Indus Valley Times

By Mahendra Darjee

National/Sambalpur, June 25: Aligned with the National Educational Policy, IIM Sambalpur conducted ‘Nurturing Future Leadership Programme’ (NFLP) under the Malaviya Mission Teacher Training Programme (MMTTP). The five-day residential programme was designed to equip faculty members from various universities with technical, managerial, and interpersonal dexterities for effective leadership in both administrative and academic roles within higher education institutions (HEIs). It also aims to cultivate a comprehensive understanding of effective leadership, identify challenges, encourage strategic thinking for managing organizations, and enhance cross-functional coordination, conflict resolution & consensus-building skills.

The inaugural ceremony commenced with an introductory session on “Strategic Leadership for Academic Governance & 21st Century Learning” led by Prof. Mahadeo Jaiswal, Director, IIM Sambalpur. During his address, Prof. Jaiswal took the example of Michael Porter, a renowned business theorist, who emphasizes the importance of strategy in business and said, “Many successful companies, particularly in China and Japan, focus on operational efficiency rather than strategic innovation. For Indian higher education, adopting a strategic approach is crucial for global competitiveness.” The Director, IIM Sambalpur further said, “The emphasis was on improving quality and international rankings through enhanced research, innovation, and attracting global talent.”

This was followed by Prof. Padmavathy Dhillon’s session on “Making Classroom Psychologically Safe Adaptive For Happy Classroom”. The day concluded with a profound session on “Understanding Institute Finance and Budget-Making and Financial Management” by Prof. Diwahar Sunder Nadar.

The second day began with the informative session on “Managing Performance Dynamics & Leadership” by Prof. Atri Sengupta, tracked by the session on “Effective Communication for Academic Leaders” and “Management Planning, Crafting, and Publishing High-Quality Research Papers” by Prof. Shilpi Kalwani and Prof. Saumya Ranjan Sahoo, respectively.

On the third day, Prof. Soumya G. Deb threw light on institutional challenges with a session on “Accreditation & Challenges of the Institution”, which was followed by an informative session on “Ranking & Improving The Performances of the Institutes” by Prof. RK Padhy and “Fostering Academic Excellence Through Critical & Designing Things” by Prof. Poonam Kumar.

The fourth day guided enlightened participants with an insightful session on “Managing change in Academic Institutions” by Prof. Shikha Bhardwaj, followed by Prof. Padmavathy Dhillon’s session on “Team Management in Academic Institution” and Prof. Shilpi’s session on “Managing Self, Time, and Stress.”

The final day of the programme focused on “Engaging Stakeholders (Students/Community/Alumni)” presented by Prof. Sumita Sindhi. Prof. Siddharth Majhi then led a session on “Building Institute Brands in the Digital Era”. The training concluded with a session on “Designing/Preparing Delivering Research & Consultancy Projects”, followed by project presentations evaluated by Prof. Poonam Kumar and Prof. RK Padhy.

The programme witnessed the participation from IIT, Jodhpur; Banaras Hindu University, Banaras; Magadh University, Bodh Gaya; Visvesvaraya Technical University, Belgaum; Revenshaw University, Cuttack; Veer Surendra Sai University of Technology, Burla; Rajendra University, Bolangir; Ramadevi Women’s University, Bhubaneswar and Central Sanskrit University, Puri.