Bridgit Hartland Johnson, a graduate from Birmingham University, UK with about 2 decades of experience with organizations like Areva and Schneider and is currently Managing Director of Energie Dynamique, conducted a seminar at First India School of Business on Sept 29, 2011 on ‘The emerging Renewable Energy scenario’.  

Ms. Johnson informed the students that India has potential to the tune of 600 GW in Solar and 48 GW in Wind Energy. The solar energy may be both in the utility power as well as a off-grid option. She also discussed that Solar PV was the fasted growing technology with 60% annual growth. It is also likely to attain grid and coal parity in tariffs during 2020-30. Wind power is presently the largest (70%) of the green powers in India. Small Hydro is significant in the form of decentralized power, where other energy sources are absent, whereas ocean energy, Bio fuels and bio mass are some other alternatives. Excess power from mobile phone stations can provide power to rural communities.

Describing the technical challenges, she discussed the solar and wind power fluctuations resulting in damage to equipment and difficulty in forecasting peaks different from load peaks. She also described Micro Grids and Smart Grids which offer a way to integrate and utilise renewable energy more effectively.

According to Ms. Johnson, among the challenges for Renewable energy is that the cost for Construction and Operation compared to Thermal Generation are high. Some of the commercial solutions to the challenges are Renewable Obligations (ROs), Feed in Tariff (FIT), Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs), Generation Based Tariff (GBT) and Net Metering.

The seminar by Ms. Johnson generated a lot of questions from and interest among the MBA students of First India School of Business in the area of Renewable energy. 

 The annual event of the First India school of Business- FISBI Fun 2011 events concluded with the Prize Distribution ceremony on Sept 23, 2011. In the preceding days the organising committee of FISBI Fun 2011 organized competitions Chess, Carrom, Table Tennis, Billiards Pool, Badminton, and other events like Business Plan Competition, Ad-mad show, Speech Competition, Debate, Poster making competition where there was a huge participation from the students. The concluding event also included cultural events by the students. The chief guest for the occasion was Mr. Rajesh Berry, former Chairman, Punjab State Services selection Board and Haryana Medical education Board & member, Board of First India School of Business. The prize winners were awarded with the trophies and certificates by the chief guest and guest of honour Dr. M. S. Gulati. Mr. Berry promised all help to the students for their initiatives. According to Chandan Gupta, student MBA 2011-13 and member of the Organising Committee, the tradition of FISBI Fun will be an annual event. Mr. RK Mandan, member of the faculty, FISB encouraged the students to keep high level of interest in extra-curricular activities where key management lessons will be learnt.

 A workshop was organised at First India School of Business on behalf of Security and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) through its trainer Mr. Mukul Jain on Sept 15, 2011.  The workshop for the first year students was targeted at enhancing the knowledge of the students in the area of investment, working of share markets, portfolio management, financial intelligence and global connected nature of financial markets.

A group of 45 MBA students visited Maruti Suzuki Limited factory at Gurgaon, on March 12, 2011. The students were welcomed by Mr. VK. Mahotra, Manager (PRT) and shown around the different parts of the plant. They were also taken through a presentation on the philosophy, care values and manufacturing technology at the company. The day long trip focused on Total Quality management, Operations management and lean manufacturing technology based on the Suzuki’s celebrated principles. Managers from the company responded to student queries. Of particular interest were the assembly lines manufacturing different models of the Maruti’s popular brands.

First India School of Business rated among the top 10 most promising B-Schools in India: First India School of Business has been named among the ten most promising Business schools in the country for leading magazine “Business and Management Chronicle” in their February 2011 edition. In their cover story on Business schools, they have recognized the efforts of the institute in the area of excellence in academics, industry integrated course and providing affordable education.

(An Interview with Kamlesh Vyas, Director, First India School of Business)

First India has been in the news in the Delhi NCR for a very different approach to MBA Education. International Management Association (IMA) reporter caught up with Mr. Kamlesh Vyas, Director of the institute on March 2, 2011.

