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MBA at Vagamon
Peter Drucker, the most respected management guru, famously said
“Business has only two functions – innovation and marketing”
DCSMAT, Vagamon delivers an MBA program of Mahatma Gandhi University (popularly called MGU), Kottayam. It is one of the top-ranked universities in India and stands at 31st position. The MBA is a four-semester program. Semesters I and II are dedicated to core or mandatory courses which build your overall managerial competencies. Semesters III and IV are dedicated to electives and a few courses related to the integration of knowledge; e.g., a course on strategy in the IV semester. There is a two-month mandatory internship. Additionally, there is a project in Semester IV.
MGU follows dual specialization; i.e., you need to take four courses in two different specializations. For example, you can take four courses in Marketing and four in HR or four in Marketing and four in Finance and so on. The electives that DCSMAT offers are Finance, HR, Marketing and Operations. Our experience shows that all students opt for Marketing and then take one of the other electives. This enhances their job opportunity because companies look for marketing competencies in all employees. Even if you are having a job in finance or operations, if you cannot market the products or services of your company, you are of very little value to the company. That is why all students take marketing as one of their electives or specialization.
For more details, you can get a copy of the MBA syllabus of MGU from Here.
Affiliated versus autonomous colleges debate has been going on for a long time. Affiliated colleges have a lot of benefits for students. For example, it follows the university regulations, keeps the standards, treats students as per the university norms and delivers a program with courses that enhance your depth. Such colleges are fair and transparent. The autonomous college degree is also provided by a university. So what is the difference?
When doing an MBA program the question that one should ask is not whether college is autonomous or not. The right question is whether the school is fully residential or has only a hostel. If fully residential, like DCSMAT Vagamon, then the students, faculty, staff and all learning and leisure resources live on the campus like a gurukul and you can benefit from these well beyond the formal college hours. So, fully residential programs like the IIM programs or DCSMAT program is far ahead of a program with only a hostel facility.
A fully residential program is a crucible for leadership development. You live and work with people unlike you, you make teams and groups, you overcome your inhibitions, you have squabbles and negotiations, you participate in club activities and grow, your conversation becomes professional, you take part in self-development activities well beyond the formal college hours, you take mentorship from the faculty at any time and more importantly…. you spend more quality time with the faculty of your choice to take input from them and grow. You can get none of these if you are a day scholar or even if you are in a college with just a hostel.
The fully residential program of Vagamon has some unique features. First, you live in a moderate climate and in a place which is pollution-free. The temperature, ambience and the oxygen supply fatigue and increase your productive working hours. The classrooms are open and airy because you don’t need to get enclosed in an air-conditioned facility. It is easy to reach the college location, a scenic place, with just a 12 km hill road from Moolamattom.
The MBA campus with its Harvard steps, Harvard-style theatre classrooms, and spacious walkways and safe passages to the residence make you feel as if you are in school in a foreign country. There are no crowded buses you have to take to reach the college, or bikes on the campus, and it is serene and peaceful with plenty of spaces to hang out, 3 different types of food caters, a shopping centre, laundry, hangout space; all located within the campus.
The excellent food quality, unlimited laundry facility and very good internet services help you overcome small hassles in life. The campus has considerable freedom and no unnecessary restrictions for you to grow up as a mature professional. It is one of the most student-friendly campus – no ragging, no sexual harassment and everyone here is equal and friendly right from the top person here.
The school has a reputation for helping a student develop self-confidence, plenty of extracurricular activities, and a reputation for getting good placements and university ranks alike. Its MBA results are excellent (92% pass against the university average of about 75%). We do not compromise one for the other.
And most importantly, it is an integrated campus with BCA, B.A Visual Arts, B.Com and BBA besides B.Arch. So, you can develop your creative and technological talent unlike any other MBA campus. If innovation and marketing are the only two functions of management, as Peter Drucker stated, enhance your creativity and innovation at Vagamon.
The Student Ownership Program (SOP) of Vagamon with a scientific log is unmatched; because there is no place where you can get mentoring using strong input from psychometric tests. Here development is not ‘one size fits all’. It is customized to leverage your strengths. When you come to Vagamon, forget your weaknesses, we will build on your rock-solid strengths identified through reflection and psychometric tools.
The evening presentations and midnight presentations of Vagamon is remembered by all our alumni as tools that enhanced their self-confidence and removed their stage fear and put them on the path to corporate success.
