MONDAY MORNING CHRONICLES  
28 March 2021 | Volume 11 Issue 4
From time to time, NMIMS Monday Morning Chronicle aims to focus on essential matters of our learning ecosystem and discuss strategies and tasks to strengthen our academic processes. The last few issues focused on our examination and evaluation process. The University Examination Department will be coming up with elaborate policy incorporation the suggestion received from members of NMIMS Faculty.
VC Office shares each Chronicle with the Management Committee Office-Bearer (OB), and it gets discussed in the OB Meeting at length. The OB members under the Chairman of Hon’ble Chancellor Shri Amrishbhai Patel have acknowledged the achievements on research, teaching, brand building, and meeting aspirations front. At the same time, the OB has made several suggestions to address the concerns raised in the Chronicle from time to time.
I am sure all colleagues will take adequate steps to strengthen our academic processes and ensure the sanctity of our curriculum development, its delivery, evaluations/examination, and feedback to our students.
Last week NMIMS hosted an international meeting of the NMIMS EU-Harmony Project. This project is a consortium of several member universities. They joined together to implement the EU Strategy on Connecting Europe and Asia, and the conference was part of this vital initiative. This conference was organised in hybrid mode, and several member countries joined through live streaming.
An MoU was signed with each of Varna University of Management (Bulgaria), The University of Zaragoza (Spain), University of Liberal Arts (Bangladesh), and Daffodil International University (Bangladesh). These universities have developed their academic excellence since their establishment and developed professionals across all spectrums of business interests. The Harmony project started with the help of consortium partners aiming to build a solid narrative for the capacity strengthening of higher education in each project country.
I feel the project can be a great instrument by focusing on the following:
• impact and trigger the reform process in partner countries by providing
**evidence-based policy** insights
• bring together the expertise from countries across to support and guide the modernisation of framework condition
• better articulation of the needs and creating compelling narratives for pushing the reform agenda forward
• the purposeful integration of international and intercultural dimensions within the domestic learning environments
• strength capabilities through staff training and integrating it in institutional strategies and action plans
At the NMIMS, we see this as an important agenda towards contributing to the cooperation between the EU and partner countries and implementing the strategy on connecting Europe and Asia.
This requires dedicated effort and continuous monitoring to ensure we benefit from this initiative. VC Office plans to have a quarterly meeting to discuss the performance of the MoUs we have signed during this conference.
The project also aims to reframe the traditional perceptions of internationalisation of higher education by switching the focus from outbound mobility to systematic institutional efforts for improving non-mobile students' global skills in the domestic environment. This shift is going to make learning powerful, accessible, and affordable.
If designed and developed carefully with diligence, the activities will strengthen each institution.
The approach will guide us to develop partnerships and extended stakeholder networks that will enhance the student learning experience and build complex skills much needed in a globalised future of work in which work plans, workforce, and workplace drives are going to see a significant change.
The approach, once effectively implemented, will contribute to NMIMS's four building blocks of:
• Research that can strengthen the classroom teaching
• Teaching excellence with a focus on AOL and OBE systems
• Making preferred place of learning
• Meeting aspirations of all our stakeholders
I am sure this approach will lend significant support to the partner countries' higher education and strategic directions.
One of the cornerstones of evolving partnerships would be to articulate the internationalisation landscape by leveraging cultural diversity to strengthen the integration of international and intercultural dimensions into the higher education curriculum.
One thing I emphasised about the understanding of intercultural diversity. This is important, and it is all about coming together, understanding each other, doing something together, and developing value-creating opportunities, to learn about the differences and what will make them different.
The intercultural experience will help our students to learn how our cultures work, including the new language skills. It will also help our students to develop an attitude of openness to other viewpoints and understanding different ways of learning. It will support bringing together various aspects of curriculum depending on the specialisation gained by each University.
The varied skill set, ICT developments across the globe will support coordinating international collaborations that have opened a new way for cross-culture learning and developing global partnerships.
Why must we support these choices? Working in partnership is the concept of the day. It helps us make us aware of a range of opportunities available and allows us to understand the view from the other side of the world. This is not possible unless we come together and work together.
