My Kolkata Journey in Pics

 From April 2025 till March 2026.

My entry- above, and my office with Shrabani

Visit to Kalyani, above, and Alumni meet, IIMB below

Tolly Club, above, and Suhasini Barman, new friend, below

Aakansh visits, and Bani and Anita, below

Football, and Barrackpore trip for Biryani

Banani Sah and Samarendra, and inauguration of Interfaith Dialogue

Students of BBA, and Karanjyot and Shrabani

Outing on Christmas, and Litfest at Alipore Jail

Ecopark restaurant, and Books I bought

Cute welcome at a school event, and meeting Ananya and Sayantani Saha of IMT Nagpur

IK Gautam visits, and Jasbir Matharu visits -with Abhinav Chandel

Debasmita Das and Shrabani

Sixth Convocation of JIS University

 I have attended a lot of Convocations. This was maybe the 20th of my life. But memorable, in many ways. The First in Kolkata. On 21st February, 2026. 

Debasmita Das and Shrabani Saha Choudhury,  

Backstage, from my vantage point

Below- With Bratati Bhattacharya, Director of the Business School.

and the folks from the Exam Branch, including Karanjyot Kaur and Sunita Samanta, who are friends as well.. they did all the back-end work in preparing the certificates, diplomas, medals  etc.

From Calicut to Calcutta

 I know it's Kolkata now, but the title needs to match.

I was in Calicut in 2003-2005. We had just moved into the new campus. My interview was held in the old one at NIT Calicut. 

I wrote a book, Services Marketing, and taught that course as well as Marketing Research. We also did a couple of FDPs, on Case Writing and Research Methods. Also organised a conference with Tapan Panda, where we got NASMEI as a partner. Remember publishing a book of conference papers. Met Anita Basalingappa of MICA for the first time. Still in touch with profs. SSS Kumar and Keyoor Purani.

The campus was lovely, but there was no housing, so stayed in Malaparamba. Gave us access to the town, which was a couple of kilometres away. My brother and his son visited from the U.S., as did Jogeswari from Hyderabad, ex-student of KIAMS. Krishna Kumar from IIML took over from Kalro as the director during that time. We did an MDP at Kodaikanal too, for BHEL, I think.

Kolkata happened in 2025. Joined JIS University as one of two Pro Vice Chancellors. A relatively unknown brand, outside West Bengal/Kolkata. I have tried to encourage branding efforts, and now that we are a part of CUET as well, awareness for the brand will grow. A small management department in New Town, but larger depts. like Pharma, Computer Science, Education etc. in Agarpara on the outskirts, and Agriculture even farther at Kalyani.. they need a larger space.

Some great food, and some new friends too... including Ananya Ghosh, a Ph.D. scholar at Xavier University here. And Suhasini Barman, who is known to Manglik, a classmate of mine.. 

Review of the Last Few Months of 2025

 First three or four months of 2025 were spent in retirement- turned out to be a break. Because by end- April, I was back working full time, in a new place. JIS University, Kolkata, a 10- year-old private university. The pluses- an established university, unlike Prestige, my last workplace where I was the Founding VC.

Another plus was that the top management team including the VC and the other Pro VC, was new. So we could view things differently.

Of course, legacy issues were there- a closed loop view of West Bengal for admissions and some of the placements. Affecting diversity and output, to a certain extent. The campuses being spread out also affected coordination at times. 

Some achievements during this period- improving processes, accountability and governance structure within the university. Establishing a structure with new Deans for Research, and Student/alumni interaction, for example, will have a long term impact. Regular discussions on how to improve diversity in admissions have been taking place, with some actionable plans from the team.

A couple of good FDPs and conferences have also happened, across departments. Student participation in placements is looking up, and so is the faculty participation. Ph. D. admissions in most departments have a good demand. Admissions in B.Sc. Agriculture have gone up. Entrepreneurship related events and cultural activities have picked up steam. An MoU with a Malaysian Tech university (APU) has been signed.