We focus on placements and we are passionate about enabling you to enter a good first job that fits you well within the market realities. Our multiple interventions have a singular aim – placements.
Read our T-shaped professional model and interventions for more details.
T-shaped professional model (to know more visit our value-added courses) is designed to enhance learner success. There are 15 interventions for learner success. It starts with creating a hexagonal model of the purpose statement. The horizontal portion addresses the generic competencies that you will use all your life, no matter which career, which sector or which job role. The vertical portion focuses on the technical competencies that deepen your knowledge in areas where you plan to pursue your career.
How to Take Admission in this Lovely Campus
Our admission staff at Kottayam or Trivandrum will help you with admission in Vagamon. But we strongly suggest you visit us at Vagamon, see our place, see our facilities, interact with our faculty, principal and director, go for familiarization with our hostel warden, try our food, understand us, fall in love with this place and then make a decision.
No matter whether you come to the campus or take admission only after going through our website or recommendations, be sure that you want to work hard and focus on self-development, learning through leisure and fun, career and academics. This place is for those who want all four and most certainly not for a person who has a casual approach to life. This is an MBA+ place.
Your admission process usually will have the following stages:
- An informal interaction with the faculty in charge of admission.
- A written test on your purpose in life.
- An extempore speech and GD.
- Psychometric test on computer.
- Personal Interview Level 1 with a faculty.
- Personal Interview Level 2 with the Principal and/or the Director.
- Your feedback on the admission process which we value so much.
Contact:
Dr. Baiju Samuel, our faculty coordinator, admission @ Vagamon – 80860 12392 or admission office at Kottayam or Trivandrum.
DC SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT AND TECHNOLOGY, VAGAMON
This input is for information only and not a legally binding document
If I tell you that I will give you Rs. 100 today or at the end of one year, what will you prefer? Of course now. This is because expect the value of money to decrease in one year and you can do something with the money you get now. If you understand this logic, you will find that if I can get a loan today for my education, I can invest the money I have somewhere else and use the loan for my studies. As time passes, the value of the loan decreases and your salary increases. So servicing a loan is not a problem. In fact taking a loan is desirable.
To take a loan approach your nearest bank of SBI, Canara Bank, Bank of Baroda, and Bank of Maharastra etc. They handle education loans at competitive rates of interest. You need to have your Aadhar and PAN card. If you don’t have please apply and get it right now. If you are a minor (less than 18) there might be some problem, but this is not likely to be relevant for an MBA though it might be relevant for UG programs.
CIBIL Score. There is something called CIBIL score. You can search at https://www.cibil.com/freecibilscore. From this site, you can get free CIBIL score once a calendar year and paid one as often as you want. If your CIBIL score and your parents are not strong, there could be problems with a loan.
Education loan upto Rs. 4 lakhs does not need any guarantor though most banks will insist on one and this has to be your father or mother, whoever has better finances in a bank. Loans up to 7 lakhs need a guarantor and those above 7 lakhs need a property mortgage. Some banks ask for property mortgages even when the amount is less than 7 lakhs. This is a way of being very sure.
There is a portal called Vidya Lakshmi portal for applying for loans https://www.vidyalakshmi.co.in/Students/ Some banks insist that you apply through the portal but some don’t press for it too much. It is a good idea to fill the portal so that there is evidence of your applying for a loan.
You can process the loan at the earliest but the bank will look for the degree certificate before final processing. Ensure that you take the fee structure, AICTE approval letter of the college when you go for a loan. You can get this easily from the college accounts office.
When you take a loan, there will usually a gap between the actual amount to be paid as fees and actual amount of loan sanction. For example, you get a loan of Rs. 1 lakh but the fees is Rs. 1.5 lakhs, then you have to usually deposit Rs. 50,000 in the bank and then the bank will give a cheque to the college.
Loan approval and loan disbursal. Loan approval means you get the loan sanction but disbursal means the bank give the money to you or the college. Most banks give money only to the college. So, you can get the loan approved even if you don’t want it and actually get it disbursed only if you need. We had cases where the student’s father was well off and working while joining the program but got some major illness such as stroke after one year or so. Then it became difficult to raise the money. When you run around for the loan at this stage, it is difficult to manage because you would have used up a lot of savings for the sickness. But it the loan is sanctioned, but not disbursed, you can avail it when you need. It is an important feature one should know.