International collaboration is not a process of imposing one particular system on us, or we become the sourcing point of students to other universities, but it is about bringing together different outlooks, strengthening NMIMS institutions, and leveraging each other strengths.
It is a team approach through which we bring together different perspectives, compatible benefit from the exchange of ideas, and well-known links for education across countries that have excellent records to strengthen our learning ecosystem.
The virtual mobility opportunities created by information technology ensure that our students learn from the global academic experience without leaving the country. The international credit mobility system ensures that the course credits completed in other countries become part of the degree system at the home country.
Knowledge creation across the globe makes the best practices and best research available to strengthen the academic processes and classroom delivery of knowledge. NMIMS has learned a great deal from the AACSB and ABET global accreditation agencies to improve our academic processes.
At the same time, these partnerships must strengthen the research culture of home institutions of partner countries. It significantly depends on the universities from both sides and is only possible if they interact, and the cultures of both places must ensure productive interaction.
The faculty from both sides should have a shared value of creating value through collaboration. Our efforts must result in action-focused MOUs and produce tangible results that must be monitored at regular intervals.
The conference has deliberated on these issues and challenges and suggested some great approaches and models of effective partnerships.
I hope the conference's suggestions will help move fast on our building blocks and produce a significant learning outcome in times to come.
You may access the details on
https://spandan.nmims.edu/2022/03/26/nmims-signs-mous-with-four-global-universities/

Shirpur Campus

Shubham Joshi (MPSTME) has co-authored and published:

1) a research paper "Glaucoma Detection Using Image Processing and Supervised Learning for Classification", Journal of Healthcare Engineering, published in the Hindawi Publications, USA, the journal is Indexed in Web of Science, SCI & Scopus (Q2), CiteScore:4.600 , Impact Factor: 2.682 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/2988262
2) a research paper titled "Detection of Breast Cancer Using Histopathological Image Classification Dataset with Deep Learning Techniques", published in Journal of BioMed Research International, Hindawi Publications, USA, the journal is Indexed in Web of Science, SCI & Scopus (Q2), CiteScore: 4.100, Impact Factor: 3.411, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/8363850

Mayank Sharma (SPTM) has received financial assistance of Rs.75,000/- for organizing the two-day conference "National Conference on Nanomedicine and Artificial Intelligence: Past, Present and Future" to be scheduled on 23rd to 24th July 2022, under "Assistance to Professional Bodies & Seminar / Symposia Scheme" from DST- Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB).
Hyderabad Campus “Tuesday Talk” (22nd March 2022)
Dr Sasmita Mishra, faculty member, SBM- Hyderabad presented her paper ‘Role of Competency Mapping in Talent Management’ at Jadcherla campus as a part of Tuesday Research Talk. The presentation is based on her book titled ‘Role of competency Mapping in Talent Management’. An organization commits to excellence through a carefully constructed human resources process that links together the core elements of human resources planning and then joins them to strategies, policies and action plans. In order to drive excellence every organization strives hard not only to acquire talented individuals but also make optimum utilisation of their capabilities. The answer to this problem can be explored at three levels; first hiring the right candidate not only based on qualifications and experience but also understanding the competencies required for the job. Second the utilization of the candidate lies in understanding the roles available and what are the various competencies individuals possess to fit those roles. Thirdly how to develop the existing talent in the organization based on the competencies. This talk explores that how competency models are designed in various firms and what competencies help in which process of talent management framework.
