by Mr. Conrad Saldanha
KURLA-MUMBAI, MARCH 13, 2014: Dr. Sunder Kekre, Bosch Professor of Operations Management and Director, PNC Centre for Financial Services Innovation (Carnegie Mellon – Tepper School 
Dr. Kekre mentioned that Carnegie Mellon University was the result of the coming together of the Carnegie wing of Technology/Engineering with the Business wing of Mellon. And interestingly today, industry is demanding that students of engineering are also astute in Business. In fact the new Business School which is being built showcases the various technologies in its environs indicating that students need to know about technology and understand business.
Dr. Kekre also shared his experience of being the head of the PNC Centre for Financial Services Innovation where students work with real time data. The companies see the utility of the output generated in terms of insights and are therefore willing to part with real time data. Dr. Kekre mentioned that throughout the Semester the students need to spend at least 2 hours every week on a live project in a Company. This involves conceptualising and implementation. There is an Executive from the client side and a Faculty member overseeing the team of students. This initiative too has been very successful.
Dr. Kekre explained that there will be different levels of students in terms of intelligence and capacity to understand. It is not necessary that only the very bright students succeed. It is usually the students who are able to play as team members who succeed. And therefore he has seen that group or collaborative learning helps the weaker students. The groups always consist of a healthy mix of intelligent and not so intelligent students. Dr. Kekre emphasized the need for an orientation of two weeks before the Semester starts. It is during this period that bonding with and understanding of one another takes place. He has seen the positive effects of this exercise where team effort is concerned. If students vibe with one another work gets done much faster.
Fr. Adolph Furtado, Rector (DBCL) thanked Dr. Kekre for taking the time inspite of his busy schedule to come and visit DBCL. Dr. Kekre was very impressed by the facilities available at DBCL and promised that the next time he would be here he would definitely come and spend some more time with us.