Manju Nichani is the Principal of K. C. College, as well as Director of K. C. College of Management Studies and the Secretary of Hyderabad Sind National Collegiate (HSNC) Board which runs 29 institutions in and around Mumbai and Ulhasnagar.

How long have you been associated with K. C. College?
I have been associated with K. C. College as a teacher for 32 years and as a student from 1969; so almost 39 years. It's been a long journey.

How did you evolve from a teacher to a Principal?
I began in 1976 as a Junior College teacher. In 1979 I was appointed Head of the Junior College. Thus I entered the administrative field at a very young age. I joined Degree College in 1979 and in 1981 I became the Head of the Department. In March 1993 I became the Vice Principal. In 2000 I became the Principal. In 2005 I became the Director. Finally in 2006 I became the Secretary of the Board.

Which were the subjects you taught and do you currently teach?
Yes, I still teach. I am a sociologist and my emphasis has always been on gender. I teach a paper on gender & society. I also conduct lectures on leadership, time-management and motivation for the Management students. In college I concentrate on Sociology.

K. C. College has various faculties such as Commerce, Arts and Science. What other courses do you offer?
We offer BMM, BSc-IT, BSc-Computer Science, BSc-Biotechnology, BCom in Accounts and Finance, BCom in Banking and Insurance; and this year we are going to start BCom in Financial Markets

KCCMS (K. C. College of Management Studies): Tell us more about this. Whose brain child is this?
It started as Bombay College of Journalism because at that time there were no colleges of Journalism per say. Accordingly, anyone who studied English literature became a journalist. Wanting to rectify this situation as well as optimally utilize the prime locality of the K. C. College building, Mr. K. M. Kundnani, the founder-secretary and the Principal of K. C. College, started the Bombay College of Journalism in 1964. He then realized there were many evening courses which he could conduct. They began with HRM (Human Resource Management) and Business Management until they were offering about 16 courses. A few years back the need for full professional courses arose so we began offering the 2-year full-time course. These are Diploma courses conducted at K. C. College from 6:30pm to 8:00pm. They are not affiliated with Mumbai University.

Under the current banner of KCCMS what are the subjects being offered?
We offer courses in Hospital Administration; Human Resource Development; Advertising and Public Relations; Advertising and Sales Management, We teach Hindi, English, and Marathi Journalism. We teach Medical Transcription as well as Financial Management. For students having passed 12th Grade we offer Travel and Tourism; Hotel Management; Export and Import; Retail Management. All other courses are for graduates.The Management programmes are 3-Year Degree courses applicable after 12th Grade; We are affiliated to the Mumbai University.

What, according to you, is the importance of Management Education in today's scenario of globalization?
The goal of Management Education is to prepare students to accept challenges; prepare them with soft skills; prepare them to accept change. Theory is an important part of that. Industrial visits & seminars are important aspects too! I find most problems arise due to stress when people cannot cope; time management becomes an issue. But more than anything else I think that true management is when you create balance between IQ, EQ, and SQ. Unless these three components are balanced you cannot manage anything

Can you elaborate on EQ and SQ?
EQ is Emotional Quotient and SQ is Spiritual Quotient. Some amount of spirituality and emotional well-being has to be infused into all education systems. I feel the most unfortunate circumstance of our time is that we are cut off from God and we think that we are the ones in charge. But there is a greater force in charge beyond us.I do not say that religion is blind devotion to scriptures. I say that religion is acceptance. Unless you do not walk the way of acceptance, you are leaving yourself to be a victim of constant frustration. I think that this quality of acceptance is the greatest need of management today; and which all management gurus continue to advocate. Today Yoga is being introduced as a main component of business development. Yoga is simply a method to put your mind and body at peace; a balance between mind, body and soul. When I give a lecture on leadership, I always emphasize the importance of 'WE'. A leader is not one who has followers; a leader is one who takes people with them. Today a boss will tell you “please address me by my first name”. The whole trend of management is changing. I also feel that communication skills and presentation play an equally important role.

What role do you think IT plays in Management? How do you integrate it into the course?
Knowledge of IT is invaluable because otherwise you are an illiterate. We do not discuss IT as an important component because its application is taken for granted. Today even my peon knows about general computer usage.

