Symbiosis School of Sports Sciences MBA Review By Mayank Dogra

Being a sports enthusiast when I came to know about sports management program from one of the biggest universities of India, I decided to apply for that. There are 240 seats for this program but not more than 200 enrolled during our batch as the institute has started recently. Not many are aware of the opportunities that sporting world presents. Not just sports person but people associated with sports can make. As a sports enthusiast I was aware of it and didn’t had a double though before joining this college. The college is located in a village called Lavale which is quite far from the main Pune city. No problems though as SIU (Symbiosis International University) has ensured a world class life inside the campus. There’s a party area at the campus, nice play grounds and most importantly the best crowd that will ensure that you don’t leave the campus even for a minute.

If you think that this course is easy then my friend you are horribly wrong. We had to study a lot as just like MBA Finance or HR there are case studies in Sports Management. How sports have grown over the years and how sports have inked so much of money. In one of our case studies we learned that Brazilian footballers of 1960s were driving taxis at the backend of their lives to meet their end. Now a footballer if plays couple of seasons for a European club they can live rest of their life without any financial burden. It was amazing to read such stories and as a sports manager we have to manage the wealth of players or run sports team or sports management firms. The course includes a six-month internship with an international sporting firm. Thus, while studying we learned all the mathematics attached with sports management.

Faculties were brought from abroad as sports management in India is still relatively new. Now imagine Americans teaching us in their accent was so fun. They have worked with firms and players in the past so they taught us everything by doing practicals in the class. Classes were more of a fun session than anything else. Since everything was mostly done it practical way, it’s hard to describe how the professors did their job. All in all, faculties were roped in from some of the biggest sports management schools of the world and many guest faculties in the form of sports players were invited time to time.

We all got placed with some of the biggest names in the sporting world and not just that there are many investment firms that have invested heavily in these firms. Firms like Chase, JP Morgan, and Reliance Sports Management Companies that manage the entire ISL. Promoter groups themselves came as this institute has the backing of various such groups because from a million-dollar baby many of sporting firms in India too have become billion-dollar firms. JSW group was the one that signed me who are also the promoters of IPL franchise Delhi Capitals to promoting the Indians at the Olympics. It’s still early days that one can easily get admissions here because people know how challenging and demanding this course is you will hardly get a chance to get your hands at it.

The hostels were common for all the colleges of the campus and this made life even better. I shared the room with a law student and sharing about our respective colleges ticked 12 or even beyond on clock daily. Hostels were much better and the food was perhaps the best among hostels. Along with veg, non-veg was also served but had a separate section. For those who are not comfortable with non-veg food can sit in an entirely separate section.

The campus had no issue other than the area. The campus has buses that would run all day long and will drop you to many points in Pune. Still, even after staying for two years in Pune, I just saw a few of the areas. From inside though no flaw at all. Campus is ever growing as soon the university is planning to bring all their institutes under this roof. The university has 28 institutes and by the time I left there were just 15 or 16 maybe. The college promotes greener environment and therefore there was a cycle stand from where we can pick a bicycle and roam inside the campus using the cycles. The sports ground would see students of different institutes competing as sports united all the institutes of the campus. The canteen was great as luckily it had Momos and Pasta and that has been my bread and butter for life. The campus may not have anything around it but has everything inside it.

Interacting with students of different institutes was fun. Not just students from all parts of India but at Symbiosis students from various countries come and study. Every institute of Symbiosis has an NRI quota and that quota is always filled because the university has created a niche for itself not just in India but abroad as well. Many fests were conducted and among those was international student fest where they shared their experience of studying at Symbiosis. Videos might be available on YouTube and I would request all to see those videos because college’s motto is Vasudev Kutumbkum and Indians and Foreigners live here like one family at the campus.