
Purpose : To address the students in the wake of the recent unfortunate incident that occurred in the student community.

The Banjara team learnt from the student representatives who were also Mitra volunteers (a peer counseling group) that students, particularly during their first year of the course are under a lot of pressure due to academic activities. To perform and prove oneself in a pool of high achievers is very challenging. They also refrain from sharing their feelings, emotions, issues and concerns with their classmates or seniors for the fear of being judged as a person who is incapable of managing self. For some, factors such as culture shock, regional differences, competition between IIT graduates Vs non-IIT graduates, technical Vs non-technical graduates cause additional stress. Added to this, the burden of repayment of education loans, summer and campus placements add to their woes.

Dr. Ali addressed students on managing emotions. Some of the highlights of his talk were

• The importance of emotional intelligence / quotient for being successful
• To appreciate the fact that a management degree from a prestigious institute is more like a passport to enter the corporate world and would be valid only for the tenure of their first job which is on an average 15 to 18 months. Thereafter it is their performance that would take them places
• To watch out for alarm bells in one's life to identify the impact of acute stress and seek appropriate timely interventions
• The need to talk to someone in times of distress and seek counseling help, when required.
• Finally to look at life beyond the portals of B School and one's career.

The talk concluded with introduction of the Banjara team, with each one giving a brief message to the students.