SBM
Paritosh Basu has authored a book titled “Digital Transformation - A Prismatic View”. It has been launched at the 45th International Kolkata Book Fair on March 8, 2022. This book is an anthology of thirty-one articles in a row written by Dr Basu during September 2019 to February 2022. It covers different dimensions of digital technologies, their historical background and evolution, fusions, and applications for ‘innoventive’ solution building, framework and integration with ERP and other ICT systems, value generation abilities, audit, impacts and influence on intended stakeholders and society at large, etc. Dr. Basu has also recorded his own innovative recommendations for digital solution building and applications as well as ideated view-points and directional guidance for change management, regulation, etc.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u91p9cSKbGI&t=136s

Abhinav Kumar Sharma & Indrajit Mukherjee (SJMSOM, IIT Bombay) published a Book chapter entitled “A Multi-objective Particle Swarm Optimisation-Based Solution Approach for Multiple Mean-Responses Optimisation Considering Empirical Model Uncertainties” in a book “Studies in Quantitative Decision Making” published by Springer. Simultaneous optimisation of multiple quality characteristics or responses of a process is so-called multiple response optimisation (MRO) problem. The solution quality of a MRO problem depends on the accuracy of empirical models or response surface models. However, the accuracy of the model is affected by model parameters and response uncertainties. This chapter proposes a multi-objective particle swarm optimisation-based solution approach for mean-responses optimisation, considering the above-mentioned uncertainties. Comparative results (with existing best-reported solutions) on selected cases indicate that the proposed approach can derive the best efficient solutions.
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-16-5820-4_6
School of Commerce
Anindo Bhattacharjee has published a paper titled “Entrepreneurial resourcefulness and constraints in the development of eldercare services: Learning from organizations in mature and emerging institutional contexts” in Journal of Asia Entrepreneurship and Sustainability (ABDC C-category journal) as the main author. The paper was co-authored by Prof. Monica Andersson Bäck and Prof. Lotta Dellve (both from University of Gothenburg in Sweden). In this paper, a grounded theory approach was used to identify central aspects and conditions for entrepreneurial resourcefulness in the development of eldercare services in India and Sweden. The study was conducted on entrepreneurs in the elder care sector in India and Sweden.
http://www.asiaentrepreneurshipjournal.com/JAESVolXVIIIIss1February2022.pdf
MPSTME
Prathamesh Churi (Computer Engineering Department) along with the international researchers published a paper titled: “Mix Method Approach of Measuring VR as a Pedagogical Tool to Enhance Experiential Learning: Motivation from Literature Survey of Previous Study," in Hindawi’s Education Research International (Scopus, ESCI). This paper is aimed at exploring the effect of virtual reality as a pedagogical tool for enhancing experiential learning among undergraduate students. Considering this, it was a mixed-methods study following the design of sequential exploratory–which includes qualitative followed by quantitative part. https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/8262304.
SBM Research Seminar (24th March, 2022 Pre-synopsis Presentation)
Mr. Praful V More, Doctoral candidate, SBM-NMIMS, presented his pre-synopsis on the topic “Mobilizing Merchants’ Mindset- Identifying Facilitators and Barriers for Mobile Payment Continuance Intention Among Fixed Store Merchants”.Post demonetization, there has been a drastic increasein not only adoption but also continuous use of limited choice cashless payment techniques, and mobile-based payments have emerged as the best option due to high wireless density. The availability of mobile payments and other facilitators has enabled Indian merchants to streamline the revenue operations which in turn has benefited other stakeholders, however recent ground-level studies among merchants in India have found preference for cash with more than two-third of retail transactions resulting in the need to identify the barriers. Extant literature shows combining theoretical models provide a more comprehensive understanding of technology usage and therefore, this study considers empirically-validated constructs from multiple theories based on the theoretical underpinning of theory on barriers. The novelty of the study lies in using contextual factors and checking the moderating effects of technology readiness on merchant continuance intention to use mobile payment systems. The growing importance of shifting fixed store merchants toward cashless transaction systems poses a huge opportunity for researchers to integrate different perspectives impacting Indian digital finance reaching the last mile.
SPPSPTM Research Seminars (21st March 2022)
Dr Mital Patel presented her published research work on the impurity profiling for PDE 5 inhibitor drugs. Recently many drugs have been recalled by FDA from the market due to the presence of an unacceptable amount of N-nitrosamines impurities. Impurity profiling is an approach to identify and characterize all possible degradation products and impurities present in drug and drug products. Dr Mital discussed about research carried out on PDE 5 inhibitor drug impurities identification and characterisation using hyphenated analytical techniques with its insilico toxicity assessment. In addition she also discussed about selected drug degradation mechanism, major impurity isolation and recommended storage condition. A total twenty-one faculties across the campuses joined the session.