PS: Why the big hype around First India School of Business? Aren‘t you one of the 3000 Business-Schools in the country?
KV: (Laughs) we are. Unfortunately, there is very little school in the Business-schools, its just business. 
PS: But why the big uproar about your B-school? Is it part of your marketing campaign? 
KV: I wish we could afford such media campaign. See, today when you talk to a student or a parent they talk about high fee in B-schools and lack of satisfactory placement after the course. We have challenged both these aspects. First India School of Business charges little fee- Rs. 3.5 Lakhs to be precise - and provide paid internships immediately on admission and continues that throughout the MBA. 
PS: What about extra fee to be paid under other heads. 
KV: Nothing. 
PS: But other B-schools provide free laptop, foreign tour etc. 
KV: Our fee includes free laptop and a free foreign tour to London where the students go through a module with our partner institute London School of Management. They also get a certificate from LSM. 
PS: The London module is for global exposure. 
KV: It is. Also, our international faculty members like Stephanie Evans, Shelli Koffman, Bridgit Hartland, Eric Lane, Kuniya Matsumoto, David Bloss & Jodie McPhillips do a series of workshops at the institute. 
PS: Wow--- 3.5 lakhs is the total fee including the laptop and the London module. 
KV: Yes, the London module is optional- if the students don‘t take it, the fee is reduced by 70,000. Then it is only 2.8 Lakhs. 
PS: How do you manage in 2.8 lakhs, surely the quality of faculty---? 
KV: (Interrupts) All our faculty members are from IIMs, XLRI and MDI- leading business schools in the country. This practice we started from the very first year. 
PS: Unbelievable, so how do you manage all this? KV: My institute believes that the B-school needs to focus more on quality teaching, industry exposure and global mindset. So while we have AC class rooms, seminar rooms, library, Wi-Fi facility, cafeteria etc, the focus is on building global leaders through robust academics, personality development and corporate and international exposure. 
PS: Let‘s talk about the industry exposure, you claim that you put the students in companies in 3-4 months--- (Smiles) we don‘t claim, we just do it. Our first batch students are already undertaking internships in different companies. 
PS: What kind of companies? 
KV: Different kinds - Bharti Retail Pvt Ltd, United Colors of Benetton, Amada India, Electro spark, Retail ware, Value on shore, Digit/CTO Forum (9 Dot 9 Media works), RMS among others. 
PS: How will the students manage internships along with their academics during the 2-years of MBA?

KV: Our effort is to ensure that each student has 6-8 months of corporate exposure out of the 2 years of the course, so that he is ready for employment with good experience on completion of MBA. He will also earn some stipend which reduces his effective fee. 
PS: How can I get admission to your institute? 
KV: (laughs) For that we will have to reverse our roles and I will have to interview you. 
PS: Are there any other courses at First India School of Business? 
KV: Yes, the 3 years BBA and the executive MBA for the working professionals. 
PS: How do you react to the attention you are getting is justified. 
KV: (Gets serious) please see that we are only trying to do our part- its media people like you and our students and their parents that talk about us to everyone. I am happy that I am part of this revolution in bringing quality management education to our middle class at affordable fee. 
PS: But your experience is from the corporate 
KV: Post my B tech from DCE, Delhi, PG course from Staffordshire University, UK and MBA from XLRI, Jamshedpur, I have about 17 years of corporate experience in different countries. My corporate employments were with Arthur Andersen, Ernst & Young (E&Y), and Watson Wyatt In consulting.
PS: So what made you join First India School of Business? 
KV: I was moved by the First India School of Business Board. The board which comprises of IIM-XLRI alumni, MDs, former Governors, entrepreneurs is making honest efforts to change management education in India and they have a noble vision. 
PS: And what is the vision? 
KV: Creating 1 million employable people by 2030. 
PS: So making people employable is the first priority at First India School of Business. 
KV: It is.We focus a lot on English and communication skills training. We have a programme from English Channel which all the students who need special English coaching go through. But, I will say that we have an equal focus on inculcating entrepreneurial skills among our students. In the words of our Chairman, Mr. Kohli, who is a former governor, "We want to create job givers". 
PS: How do you do that? 
KV: We are doing several things. We organize Business Plan contest- Mr. Atul Gopal; CEO of Bulls Eye is the mentor to our students in entrepreneurship and conducts sessions regularly. Our students have participated in the Economic Times Business Plan contest. Our aim to ensure that each of our students is running a business entrepreneurially by the time he completes the MBA course. Then he can decide between entrepreneurship and ‘job with entrepreneurial orientation‘.Four businesses are in different stages of being launched by our students as on January 1, 2010. By next year, there will be 35 such businesses. 
PS: What are some of the other initiatives at First India School of Business? 
KV: We are planning an exchange programme with Estonian Business School in Europe and another one with a Business school in the US. We will soon be admitting international students to our courses. We are also planning courses from US and UK universities where a large part of the education is done in India and only the last leg in those countries, thereby reducing the cost significantly with the same benefits.