You are also involved with the HSNC - Hyderabad (Sind) National Collegiate Board. Which are the other affiliated colleges?
We run 29 institutions including the K. M. Kundani College of Pharmacy. It is an accredited college; perhaps one of the few pharmacy colleges which has been accredited. We have the Bombay Teachers Training College offering a BA, BEd; Early Childhood Learning which is also an A-Grade accredited college. We have K. C. College, HR College, K. C. Law College. In Worli, we have Watumull Engineering College. We have a huge campus in Bandra where we run National College, MMK College, Thadomal Shahani Engineering College- one of the best engineering colleges and GJ Advani College of Law. Furthermore we felt that since Sindhis were a refugee community and most of them were settled in Ulhasnagar, we thought the best way to serve the community would be to develop facilities in Ulhasnagar. We have 16 acres of land there and one of the largest colleges affiliated with the University Mumbai, CHM College, which is our flagship college for Ulhasnagar. We started 3 more institutions three years ago because we felt that we did not have professional colleges. Thus we started the full-fledged management college, Mansukhani Management College. We started the full-fledged pharmacy college, Dr. LH Hiranandani Pharmacy College; and Nari Gurshahani Law College. We also offer a Diploma of Engineering from IT College.

Which are the faculties they normally specialize in?
Most of the Mauritius students I have seen have focussed on Psychology; I do not know the reason but most concentrate on Psychology in their final year. The students from Dubai mostly did Commerce and now they are concentrating on Media. They are inclined towards Bachelor of Mass Media or similar options.

Which are the subjects according to you that are going to be the emerging fields for the future?
From the graduation point of view I feel the course which has maximum demand is Media. Overall it is BMS. Last year we saw a trend where BCom in Finance and Accounts received much interest. When it was first introduced, there was an unusual demand for Computer Science, which we feel is not as useful today. IT however has picked up. IT used to be in high demand and then two years ago we found IT was losing its popularity; but last year again it received an amazing response. The demand is huge for Biotechnology also. I however do not see many job prospects in India for Biotechnology.

What are the future plans as far as K. C. College and KCCMS are concerned?
We would like to go international. We want to have tie-ups with major universities. At the moment we have a tie-up with Deakin University, Australia. Some of our colleges have summer programmes where our students go to UC Berkeley for internships; they even take up two modules there and study. We have exchange programmes where our teachers go and teach in America; we have a tie-up with Georgia; we have a tie-up with Union College; we have a tie-up with New Jersey Institute of Technology. We have been working on international collaborations since 1994-95, long before it became the norm.

Do you see many students looking for higher education abroad?
There was a time when NJIT (New Jersey’s Science and Technology University) was extremely popular. People were going there for an MS after they did their BCom here. We participated in a bridge course with them; they gave credits for what the students did here and in two semesters they were earning an MS degree. After 9/11 however they stopped issuing visas In the meantime, other options have become available which also encouraging people to explore higher education opportunities in Australia, New Zealand and U. K.

What are your current responsibilities as a Principal and as a Director?
I work for literally 18 hours a day. I believe a lot in delegation. I believe a good executive is one who executes well. I only see whether the tasks I have given have been accomplished by the end of the day. My responsibilities as Principal are to run the entire administration; strengthening academics; and achieving good results. And I must say that I have been doing all three fairly well because 99% of our results are rank holders. We get very few failures. I also believe that unless you develop infrastructure and maintain a suitable environment for learning, people are not willing to join your institution. Accordingly I have updated the auditorium and made sure all classrooms are state-of-the-art and stocked with the required facilities.I always encourage development and evolution of the curriculum. In fact, since the beginning of my tenure as Principal of K. C. College in 2000 I have started a new course almost every year. I started BMM in 2000; IT in 2001; Biotechnology in 2002; BHM in 2004; BAF; BBI; MSc IT; ME Hindi and so on. My primary focus is effective space and time management because we have one building and I want to utilize it to the utmost.As Secretary of the Board my duty is to 50000 plus students and the entire administration and faculty. It is a huge responsibility. All appointments of teachers and principals are organized by the Board. I sit for every interview. I am present for every meeting. In such large organizations, there will inevitably be issues. I try to understand the underlying causes of these issues and dedicate myself to seek out for an optimum solution.