We strongly encourage everyone to take a loan and study.
The views expressed in this note is purely for consideration and students and parents should make their own decisions.
FOR THE ADMISSION TO 2022-24 BATCH
Tibetans – 3 full fee waiver scholarship of 3.98 lakhs (No tuition fee but will pay the cost of accommodation, food and other items amounting to approximately Rs 3 lakhs over 2 years)
Manipur. For the economically challenged or displaced from Manipur or displaced in Manipur. 3 full tuition fee waiver scholarhsips of 3.98 Lakhs (No tuition fee but will pay the cost of accommodation, food and other items amounting to approximately Rs 3 lakhs over 2 years.
Children of Men in uniform serving or retired personnel below officer rank from any uniformed service including those from Indo-Tibetan Border Police or those in service from Manipur.
- 3 full tuition fee waiver (3 full tuition fee waiver scholarships of 3.98 Lakhs (No tuition fee but will pay the cost of accommodation, food and other items amounting to approximately Rs 3 lakhs over 2 years.
- 5 x 50% tuition fee waiver (1.99 laksh waiver but will pay the cost of accommodation, food and other items amounting to approximately Rs 3 lakhs over 2 years). Equivalency to OR will be decided by DCSMAT. Identity card proof will be required.
Principal’s Scholarship – specific to those who are recommended by the principal of the college they are studying or studied for their undergraduate studies. Should have scored 75% in X, 65 in XII and 60% in graduation (to be awarded after the final result of the UG programs is announced).
- 4xfull tuition fee waiver.
- 2×50% tuition fee waiver.
- 5×25% tuition fee waiver.
Children from those who have extreme economic need – Cost of residence (hostel fee) waiver. No specific No but the genuine cases will be verified before allocation of the scholarship. This scholarship may be combined with other scholarships. The number may be 5 to 6.
Competency Enhancement scholarship for training and qualifying in Microsoft Certified Excel Expert on’ pay, pass, reclaim’ basis. The purpose of this scholarship is to encourage maximum students to qualify as Microsoft Certified Excel Expert. Available for 100% students. Students have to make a deposit of Rs. 5000, undergo the training arranged by the school, get certified and get the money back. The school will absorb the cost of training as scholarship.
Conditions. All scholarships will be awarded only after joining the program. Where there are more applicants than the No of scholarships in a category, the awardees will be selected through a competitive examination which will have cut off marks of 75% for X, 65% for XII and 60% for the concerned undergraduate program combined with the marks scored in a competitive examination conducted by the DCSMAT, Vagamon.
There are a number of focused Value Added Course which you can undertake when you do your MBA at Vagamon. These are carefully planned to enhance your job-winning capability. In fact they address the interventions that make the T-shaped Professional Model a reality.
DCSMAT has adopted the T-shaped professional model to prepare a student for a corporate career. The horizontal part T is intended to prepare you as a professional who has the generic competencies to become a leader. Value-added courses 1 to 5 below and core courses of the MBA programs address this. The vertical part of T has interventions that are focused on winning the first job and includes the elective courses of MBA, internships and projects, and Value-added course 6 which is largely self-driven.
When I came to Vagamon, I was clear that I want to change and make a difference in the world. But I was also concerned and a little skeptical. What is in store for me? As I approach the last semester, my recollections are superbly positive. I am Arun from MBA 22 and the Head of Placement coordination for MBA @ Vagamon.
I came when the rains were on. I was a little concerned of not only the rain but also new residential life. Will it be fun? Will it be all work? Will there be ragging known in many colleges?
My junior batch interestingly were welcomed with flowers by us, shown around by us. MBA 22 led that transformation. The large DCSMAT’s orange coloured umbrellas given as a welcome kit, was more than a match to the rain here. We felt cozy under it.
After the preliminary documentation and settling down, we were off to see Vagamon – the pine forest, the bald hill (Mottakunnu), tea factory and I understand the in 2024, you will walk on the glass bridge too. In the induction program, I paddled a Kayak for the first time, did clay modelling for the first time, and had lots of fun and games and many value-added sessions such as time management and study skills. I wish I knew these things earlier.
A few students trickled in later. Since I had completed my UG program earlier and worked, I landed in time to enjoy and learn. It is prudent to join Vagamon on time. This place is very meticulous. They will start the first batch on 10 June 24, I hear.