Virtual Faculty Lounge
SBM, Mumbai campus hosted the Virtual Faculty Lounge on 24th March 2022. The lounge opened up with a brief address by Vice Chancellor, Dr Ramesh Bhat delivering the introductory remarks on building an excellent teaching and research culture for the institute.
Dr. Tapan Kumar Panda, Director, NMIMS Hyderabad campus presented an interesting topic on ‘How do I prepare a case which doesn’t have a teaching note’. He highlighted the challenges of teaching a case to management students. He referred to the best practices of teaching cases to both executive and full time management students to initiate a meaningful discussion on managerial problem-solving.
Prof Papiya De, Adjunct Faculty and Area Chairperson, Communications Area, SBM Mumbai presented her thoughts on giving and receiving feedback. With the help of data highlighting the relevance of feedback giving for managers, Prof De outlined the teaching methods adopted for training the students of SBM in the sensitive art of feedback giving. She also discussed models and frameworks to increase the effectiveness of managerial feedback giving and receiving.
Dr Yogesh Kulkarni, Associate Professor and Associate Dean, SPPSPTM, Mumbai and Dr Pravin Shende, Professor, SPPSPTM, Mumbai both spoke on the best practices for excellent research. Dr Kulkarni brought a live example from his own research which was conceptualised as a project and how the journey to a grant and a publication was completed through the project. He emphasized on conferences and workshops to enhance research skills.
Dr Shende talked about the steps to good research through a case study of his own research and outlined the research steps emphasising problem formulation and ethics of research experimentation.
At the end of the presentations, Dr Prashant Mishra, Dean, SBM opened up a lively discussion on each of the topics covered by the speakers. He underlined the importance of curiosity as a first step to research excellence. Likewise, he talked about the psychological principles like emotional intelligence as a guiding framework for feedback giving and receiving as managerial practice. The importance of case teaching was also highlighted by him to enhance learning outcomes.
Prof Santana Pathak, Assistant Professor, Communications Area, SBM Mumbai moderated the virtual faculty lounge.
SOL Indore Campus
To thrive students with real life experience of Market and Management and understand its nitty gritty, students of BBA L.L.B II & IV Sem were given a task named “SAIL-SELL” (Sell a Unique Product/Service) under the guidance of Dr. Kiran Gehani Hasija. Herein, Students were asked to make and then sell a unique product or service for monetary exchange. The Process didn't just start at the product manufacturing and end at sales but involved
Research n Development, Campaigning, Advertising, Branding, Finance, Accountancy, following ethical practices and a lot more. The said activity ensured better understanding of subject concepts and its implementation at field along with building Rigor and Relevance towards Curriculum (including pedagogy). Students enjoyed performing this activity and learned a sense of discipline and management on field. More than 10 stalls were put up in a period of 12 days with innovative ideas and unique products/services. Students not just lived up to the task expectations but also developed a strong sense of self-confidence and entrepreneurial ability.
SPPSPTM
Kshamta, the Social Responsibility Forum of SPPSPTM, Mumbai organized their flagship event - Aarogya'22, a free health check-up camp, aimed at providing free primary healthcare to the local community in the form of free diagnostic tests and medicine distribution. This event was sponsored by Cipla and FABBEU India.
The chief guest was Dr. Khawaja Mudassir, District Governor at Lions district and a renowned practicing general physician. This event consisted of a free health check-up camp with various tests like BMI, blood work (blood glucose, hemoglobin, blood group), eye checkup, skin checkup, dental checkup, gynecologist consultation along with free sanitary pad distribution for women and general physician consultation. Almost 20 medical and paramedical experts from reputed and well-trusted hospitals like KEM Hospital, Karuna Hospital and Cooper Hospital came for the camp. The team got in touch with many NGOs and invited more than 600 underprivileged people from different corners of the city who were helped to diagnose their problems. Free medicines were distributed as per the physician's directions.
Navi Mumbai Campus
The Publication Committee, School of Law have come with their next edition of The Legal Gauge. This issue looked at the infamous Karnataka Hijab Row along with judgments dealing with the banning of conversion therapy for LGBTQIA+ persons in India and post offices being vicariously liable for their employees. A light on the sexual
harassment case against a high court judge with the treatment of a testimony given by a child witness is also included.