The Medical college under JIS University has got permission to run Post Graduate courses recently. The brand is bound to make its presence felt in many ways, beyond the state. 

Quantum Conference Hosted by JIS University

 We hosted a novel QuantumKol conference at the Park starting December 17th. An Oxford University professor who also runs a company related to Quantum Tech was the Chief Guest. 

The Chief Guest's address. Bits vs. Qubits. Physical and Logical.

At the table, with Dr. Mathew, our VC, and Pro Chancellor. Chief Guest also.

Malaysian MoU

 We had a visitor from APU Malaysia.. the Dy. Vice Chancellor. Dr. Murali Raman is of Indian origin too, with roots in Kerala and Tamilnadu. It was great listening to him on possible collaborations for research, and exchange of faculty, students etc.

We signed an MoU, between JIS University and APU. 

Six Monthly Report from Kolkata

 6 Months in JIS University Kolkata.

The weather takes some getting used to. Humid as hell. Ok with a fan, or an AC. The bright side is no dry skin, hair.

Hot also, which means half shirts are OK at work, and t shirts otherwise.

At work, getting into groove with a new team of VC and co-pro VC with me, was not tough. 

Achieved a few milestones. One alumni meet at the Management School, in June 2025. Second one being planned for Bangalore in December. Many cultural events happened at the University, on various occasions. 

Attended a couple of events in Delhi that might help branding efforts over some time. Also one at Hyderabad.

Two events in Delhi..

Preethi Reddy of Malla Reddy group of institutions at a FICCI Seminar in Hyderabad.

Discussed several initiatives to make the university self-driven, with the VC. Includes PLACEMENT EFFORTS, Admission diversity, and Alumni Connect. We are now planning the next Convocation.

Attended some events at Tolly Club with Dash, who is a member. A debate, and a book launch with Aparna Sen in attendance. The book was about her!

Winter is approaching, which is welcome- never thought I would say that!

Quarterly Review- JIS University

 Brand-wise, JIS is restricted to West Bengal and a couple of other states. Scope for wider networking, higher awareness levels, and initiatives in outreach for admission diversity and placement performance improvement.

Strengths are a decent strength of students in Pharma, Computer Science and Law. Agriculture is low, but improving. Management, very low, but has a great location in town, so again it could improve.

We did have the first-ever alumni meet at the management campus, thanks to faculty efforts. Ph.D., MBA and BBA alums turned up, one from Bangalore- she works at Google. Annesha Paul by name. We plan to do a meet in Bangalore as well, for Computer Science and maybe other depts.

Also attended a couple of events at Delhi- one by THE WEEK, where JIS University was recognised as one of the top Eastern Universities. A lot of cultural activities took place on campus, and a big induction program for 2025 at an auditorium in the city.

We launched an online certificate course on Interfaith Dialogue, with some prominent speakers. Skill-ex is a good initiative, requiring entrepreneurial ideas to be showcased each Semester by groups of students. 

A vibrant student community is an asset, but diversity could be better. Faculty diversity is an issue as well. 

Digital Marketing Strategy

 I taught a class (one session) on the subject after a long time. Two authors who I recommend on the subject are Seth Godin and Guy Kawasaki. I used the book e-Marketing by Rob Stokes when I was teaching this as a full course at IIM Indore a few years ago. I also taught a Doctoral Seminar based on Journal papers on this subject. Some pics from the latest outing at Austin Tower campus of JIS University. 

Last pic- looking out from a campus window..

Interfaith Dialogue - An Online Course by JIS University

 We launched this unique Online Program today. Will run from Sept. till Jan 2026, twice a week. Free, online. We had representatives from the Bramho Samaj of Raja Rammohan Roy, ISKCON, Islam, Buddhism, Jainism and Hinduism, apart from Belur Math of Ramakrishna Paramhans, whose disciple Swami Vivekananda was. Pics from the launch event held at Austin Tower campus, New Town-