New Delhi, (Samajweekly) Students at the Jindal School of Banking & Finance (JSBF) at O.P. Jindal Global University (JGU) have been selected for placement and internship opportunities in over 150 companies located around the world, including in India, the US, the UK, Mauritius, and Singapore. Opportunities to gain vital industry experience were not dampened by the pandemic for the students of the hugely popular three-year B.Com. (Hons.) and the first-in-India, three-year B.A (Hons.) Finance & Entrepreneurship offered by JGU’s Finance School.
JSBF specializes in the contemporary, technology-intensive, and industry-relevant areas of banking, fintech, financial products & services, and allied fields. Nearly 8 per cent of internships of B.Com. students completed outside India in 4 major sectors of banking & finance, management consulting, manufacturing, and tech startups.
Over 125 students of commerce, finance and entrepreneurship were invited to do their internship in established banks and financial institutions, top-tier management consulting firms, large manufacturing companies, and startups including EY, KPMG, DE Shaw, SBI, Futures First, Aditya Birla Capital, Reliance Asset Management, Paytm, Axis Bank, Maruti Suzuki, BHEL, UNICEF and CRY. 8 per cent of the internships were in companies that are located outside India. The students who graduated during the pandemic in the summer of 2021 found full-time placements in Deloitte Consulting, KPMG, Goldman Sachs, ICICI Prudential, American Express and Citibank backed startup called Better among others.
The diverse portfolio of industry and research internships offered by JSBF helped the students who graduated in the tumultuous summer of 2021 gain admission in competitive master’s programme in reputed universities in India, Canada, the UK, and Australia.
Students earned internship and placement offers to work in the Corporate Finance, Portfolio Management, Accounting, Indirect and International Taxation, Digital Marketing, and Technology departments of these organisations. Most of these students gained academic credits after going through a comprehensive academic review of each industry internship. For the graduating students who have been placed in the industry, the nature of their work at the time of joining typically involves analyzing financial portfolios, managing funds, regulatory reporting, co-creating fintech products, creating cash flow schedules, developing data models, and monitoring data management procedures.
As a specialised school, JSBF has an established ‘Office of Industry Interface’ that nurtures and promotes student-industry connections, including regular engagement with industry experts, industry internships, project work, and final placements. In 2021, over 10 specialized career workshops and industry talks were conducted for students of commerce, finance, and entrepreneurship. During the pandemic, more than 65 senior executives and practitioners were hosted from Banking, Fintech, Law Practice, Chartered Accounting, Management Consulting, and Insurance sector to interact with students. Special emphasis was placed on students who were graduating during the peak of the pandemic last year. Advanced personality profile testing, interviewing techniques and resume building workshops helped them prepare for these opportunities.
Students’ aspirations to gain practical knowledge and industry exposure are being matched by the surge in demand for graduates of commerce and finance in India. This is relevant not only for students of the current B.Com. (Hons) and BA (Hons) Finance & Entrepreneurship programmes, but also for the new programmes that JSBF will start from August 2022, including, a first in India, Global B.Com. (Hons) in partnership with Deakin University Australia, and a B.Com. (Hons) in Capital Markets in partnership with the National Stock Exchange (NSE) Academy.
Professor (Dr.) C. Raj Kumar, Founding Vice Chancellor, O.P. Jindal Global University, commented that, “we are delighted that the Jindal School of Banking & Finance has nurtured a range of industry partnerships for our students of B.Com. (Hons) and B.A. (Hons) in finance and entrepreneurship. The fact that these students found exciting internship projects and final placements during the difficult phase of the past two years speak volumes about the relevance of the curriculum for the industry and the ability of JSBF to match the tremendous demand with supply for meaningful industry engagements. I am happy to share that JSBF is prepared to more such opportunities within the world-class curriculum of the current and the upcoming programmes in commerce, finance and entrepreneurship.”
The Dean of JSBF, Professor (Dr.) Ashish Bharadwaj, stated that “our approach in JSBF is to complement the collective expertise of our faculty with continuous involvement of students in practical industry projects, their active engagement with the ‘real-world’ of finance, and timely exposure to the thought-leaders in the industry. The strategy has worked very well for undergraduate students in JSBF who shall be at the forefront of competition in the industry and in entering top universities.”
Professor Ram B. Ramachandran, Vice Dean (Strategy & Planning) leads the JSBF Office of Industry Interface. He pointed out that “JSBF’s emphasis is to provide future ready skills to our students, building mental elasticity, teamwork and leadership proficiencies. We are squarely addressing the common refrain from industry captains that the current students are not work ready. Our career development programmes are structured to provide a variety of opportunities for our students outside the classroom – from career workshops, developing network with businesses and providing personal career mentorship to our students.”
Rituraaj Juneja, Senior Director & Chief Industry Engagement Officer, Office of Career Services at JGU added that “a significant number of JSBF students aim for higher education and helping family-run businesses after completing B.Com., but many seek industry placements in start-ups, non-profits organisations and corporate firms. The industry internships and a range of career development initiatives offered by our dedicated Office of Career Services at JGU counsels such students right from their first year on resume writing, building online presence, interviewing skills, selecting internships, and how to leverage these for professional development.”