Do you observe that with the current distractions people have the focus of students is lacking?
We do find that especially with the Arts and Commerce students because their lectures get over in the morning and they are looking for job opportunities thereafter. I feel “Earn While You Learn” is a good philosophy. It develops their confidence and broadens their perspective of the world. It can however have a negative impact if the value of the money earned is not appreciated. The current value system has been deteriorated and diluted to a very large extent. That is a major cause of my concern. I feel that parents are partly responsible for this. Parents have become so entrenched in the non-confrontational approach that key values and social responsibilities are not being addressed. There is also the comparison of children; whether jokingly or casually, I believe that this act does more harm than good. My personal feeling is that this has to change.

What according to you are the attributes of being a good teacher?
A good teacher is one who does not buy respect, but gets respect. This only occurs if you prepare yourself well and cultivate admiration amongst your students. I have always said that character is not taught; it is caught. I think the greatest need in India today is men and women of character, which we are lacking in a significant way. The greatest attribute of a teacher is that they themselves are disciplined and maintain objectivity. There should not be partiality. Students are most bothered when they see a teacher acting discriminately towards others. My personal feeling is that teachers should be pleasant and, more importantly, approachable. A smiling face and understanding outlook can work wonders. Being tough when required is also essential for proper balance. I also think that a teacher should be a good communicator. You have had many students from your college who have been achievers. Tell us about some of them.Anil Ambani is a big name that K. C. College can boast of. I need not tell you of his achievements. We can also boast of Rajesh Khanna and well known film director John Matthews. There is also Jalal Dhani of Asian Paints. Sachin Kalbag did very well with Mid-Day. You find our students in positions of leadership throughout the world. I can continue with the list- it is endless indeed & we churn out many achievers with every passing year.

On your personal side, how do you spend your free time?
I must tell you that my biggest attachment in life has been the Sadhu Vaswani Mission. I am closely associated with them. I am the Secretary of the Sadhu Vaswani Mission, Mumbai. Our latest contribution has been starting a school in Sanpada, Navi Mumbai; which is a huge project. I am a focussed, goal-oriented person. My focus is such that if you tell me to start an institution, I will do that. My greatest strength were my parents. Unfortunately they are no more. Both were not educated; they were refugees. I think because my father was not educated, he had this great capacity to appreciate whatever I did. He was a great confidence builder for me. He doted on me and thought whatever I said was the ultimate. As I look back, if somebody had stopped me at that level saying “girls do not do this” and “girls do not do that”, I may not have got that confidence. Instead, he proudly encouraged me.My mother was very determined and very resourceful. She had a 'never say die' attitude. Without being formally educated. She also had a great sense of accounts. She was a good economist. She would calculate interest on lakhs of rupees that too without touching a calculator. When it comes to overseeing the finance of the Board, of the College, of KCCMS, I have been endowed with a great acumen for understanding, not accounts, but money & finance in particular.

What is your long-term vision for yourself and your College?
My vision is that we consolidate all that we have as institutions and make them world-class. I have never believed in having more institutions; I have believed in having quality institutions. Our colleges are doing extremely well. I want to now shift my focus from the colleges to the schools. We are working on it. I want to develop some good schools in Ulhasnagar. I think real education begins in school. Those first few years of your life are plastic and I want to instil that idealism and value-base. My view of idealism however is not based on religion. I feel that people must have ambition. They must make money. You cannot kill basic desires, so let them be there. But within them, maintain idealism, honesty and integrity. Apply your best efforts and learn to say 'never mind'. I have always felt that frustration should not be present. Why do people commit suicide? Because they have not learned to say 'never mind'. Parents must teach their children to be ambitious and strive for success; but after all that, if you don't succeed at any stage, learn to say 'never mind'. Allowing yourself this concession is the most important quality. My great mission is to inculcate this in today's youth, so that they will be very balanced and happy. I am keen on creating happy human beings.

Lastly, what is your message to our readers?
I will only say that wherever you are or where ever you may go, do not forget that you are an Indian. You are in a country which has a rich culture. Be an international citizen; but have Indian ideals. Pass them on. Let the world know about India. It is a great country.

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