NMIMS Hyderabad conducted Invocation Ceremony on 9th June, 2022 to welcome Class of (2022-24) students of the School of Business Management. The event was held at its newly constructed sprawling campus at Jadcherla attended by 290 students, faculty, staff, guests and dignitaries.
The ceremony began with lighting of lamp and ‘Sarswati Vandana’ in the presence of Vice Chancellor, NMIMS Dr. Ramesh Bhat, Campus mentor Shri Amit Sheth, Chief Guest Dr. Ramesh Darbha, GM – Country Head (India) &Asia – Pacific, Director I/C Hyderabad campus Dr. Ashwini Deshpande, SBM Chairperson Prof. Abhilash Ponnam, Assistant Registrar Mr. Rishi kant Gupta, students, faculty, and staff members.
Dr. Ashwini Deshpande, Director I/C welcomed the students and their parents and congratulated them on joining NMIMS Hyderabad. She also gave an overview of the institute and apprised them of the facilities and opportunities for student engagement on campus.
Vice Chancellor of the University Dr. Ramesh Bhat, speaking on this occasion briefed the students of the great legacy of NMIMS and enriched the audience with some great words of wisdom. He reiterated that we live in VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous) world and gave some valuable tips on how to create positive energy in this VUCA world. He made a reference to a movie to motivate students on how to outdo themselves and emphasized that the harder one practices, the luckier one gets. He assured that NMIMS is committed to providing a solid knowledge base, critical thinking, and forming good habits that are critical to become good leaders. He also explained how SBM programs follow assurance of learning. Dr. Bhat gave the mantra of “excellence’ and said that at SBM the concept of KASH is the mainstay of the program where K stands for knowledge, A stands for attitude S stands for skills and H stands for habits. He underlined the role of right attitude as one cannot convert knowledge into skills if one does not have the right attitude. He urged the students to maximize on KASH to create excellence. He also highlighted the need to maintain physical, emotional and intellectual energy.
Dr. Bhat spoke of the human behavioural patterns metamorphosing during the pandemic and that one must learn to respond and not react to any emerging challenging situation. He asked students to follow the concept of learning, unlearning and relearning and manage the expectations of the school and professors. He also urged students to make sure that they do not have regrets regarding efforts made towards establishing their foundations, in being bold, in forming the right connections and the moral stand taken.
NMIMS Pro Vice Chancellor Dr. Meena Chintamaneni also addressed the gathering virtually, giving a broad perspective of the institute goals, mission and expectations from the students and shared the experiences of NMIMS alumni who take pride in their alma mater.
The chief guest Dr. Ramesh Darbha urged the students not to be bogged down by world-changing events like 9/11 or the pandemic and instead work on the five foundational aspects that will determine how one’s life is transformed namely Purpose, Passion, Authentic, Emotional and Spiritual intelligence.
Passion is all about giving 100% to everything regardless of the outcome. He also called for being authentic as the corporate world desperately needs genuine and credible people, having resilience and the ability to cope in this VUCA world. He urged not to undermine the importance of gratitude and humility as mostly people are independent and humility gives the opportunity to acknowledge that there is a world beyond us. He implored the students to consciously break the regional and local barriers, enjoy this journey, and have a great time. He closed his address with two quotes, one of Mahatma Gandhi – ‘Be the change you wish to see in the world’ and that of Michael Jordan- Be the one who makes things happen’.
The institute mentor Shri. Amit Sheth gave a very motivating presentation and implored each of the students to aspire for being ‘genius’ and not settle down with just being ‘good’. He quoted many interesting examples of Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, Leonardo Da Vinci and the like who crossed disciplinary boundaries to be genius.
He appealed to students that they should not stop being curious. He emphasized the role of sports, music, poetry, performing and visual art in students’ overall development and urged students to pick up some of these. He also pointed out the importance of being empathetic to others.
He suggested students to expand their knowledge base by reading autobiographies and biographies. He also highlighted that in order be a good manager, it is important to firstly understand human behaviour. He ended his address on the note that instead of pursuing happiness (which is often fleeting), one should pursue philosophies that solve day-to-day problems.
