What’s with learning Management from a diverse pool of peers?
Read how Gaurav Singh, PGDM, Jaipuria Noida, Class 2018’s journey from South to North is helping him both teach and learn from his friends

Jaipuria Institute of Management campuses attract students from different backgrounds in large numbers. Be it culture, state, academic, professional, language and gender. The school ensures the classroom experience for its students to be diverse in as many ways as possible. This diversity also gets shaped by a sizeable number of engineering graduates who come to the B-School to further their career prospects. Gaurav Singh is one of them. With over a year’s experience to boot, the Bangalore boy made the journey across the length of the country to Noida. He believes there has been a similar upward moving trajectory in his growth as an individual since.

Climbing North with a purpose

Gaurav admits that his decision to enroll with Jaipuria, Noida was a calculated and carefully thought out decision. According to him, “The Marketing course offered at this campus was unique and included practical exposure in 2nd trimester. I am interested in Marketing domain and I had noticed that there are many exciting opportunities in the North in this field.”

The decision might have been a straightforward one for Gaurav, but it couldn’t have been without any hiccups. After all, relocating from one end of the country to another cannot be easy. However he looks at the positives as he says, “Well, the food can be a problem sometimes. But these issues would crop up no matter where you moved in the world; you have to be flexible.”

Working his way up the success ladder

After completing his degree in Mechanical Engineering, Gaurav worked with JV Global for one year and six months. He worked as a trainer with the company and claims that it was challenging because the crowd varies with their expectations with a time cap. He knew it was time for a change and take things to a higher level.

Talking about his aspirations Gaurav says, “I came here because I want to have good career opportunities in the future, become a resource person and a more responsible individual. I think I have already become a more independent individual, who is also reliable and can handle different challenges that are thrown at me.”

Learning through sharing

Gaurav stresses on the fact that his work experience has not only helped him during the program but his batch mates as well. “With my job I had to meet different types of people on a daily basis. So I knew about people management, which I learned in the Organizational Behavior course. I have tried to share my experiences with friends to make things relatable for them too,” he says.

At the same time Gaurav remains aware of the fact that he has gained a lot by interacting with batch mates from all over the country with different professional and academic backgrounds. “Peers have unique potential, and learning opportunity is always available. Concept of group formation and various tasks with the same team is amazing,” he ends enthusiastically.

Never underestimate the power of a diverse classroom!
How is Danish Noor, PGDM, Class 2018 helping in the classroom experience of Jaipuria, Noida and how is the classroom helping Danish?

Danish in Urdu means knowledge and this PGDM student of Jaipuria Institute of management, Noida can very well be seen as someone trying to live up to the meaning his name embodies. Danish came to Jaipuria, Noida with 4 years work experience in his already impressive resume. He left the comfortable cocoon of one metro city in order to adopt and learn from another. One might want to ask- “why Jaipuria Institue of Management particularly?” when Danish also had a host of other B-schools to choose from. Well Danish has an answer!

“One of the highlights of studying at Jaipuria Institute of Management, Noida is that you get to interact and learn from students from diverse backgrounds.” Interestingly, Danish himself symbolizes the classroom diversity at Jaipuria, Noida to a large extent. How? He is a commerce graduate. He comes from Kolkata. He has four years of professional experience backing his case up further. And oh, if that isn’t enough already, Danish did wade a lot of water in Sales and Marketing in his previous workplace!

Let’s read a bit more about Danish Noor. How is Danish helping in the classroom experience of Jaipuria, Noida and how is the classroom helping Danish?

When things slow down, you take them up a ‘North’

Danish was working with Reliance Capital, Kolkata as a Sales and Marketing Person in Vehicle Financing. But after 4 years he felt he was stagnating and needed a boost to his career. He heard about Jaipuria, Noida from an alum friend, then did his own research and decided to head North. “Jaipuria, Noida has good track record in terms of Placements, Alumni network and Faculties. Adding to that is the peer learning experience. I left my job as a Branch Sales Manager but haven’t regretted that decision even once,” he says.

How is Danish’s work-ex helping Danish as well as his peers?

Danish is of the opinion that your work experience can actually come handy during your PGDM as you can relate to the concepts you learn in the classroom a lot better. He explains, “It is kind of an Experience First, Learn Later phenomenon. Given my prior work experience I can understand how things get done practically in the real world and it helps me during presentations. I hope it helps my batch mates as well because here we learn a lot from sharing.”

Why peer learning is an enriching experience?

Danish admits that just like his batch mates can gain from his professional experience, he benefits by learning with students from different backgrounds. He claims that studying after a gap of 4 years wasn’t easy for him but he has managed with his classmates’ support. “Even in organizations people work in teams and peer learning makes things easier. At Jaipuria, Noida we feed off each other’s energy, ideas, and have our friends’ back, which makes learning here a completely pleasurable experience,” he adds thoughtfully.

Home is where your heart is!

According to Danish, his B School and friends have made him feel at home in a short span of time. While as a professional he wants to build a professional network, be more confident and hone his analytical thinking, he believes as an individual he is making giant strides already. “I believe as a management student you have to be more adaptable to change. Not that I needed to be very flexible here because even though I was some distance away from home I instantly felt comfortable at Jaipuria, Noida. I have been very lucky,” he ends emotionally.