Interview with Prof. Archana Sanil, BMS Co-ordiantor, S.I.E.S College Sion West

Name- Prof. Archana Sanil        

College- S.I.E.S. College Of Arts, Science And Commerce, Sion (West)

Tell us something about yourself

I’ve done my M.Com, MBA in Finance, M.Phil, and Masters in Computer Science, B.Ed, and Pursuing Ph.D in HR. I have 14 years of experience teaching 5 different universities, basically London University, Geneva University (IB), Singapore University, Sikkim Manipal University & Mumbai University.

Tell us something about your college

The SIES college of Arts, Science and Commerce, Sion (W) was established in 1960. Our college has been reaccredited with “A” grade by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council and recently received ‘THE BEST COLLEGE AWARD’ from the University of Mumbai. We are celebrating our 51st year and we aim at taking the institution to a higher level. The South Indian Education Society (SIES) is one of the oldest educational societies in Mumbai and was pioneered in 1932. What started with strength of six students has now become a conglomerate of various institutions with over 18,000 students under its wing. SIES has established a high school, an array of arts, science and commerce colleges, along with academic and professional institutions of higher learning. S.I.E.S. College is committed to a student-centred environment in which the intellectual, cultural, social, physical and recreational needs of students are met. Towards this SIES management is committed to implementing and continually improving Quality resources and infrastructure facilities for imparting quality education using contemporary teaching techniques. Also working towards the all-round personality development of the student, Service to community, neighbourhood and the society at large and preparing students as globally competent and responsible citizens.

When did you join this profession? What inspired you to choose this field?

Before this I was working for 7 years with Lloyds Group of industries. Along with this I used to take up tuitions. I had a passion for teaching so, my first college to start my educational experience was Ruparel College, then I joined RIM’s International i.e. London University and then started teaching in Singapore International University and finally was a coordinator for BMS in Mumbai University.

As a Coordinator, do you also teach any subjects? If yes, which subjects you teach and

Which you love the most?

I teach Introduction to Costing, Cost Accounting, Financial Accounting, Environment Management, Marketing Management, Strategic Management, Public Relations Management, Business Ethics, and Indian Management Thoughts & Practices (IMTP). I love to teach Costing, Business Ethics & Indian Management Thoughts & Practices (IMTP).

How are the roles and responsibilities of a Coordinator different from that of a

Faculty? Do you like being a Faculty or a Coordinator? Which helps you to connect more with students?

As a faculty my role is only to teach the students and see whether the curriculum is being carried properly in the class, whereas as a coordinator I have to see whether the student or the child who have been registered under me are growing up. Growing up in the sense, I have to take care about how far they are built up in academics, in other terms i.e. co-curricular activities, whether they get proper in hand experience about what they are studying about. Also after they have completed their education whether they get help from me for further studies and they are been recruited in reputed companies. My role as a coordinator is that I have to take care about a student right from the admission till reference letter for future studies. Being a coordinator helps me to connect more with the students. I love to be a faculty and not a coordinator.

Who in your life has influenced the most?

My dad has influenced me the most. Though I belong to a traditional family, he realised the value of money, the value of education in our life. He was like most inspiring to study ahead wherever whether national or even abroad. I was the first person to be chosen from the university to attend certain seminars. He never stopped me for anything. He was always proud of what I used to do, so he was the one person to influence me.

What should BMS/Management education mean to a student?

Actually for the them, though the university has defined the curriculum but for me they need to understand what exactly is a ‘corporate sector’ and, each & every subject how exactly it is carried in a corporate sector i.e. the ‘real management’ which is the actual application of these subjects.

For e.g. : If I teach them Environmental Management, and a student throws a plastic bag or a paper and just create a trash bin wherever they move around that is not management.

Tell us something about your college fests/events and extra-curricular activities?

Our annual college festival ‘VISIONS’, has been a tradition from last 20 years. Innovative ideas by our students are out to together to make the festival a success. It’s indeed a college festival that has the potential to surprise people. With events like street dance, fashion show, Powerchords, Robotrix, Last Man Standing and many more, ‘VISIONS’ provides an excellent platform for a young individual to showcase his / her talent. Almost 1200 students from different colleges of Mumbai participate in these events, accounting to 6000+ footfalls in the three days of our festival with star events being the major attraction. ‘VISIONS’ is a theme based festival that adds more meaning and colour to the events and workshops. The theme for VISIONS 2011 was “DREAMS UNLEASHED”.

Do you believe that it should be made compulsory for students to manage both

 Studies and be a part of college fests/events?

Yes, they should manage both studies and be a part of college fests. In fact the curriculum must be designed in such a way that they are supposed to be participating in the events as well as in academics. Academics give them knowledge but the practical knowledge will be only when they practice them in events i.e. the students should be handling some responsibilities. So we & the BMS students have come up with ‘Eloquence’ – BMS Fest, where students designed the festival right from planning till implementation and managing the funds, the distribution of the funds and making the statement prove true that ‘they are the real managers’. That’s what eloquence is all about.

We also have been to two Industrial Visits– National as well International. We’ve been to ‘Malaysia’ and ‘Rann Of Kutch’ this year. Both the industrial visits were very helpful for students to get knowledge about rural as well as urban markets on a whole.

Tell us something about your college students’ performances?

In 2009, after 6 years of BMS, we got 100% results in university examinations i.e. TYBMS. And later every year this 100% result is maintained. In fact even FYBMS & SYBMS results have also been improved. We are claiming that we have improved but we feel that it’s because of the practice of students that we are getting good results. We guide the TYBMS students about how exactly University papers are & what exactly they should concentrate on then the university results are good.  In fact for the FYBMS & SYBMS students, we give the same practice to them. We have a ‘Centralized Examinations’ for FYBMS & SYBMS students but still then the students get the benefits of that.

As a person, what is your mission/aim in life?

My aim in Life is to achieve spirituality. I want a self-realization and anything which makes me closer towards self-realization; I would love to do that.  

Does your college provide any placement assistance to BMS students?

Yes, every year we have students being recruited I good companies. The Placement cell consists of Convener Prof. Kiran Nabar, Prof. Manoj Singh and a team of highly experienced and efficient staff members selected from various departments. The team makes all arrangements for the benefit of the students and takes minute care to execute these exercises. We have campus placements and the students get a package of about Rs. 3, 60,000 per annum. We have good companies like Aurmarc, Global Hospitals, J P Morgan, Mahindra Finance, 4 Seasons etc. We have a placement cell at our college & BMS Dept. takes special care to manage this placement cell. I manage this placement cell for our BMS students.

What are the prospects after BMS?

For students they can go for MBA, MMS, Post graduation or specialization in any subject whether HR, Finance, and Marketing etc. they can also go for event management. Most of the students go abroad for Post graduation which gives them a better opportunity in the corporate sector.

What message would you like to give to BMS students?

I would like to give a message to the BMS students that;

“If You Want To Achieve Anything In Your Life, Be Honest To Yourself, If Not To The World Then At Least To Yourself.” The day when you are honest to yourself, you can achieve anything.

Your suggestions/feedback for BMS.co.in?

I want BMS.co.in to upload some notes and PowerPoint presentations to be added by the faculties who are in touch with the BMS.Co.in which can be really helpful for the students for revision.

~ Interviewed by,

  Aashiya Khan

  Campus representative

  S.I.E.S. College Of Arts, Science

  And Commerce, Sion (West)