They say leaders are born. But, meet the man responsible for creating a generation of new-age leaders: Nitish Jain, Founder and President of SP Jain School of Global Management.
Nitish describes himself as an educationist, philanthropist, and entrepreneur. In the last seventeen years as president of top-ranked SP Jain, he has spearheaded a visionary goal – to create a school that is recognised worldwide for its razor-sharp focus in offering innovative, result-oriented business education. This focus has led to the growth of the young business school as one of the world’s best in rankings by respected international publications such as Forbes, Financial Times, Nielsen, Ivy Exec, Global Brands and The Economist.
Under Nitish’s leadership, SP Jain has been credited with several path-breaking initiatives, notably a tri-city learning model. “As businesses go increasingly global, management talent also needs to have a global orientation. This, in a sense, is at the core of the philosophy that led to the start of SP Jain in Dubai in 2004. Soon afterwards, we established campuses in Singapore, Sydney, and Mumbai,” shares Nitish.
SP Jain students understand global business uniquely by studying in not one but a minimum of three of its international campuses. So, while the full-time Master’s students of the School spend four months each in Singapore, Dubai and Sydney (and follow it up with an international internship), the Bachelor of Business Administration students spend no less than one year each in Singapore/Mumbai, Dubai and Sydney. Students of SP Jain’s Master of Luxury Management program study across Mumbai and Milan, Italy. This in-demand program is offered in partnership with a top-ranked European business school.
Having lived and studied in the world’s top business cities, SP Jain students have a unique advantage in competing for global jobs. They have had opportunities to pursue projects at each location, out-of-class activities and internships that make them very relevant and attractive to leading companies. “Add to this the fact that we have student participants from over 30 countries, close to 80% of our core faculty have doctoral degrees and hail from 5 continents, and an ever-growing alumni base spread across 35 countries,” adds Nitish.
All this put together, it is no wonder that SP Jain graduates have found ready employment in organisations like Facebook, Google, Amazon, LinkedIn, Boston Consulting Group, McKinsey & Co., Apple, World Economic Forum, Barclays, Nike and MasterCard, all global corporations.
Future of Education
“Forget traditional classrooms, books and exams. The future of education is technology,” shares Nitish, a confessed technology enthusiast.
At SP Jain, Nitish has spreadhead the conception of Engaged Learning Online (ELO), a revolutionary new technology custom-designed for online learning. The ELO studio is set up with a robotic tracking camera for the faculty. This allows them to stand and move freely, maintain eye contact with students, and respond to their visual cues, moderate discussions and more, all in real-time. Faculty and students can engage in one-on-one conversations as if they were sitting side-by-side. ELO enables faculty to evaluate each student’s level of engagement, respond to them individually and keep them motivated – as they would do in a conventional classroom. Classes are timetabled, questions are asked and answered immediately, and the engagement is on par with what one would experience in a traditional classroom. “The best part is that while the faculty delivers the lecture from an SP Jain ELO studio, the student could be in any corner of the world. All he needs is a stable internet connection to get going. We already have four studios in different parts of the world, and I guess we will build another four in 2021,” shares Nitish.
The proof of ELO’s success is in the numbers. SP Jain’s Online EMBA, offered through ELO, grew from 30 students in 2019 to 200 students in 2020. Nitish projects a 100% growth in 2021.
“Over 2000 students from 25 countries have experienced this technology in the past year, and the feedback has been very positive. To see our students continue to enjoy their lessons and bond with faculty, even amid such chaos and uncertainty, is very encouraging to us. We are constantly collecting feedback and tweaking our technology to ensure that it is at the forefront of online education,” adds Nitish.
Rewards and Recognitions
In recognition of his many achievements in education, Nitish was felicitated with the Outstanding Contribution to Education Award by the CMO Asia. His efforts to reimagine business education and offer innovative programs were recognised through the Entrepreneur of the Year Award by TIMES NOW (2014) and Award for Business Excellence by the Australia India Business Council (2014).
In 2013, he held a coveted spot in Forbes’ list of UAE’s 75 most influential people. In recognition of his work in cementing Indo-Australia ties through education, Nitish was hand-picked by the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to join his official CEO delegation, comprising India’s top 12 CEOs, to Australia post the G20 summit.
As a widely recognised thought leader in education, Nitish has been extensively interviewed by and featured in international publications and broadcast media, including the Sydney Morning Herald, Bloomberg TV (Hong Kong), BBC (Singapore), ET News (India) and Zee TV (Singapore). He has also been invited as a speaker at conferences conducted by EQUIS (Bali), EduTech Asia (Singapore) and Global Minds (Sydney).
What’s next for SP Jain?
Even though ELO was developed in anticipation of the need for high quality and customised online education, this technology has become a game-changer of sorts for SP Jain. In 2020, as students worldwide were coming to terms with travel bans, border lockdowns, and other restrictions, SP Jain became one of the first business schools in the world to transition its programs across its four campuses to ELO seamlessly.
Nitish is now thinking ahead. “Learning Analytics, Robotics, student selection via AI…we have a number of technology-led initiatives in the pipeline. Something that I am excited about is the possibility of determining student outcomes even before classes commence. The smartest student is not always the one with the highest CGPA or the one to bag a top job. Many facets determine student outcomes but is it possible to determine them beforehand? Technology has the answers, and I am determined to crack it,” shares Nitish.
