Symbiosis School of Sports Sciences MBA Review By Mahesh Karnani

SSSS is the latest entrant of the Symbi family, but like always, the group has done enough homework before starting college. The campus is built in picturesque Lavale and had tie-ups with DNA networks and some other to provide the students enough internship opportunities. There was a time when simple graduation was not enough for jobs. One has to do MBA to find better jobs. An MBA is also not enough in the current scenario, and one needs specialization to get jobs. Sports being ingrained in my body, I was so fascinated to join this college of which I didn’t know anything until the last year of my graduation. SSSS requires the least numbers at SNAP purely because it is the latest college. The placements too may not be as heavy as other institutes of Symbi but getting placement in the field of choice was rather more important for me. For me, it was just the course because I knew the college brand name would take care of rest.

To study sports science, until a few years back, we only had one option, to go abroad. The MBA in sports management offered by SSSS had a tie-up with many media houses, sports leagues, and international universities. The course taught us all the challenges that a sporting body faces or the agencies connected with sports. Since, the course caters to global demands, football and tennis, which are the most marketable sports, we covered the dynamics of those sports in our curriculum. One thing that surprised me about the sport was that Cricket was the second most popular sport in the world in terms of viewership. The three biggest learning of the course was technical aspects in sports, event management of the sports, and sports marketing. The course had a more practical methodology so that we can learn about the ground reality.

Most of the professors were MD or PhD. A sportsperson goes under the hammer several times in his career. For example, Sachin Tendulkar had 11 surgeries in his career of 24 years. Hence, one of the important aspects of the syllabus was how to avoid injuries. The MD faculty taught us about technicality. Once we are through the course, many leagues and boards worldwide can show interest in us as we can advise their players on what drills to do for a particular sport to avoid injuries. Like weight lifting can benefit a player playing Cricket but not for players playing tennis. The faculty, on the whole, were great as getting to the skin of each student to understand how they can contribute was commendable. Most of the students who joined this course had no idea about the course, but faculty made sure that in 2 years they will make us a specialist in which we were good.

The placement was again over 90% as we all had chosen to be specialized in one of the skills. We honed the skills in sports, sports governance, sports analytics, sports marketing, and sports economics. Den Network, Pro Kabaddi League teams, and ISL teams had come to the college for recruitments. As per our specialization and demand from the recruiters, we were hired upfront with an average package of 6-7 lakhs. Most of us are today working with franchises associated with sporting leagues. The college was in talks with IPL franchises as well, and who knows that students of SSSS will be seen serving their services to IPL franchises as well.

The boy's hostel, NRI hostel, and girls are near the academic block. The hostels this time around were inside the campus only and at a distance of less than 50mts from the academic block. All the 15 colleges of the institutes that are there at Lavale campus shared the same hostels. The hostel were huge as the college is 20 kilometers from the main city and most of the students being outsiders, hostel was the only option. The college had arranged a bus facility for Symbiosis main campus and till Pashan at a certain time daily. The schedule of the bus timings was listed on the notice board. The hostel was as beautiful as the previous one. The food had more variety, and the mess operated till as late as 11 pm.

The campus size is unimaginable as none of us from the college have seen a campus of that size. 300 acres to be precise and had all the facilities so that we don’t have to go out for our needs. 15 buildings of the 15 institutes that operated in SIU campus. The campus is like a smart city with some state-of-the-art buildings, international-styled sporting facilities, and lush green hills at the backdrop. Our building entrance had a statue of Lord Buddha. All the facilities were more or less the same, but the unique thing was the promotion of bicycles. Every admin building had a rack full of the bicycle. Students can take the bicycle to explore the campus. The bicycle racks were available outside every academic block. The campus has a center called Symbiosis Center for Health Care that cares about medical things during any emergency. The hilltop campus is a masterpiece, and one can visit the campus to explore one of the nicest campuses in India.

It was a pleasure to mingle with students of various colleges. Not just Indians, but the campus also had foreigners from nearly 30 countries. The experience and exposure to knowing various cultures were an entirely new experience and something that will stay with me for life.