Dr. Vir Ved Ratna, an Associate Professor in Marketing at Jaipuria Institute of Management, Lucknow believes that ‘Involvement’ is the key to teaching successfully. With a rich teaching experience of 14 years, the lesson of ‘Involvement’ is one of the first things that he learnt during his early days as a teacher at Pokhara University, Nepal.

“Pokhara University, Nepal was raised in 1997. So when I joined the place, I was given courses to teach which did not exactly fall within my realm of comfort. The reason was that the university was in its infancy and teachers for those particular courses were not to be found there. I took it as a challenge and worked hard on developing the courses. Perhaps I worked even harder than my students. So when all my students passed their exams with flying colours, it came as a big surprise to most of us. I learnt a really valuable lesson at Pokhara University – that a teacher needs to work harder than his students in order to add meaning and value to his classes. I’ve always carried the message with me, right through to my current tenure in Jaipuria Lucknow.”

Dr. Ratna feels privileged to have facilitated the career ambitions of so many students. When he comes across his students who have risen up the corporate ladder and are doing well in life, he feels immensely satisfied. “It never ceases to amaze me that my students feel that I’ve contributed to their success. It is a remarkable experience for me as a teacher.”

Dr. Ratna teaches Strategic Management and Marketing Communications at Jaipuria Lucknow.

“Personally, my favourite subject is Marketing Communications. Discussions on how companies use innovative methods to communicate with their target customers are exciting. I derive pleasure in relating Marketing Communications to other fundamental dimensions of Marketing, especially Consumer Behavior.”

The general opinion among students of Jaipuria Lucknow is that Dr. Ratna’s unique method of relating conceptual learning of marketing to something that is applied in life makes it very easy to understand things. They are deeply impressed by Dr. Ratna’s understanding of the Internet and social media, and their application in the area of Marketing Communications.

“My experience at Jaipuria Lucknow has been both rewarding and challenging. The autonomy of owning a course and delivering it has been extremely rewarding; it’s been a learning experience in itself. As a teacher one has to continuously juggle to find better ways of value addition.”

Currently, Dr. Ratna is a part of the MDP as well as the Placement Cell of Jaipuria Lucknow. Despite his busy schedule, he never lets go of an opportunity to read up randomly on new Marketing literature of all kinds.