Prin. L. N. Welingkar Institute of Management Development & Research PGDM Review By Prashant Saboo

Everyone whom you will ask about Welingkar College will only have good things to say but WeSchool have some minuses as well. From a B Schools perspective there are few things that are must while WeSchool have bare minimum of some important aspects like Infrastructure in terms of physical, knowledge, and tech. Intellectual capital, fee vs. the package, other opportunities, and exposure. If you can’t keep a check on all these things and just boast that we are tied up with some foreign universities don’t do justice with the students. There are many positives as well as in PGDM course its trimester system means we have three semesters in a year. One positive is that faculty members are also working in top companies and therefore lectures are conducted on all days and no holiday even on weekends as the professors working gets time on weekends. One last negative is that the timings are not properly scheduled as on some days we were asked to come for 7 am for a lecture and on some days the lectures have lasted till as late as 9.30pm.

Many innovative labs have been formed and they were great. The conference room deserved kudos as that gave us an insight on how the corporate working is like. Wish they had arranged few company visits as doing it in the campus didn’t give much of an exposure and that was evident once we were placed. The outbound program of the college is great and the innovations in terms of studies that were there was great. The culture through which the academic was run was exceptional as industry major CEOs giving lectures was also a part of the studies. The college helped me develop soft skills which I think is not enough. The B School for post graduate is the last school that students attend during his/her lifetime and therefore they should have all the knowledge. Meet a student from Welingkar and other colleges of Mumbai such as Jamnalal Bajaj, and NMIMS, you will see the difference.

Industry managers comprise our faculty members. Some are full-time professors as well and all of them hold a rich experience that seriously helped us a lot. Their experience mattered and their teaching methods were quite amazing as well. This is where college has to be credited as Welingkar has used their money power to hire the best in the business. The professors that we have are certainly the best as they made sure that they mentor us in a way that we have all the knowledge that the outside world requires. I wish they took us out of the campus as well to make us understand better.

Please don’t go and check their site as they tell half the story. Only 70-75% students got the direct campus placements. Many IT companies were there and this is where again I have problems. I think a management student can contribute the best in banks and financial institutions which has a lot of loop holes. Among bank there were just a few like Axis and HDFC Bank. A lot of insurance companies showed interest during our batch and offered decent as well. The average package was Rs. 7 lakhs and highest went all the way to Rs. 18 lakhs. Considering the fees that they charge for their autonomous program the ratio is still less I would say.

The WeSchool campus is so small that college has to build hostel a little far from the campus. There are separate boys and girls hostel. Since I was from Mumbai, I was not allowed to apply for hostel but after the end of 6 months what I saw was that even locals were given the room. Welingkar only knows how to mint money and for that they will do anything. Fortunately they were little cautious as the hostel fees was justified and the food served was also good at the hostel.

All the money that WeSchool has made from Mumbai, they have used it for developing a large campus in Bangalore. This is for real many may not be aware but they do have a campus in Bangalore as well. Here it’s just a building that is reserved for management studies. The building though is superb and has all the features that are required. The only complaint is that it’s too compact. The labs, the canteen, the auditorium the conference room and the classrooms. All are air-conditioned and the atmosphere inside the college building is immensely great with students from various fields.

The life at campus was cool as we had students from various aspects of life. Some students who are constantly into studies while some have some work experience. Here again the problem that I have is alumni base of Welingkar is poor. Students of Welingkar are doing so great but there examples are never given. The best part of campus life was that students were encouraged to take part in B school competitions. The college used to take all the expenses on them and that was the only exposure that we got. All in all it was a good experience being a part of WeSchool.