Cultural Committee presented their flagship event- Tvaran. Tvaran is a platform where everyone is provided with an opportunity to showcase their talents and skills. This year they have planned a CARNIVAL themed cultural fest i.e TVARAN'22-KAARNAMA bringing everyone together to witness and take part in an amalgamation of music, dance, fashion, drama and other thrilling events.
Shirpur Campus
As part of International Water Day celebration, School of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Shirpur organised a Guest lecture on "Water Equity issues between irrigated and rainfed agriculture” by Dr. Manoranjan Kumar, Principal Scientist (Soil and Water Conservation Engineering), ICAR-CRIDA, Hyderabad on 22nd March.
All the students of B.Sc. (Hons.) Agriculture and faculty of SAST participated in the event. Dr. Manoranjan Kumar highlighted the need for conservation of fresh water and enhancing water use efficiency for improved water productivity in agriculture as well as conserving precious ground water agriculture sector. Students also understood how to bridge the crop yield gaps through efficient water management and micro watershed management.
SPTM organized a workshop for undergraduate and postgraduate students on the topic "Entrepreneurship: A road less traveled" conducted by Mr. Rishi Nagar, Founder, Fitnastic. The workshop was organized to create awareness and understanding of the qualities, skills, and attitudes required for choosing entrepreneurship as a career perspective. The speaker was successful in explaining the importance of time management and self-discipline in student's life. He also included team-building activities to emphasize on learning work culture.
Faculty Achievement
Dr. Bala Prabhakar, Dean, SPPSPTM, NMIMS received ‘Top Most Global Healthcare Leaders Award’ in the World Health & Wellness Congress (6th Edition) on 24th March, 2022 at Taj Lands End, Mumbai. This Award is an endeavour to salute those individuals and institutions who have made outstanding contributions in their respective fields to enhance the quality of
medical services and healthcare delivery. It aims to recognize Healthcare Professionals and Institutions who have played an integral role in developing and diversifying the healthcare landscape.
Dr. Ajaymeet Singh, School of Law, Chandigarh judged the Indian Qualifying Rounds of The Philip C Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition, 2022, jointly organized by Amity Law School, Noida and International Law Students Association.
Dr. Kiran Limaye, School of Economics, Mumbai was invited as Resource Person at IIM-Udaipur, Rajasthan during 7th to 12th March 2022, at the Mahatma Gandhi national fellowship (MGNF) programme on ‘Economics of Public Policy’. 60 fellows from Rajasthan and Telangana states attended the same as part of their 2nd semester coursework.
Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) has launched SANKALP, a framework to provide opportunities for quality short-term skill development. Part of the SANKALP is Mahatma Gandhi national fellowship (MGNF), two-year academic programme. MGNF is structured to maximize exposure to the ground situation, where fellows have 2-weeks lectures at the start of semester followed by 12 weeks in the district location. 9 IIMs across India host this fellowship.
Student Achievement
Two students of M.Pharm+MBA, Ms. Riddhi Trivedi & Ms. Seema Gupta, were awarded the Scholarship of Merck Fellowship Program of Rs. 2 Lakh for 3 years. Merck Lifesciences supports the education of female students of M.Pharm+ MBA program every year by way of scholarship. This decision of Merck has been a turning point in their life.
Ahaan Ramchandani from F.Y.B. Sc. Economics stood First at district level powerlifting competition on 27th February 2022.
Student Research
BBA LLB 4th Year, Mr. Vedant Dubey published a book titled `Elixir to Young Life’. This book is an elixir for young people that unravels a hidden power and gives access to the ultimate knowledge of life. "Elixir to Young life" focuses on all characteristics a young person shall have in order to begin the journey of Reformation by revealing and delving into learning three steps i.e. Happiness, Money, and Love. It is based on the
"Power of Realisation", which is certainly a discovered yet unknown treasure of knowledge. The tangential touch of old scriptures makes it an admixture of knowledge, education, and spirituality that can be adopted by every young life to become a shining star.
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