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Get to think of it….Hotel Management College has labs where students cook.Pharma students work in labs and see real results of chemicals and mixtures.Medical students go and work on real patients in hospitals for years before they begin practicing ….
IT students have the computer in the lab both for software and hardware practice through out the 3 years degree.
But when it comes to Management students, there is no real endeavor in giving these students first hand in the field learning before they become Executives or Managers, and for some even Entrepreneurs. Henceforth, for the last dozen years PCTE team has been pained to see its students suffering, while in the same breath it has pained to find ways to provide the right platform for students.
Finally this year, which happens to the final year for the founder batch of PGDM students, an Autonomous course started by PCTE under AICTE, Ministry of HRD. Though PCTE has run a conventional MBA for dozen years now, it did not provide the leverage to practice such real life courses, which could evolve students for the job ahead.
PCTE has finally launched a program – RAWAR, which would enable the students to be empowered both inside and outside the classroom, and not merely understand concepts as theory, but be able to apply them long before they even get into the marker/field.
PGDM 75 students were divided into teams of approx. 6 students each, and the teams had to fight out the other team in a stipulated time (usually 3-4 days or a week long), where in they are given different tasks each week:
Week One: The students had to buy products for PCTE itself. Two teams got quotations for IT accessories after searching the market, visiting dealers and getting the best offers for a list of products handed out to them. The team, which got best offer was given to execute the order. Similarly, two other teams fought out on buying stationery, another two teams for buying office chairs, and yet two teams bought floor tiles.
Week Two: The students indulged in Product Development. Each student was given a sample of Merchandise like PCTE key ring, coffee mug, calendar, file cover, etc. Teams were judged on basis of better designing and quotation, besides quality.
Week Three: Was a social week for PCTEians. Teams went out to collect woolen clothes, shoes, bedding, quilts, stationery and toys. They will be judged on who collected more, and later the same teams would go along with teachers to slums they visited last month for another activity and distribute the collections in each slums.
Today, was the concluding day of Week Three, where at Campus 2, PCTE B-School about in the morning around 40 students after 4 days of day and night work got 7 trucks full of woolen clothes, bedding, quilts, blankets, shoes, stationery and toys for the poor in the city. It was a collection unlike any other seen for such an activity in the city before.
Dr. K N S Kang, Director General, PCTE overjoyed by the students work gave all the eight teams involved in it a walk over and said, “No student shall be eliminated for poor work when the students have put up such a grand show.” The students were extremely elated. Except the day did not end here.
All the PCTE B School students then got onto segregating all clothes and shoes into categories as Men, women, and children. Loaded them into three PCTE Buses and went to three major slums of the city. HarleenMahajan, the Course Incharge for Project Management explained that areas were defined as Industrial Area, DhandariKalan, and Chandigarh Road. She said that this definition evolved after consulting different NGOs in the city and learning that while there were plenty of NGOs focusing on slums inside the city, there was not enough to cater to the ones on the outskirts.
AshimaThapar, another Faculty Manager informed that many organizations generously helped the students through out this week towards this noble cause. Pumpkins and Fun Club donated Toys, DMC Hostel gave away stationery, Sharman Shawls gave a cheque of Rs.11,000. Deutsche Bank gave clothes and stationery. Freemansonary, Asha Textiles, Dua textiles, Bunty Fabrics, Punjab Heavy Factory gave away over two hundred blankets.
Dr. Kang explained that RAWAR is a seven week long exercise and will continue with similar competitions, which get tougher and tougher in the next 4-5 weeks till the end of the Trimester of Final PCTE B-School students. He said, “Beyond a doubt, if anything has helped the students grow over night and get to the basics of the market, it was RAWAR.”
