In addition to opting for one or more specializations, students are given the option of choosing areas of concentration. The philosophy behind offering these is to take the pedagogy closer to specific and real industry requirements. The curriculum is co-created and co-delivered with industry experts and has real industry intervention at various points. Praxis has identified Retail Strategy and Treasury and Risk Management as being the two areas that address immediate industry needs and these are being offered to current students. The response from the student and corporate communities has been very encouraging.
Treasury and Risk Management
Corporates and banks are increasingly implementing risk management practices to combat the risks arising from the highly integrated and volatile financial markets. These entities have also started focusing a lot more on treasury and forex management functions to manage the volatility in forex rates and high levels of liquidity constraint. Given their limited availability today, well trained risk management and treasury professionals are highly sought after in the industry.
Praxis is offering two areas of concentration- Treasury and Risk Management, in coordination with ICICI Bank. The jointly developed curriculum captures the relevant ‘theory’ and ‘practice’ elements. The Praxis faculty will conduct the course with specific sessions being taken by experts from ICICI Bank (this would be applicable for largely experiential elements such as Treasury Operations). As part of the curriculum, the participating students will undertake live projects and assignments with the company.
Retail Strategy Management
The Indian retail industry is seeing a major shift from the un-organized to the organized sector and, with global brands poised to enter the country, there would be a huge requirement for formally trained managers to cope with the scale, the complexity and the fiercely competitive environment.
The pedagogy for the Retail Strategy Management area of concentration has evolved out of a workshop with participation from the Praxis Business School faculty and relevant experts from the industry representing organizations such as Spencer’s, Tata Steel and Starmark. It comprises lecture-sessions on retail strategy and operations aspects, requires the students opting for this concentration to experience real-life learning through field-level exposure with important retail stores and culminates in a ‘course of independent study,’ wherein the students assimilate the learning to develop and present a business plan. The courseware is co-created and co-delivered by the Praxis faculty and industry practitioners.
We are co-developing the pedagogy with industry for other domains such as Outsourcing and Project Management as well – these would be offered as additional areas of concentration in subsequent years. As industry needs change, Praxis will attempt to adapt its curriculum accordingly and address the changing needs with new, relevant programs.