Then came the Outbound Leadership Lab (OLL), the pet leadership crucible of DC, college. Oh! I forgot DCSMAT, Vagamon is better known as DC College. Even the KSRTC buses that pass by, call us DC College . I was glancing through the new format of OLL. An extensive reflection diary based on Kolb’s learning theory which Prof. Jayan and team has created. We did outbound training. This has changed colour with the reflection diary from this year. We have an external trainer on Day 1 and two internal trainers on Day 2. Expectedly, the feedback of our top internal trainers outclass that of the external trainer. Outdoor games, competitions, indoor domino-based games and things that you would have never seen before is lined up at the OLL.
Once we settled, we had our academics. Don’t get late to the class, don’t miss classes was the constant talk from the faculty. Get up on time, be on time are other words that you will hear often. I don’t know about you, but I loved this new rigour in comparison to the lazy schedules elsewhere. Classes were very educative. Everything you hear will be new – customer orientation, customer is the king, stakeholders, value creation, profit, ethics, sustainability, corporate orientation and what more! Hold on, these will transform you.
As I began to settle down, the clubs of DC came alive. Nine clubs called the Navarathnas are very competitive. You have to bid for it and face a tough selection to get in. The clubs are a way of life here, very well knit together, strongly supported by the alumni (alumni who were in the same club before) which is unheard of in other places, events after events and big ones at that. As seniors you organize, but do not participate in the activities. The juniors participate and compete. I wondered why this stuff and thought it a non-sense. Then someone explained to me that the seniors are the service provides and the juniors are the clients or customers. A good thing. Customer is indeed the king here. The clubs have all kinds of fancy names, often kinky, and even fancier events such as Halloween which I had never heard of. You can be in only one club. So, select your club, drop your shyness and introversion and have a good time. You will hear that Vagamon is all clubs. Don’t believe it.
The classes came systematic. You might hear that Vagamon is fun. Yes, but classes are very serious and academics very professional. Management cases after management cases, corporate talks after corporate talks, business talk in the air, competion spirit mixed with the misty Vagamon made life worth living here. And come think of it, our batch recorded 92 percent pass against 75 percent of the university and two of my senior batch girls came out as rank holders. I used to think that the girls are book worms and so they get ranks. But not these ones. One of them was the core coordinators of Luminance, our Marque management fest. Born to win! I thought.
The days are filled with classes and planning and nights are spruced with presentations. I thought I will tire out but the Vagamon’s climate and the ambience of the college make it easy to take on these tasks which are impossible in college in the plains. Before I forget, if you ever come to Vagamon as a visitor, don’t forget to visit the sprawling library with its doors open till 9.30 p.m. which everyone will remember. Newspaper reading sessions, electronic search of research journals are all part of life here.
The SOPs mean a lot. These are dedicated professors who guide us through day and night. The talk here is that SOPs are night owls who start working once the sun sets. No regrets. They are here to help us grow. Sometime in the middle of my first year the school started new initiatives. Sprucing up the hostels, bain-marie in the canteen for hot food, conversion of the traditional class rooms into Harvard-style theatre class rooms, additional lift, new focus on Microsoft Excel Expert certification, Power BI certification, Johari Window, psychometric tools, pushing us on GD, PI and aptitude tests, individual one of one mock interview with real corporate guys sitting across you and quizzing, breakfast with a CEO or CXO, learning the nuances of fine dining in Holiday Inn, Kochi a 5-star hotel; all began to emerge. Don’t ask what for these? Here everyone will tell you that you must broaden your horizon and become leader.
As I thought things are settling down, up came the new drive to make a placement brochure to promote career in the corporate. Meticulous in writing without a single spelling mistake and matching photograph, is what is expected. As a coordinator of the placement, I and my team began to burn the midnight oil to fine tuning the brochure. The bosses here will sit you no matter how late. That’s difference. Get the juniors to do it for their internship brochure was the next one. Here continuous improvement is really continuous. As I was settling, the new initiative came, the T-shaped professional model with continuous talk of generic competencies and technical competencies that corporate value. For many of my MBA peers from other schools, these terms would be new, but here these are commonplace terms used in the relentless pursuit for our grooming to be leaders.
I can go on. As I bid adieu to my story, let me leave a piece of advice for you. If you want to sham and sleep, don’t come here. If you want to work and grow…and grow, don’t go anywhere else.
– By Arun Joy