PS: Mr. Kamlesh Vyas, Director First India School of Business, It was a pleasure talking to you. I wish you success in your endeavor to serve the needs of management education for India‘s middle class. I now understand why there is so much talk about First India School of Business. Thank you. 

(Priya Singh, IMA Reporter)

 The management students had an action filled 2-day Management festival in Gurgaon. The festival organised on Dec 11-12 attracted students from many colleges in the area.

The competitions ranged from Painting, Advertising Contest, Debate, Business Plan, Treasure Hunt, Quiz, Group Discussions, Dance Contest, Finance Competition and Presentations. 

The festival began with a Painting competition where young MBAs demonstrated that they are no dud with creativity and colours. "It was very encouraging to see the young people give meaning to their ideas and vision through their painting" remarked a judge at the event.

The competitions on Ad-Mad show- the advertising competition saw the budding managers create promotional advertising campaigns for their allotted products. The presentation competition brought out the communication skills among the students. Indrajeet from First India School of Business won the competition for his presentation on Innovations that have changed our World and how challenging the myths and norms has created inventions. Another competition that evoked a lot of interest was the Business Quiz. Here the winners were from Algol Institute of management, First India School of Business and G D Goenka School. The institutes that participated included First India School of Business, Algol Institute of Management, JK School of Management, Guru Gram School of management among others. Kamlesh Vyas, Director, First India School of Business hoped that the budding managers will benefit immensely from events such as these and the exposure will prepare them for their corporate journey ahead.

A memorandum of understanding (MOU) has been signed between Gurgaon based First India School of Business (FISB) and London Metropolitan College, UK (LMC) for partnership in the area of management education. According to the MOU, the institutes will assist each other in providing quality management education to their students. The nature of association includes Student Exchange, certificate level courses for each other\'s institutes, Faculty Exchanges and joint management development workshops. The MOU was signed between Mr. Kamlesh Vyas, Director, First India School of Business and Dr Sarwan Kang, Director of Marketing/ International Projects, LMC. Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Kang said that this association between LMC and FISB is a true meeting of the minds as both the institutes believe in the core principle of providing world class education. He also added that the two institutes would offer to students in India and Europe opportunities to study partly in India and the rest in England. Responding to student queries, Mr. Kang added that the first batch of MBA students from First India School of Business will be at London in August year for their certificate program were they would undertake modules with LMC faculty, industry interactions and student workshops. Dr. Kang in his presentation hoped that this association will immensely benefit the current and future students of both the institutes. Mr. Vyas informed that LMC and FISB will jointly design courses. He added that there would be mutual benefits for the two institutions from this partnership and in future FISB and LMC students will be able to study at London and Gurgaon respectively.

Sokjar & Gamde Gamlin Foundation (SGGF), a leading NGO in Arunchal Pradesh, entered into Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with First India School of Business (FISB), Gurgaon on May 7, 2010. Through this MoU, SGGF along with FISB would provide scholarship for management education programmes. Each year scholarship worth Ten Lacs would be provided to students for BBA & MBA at FISB. This scholarship is be named after Late Jari Gamlin as Jari Gamlin Scholarships for Management Education. The students participating in entrance test will undergo 1-month Personality Development Programme. This would help all the participants to witness & experience Value Add in life. This is just the beginning of series of initiatives, which SGGF & FISB plans to carry out for the youths of Arunachal Pradesh. The other activities will include events on career options and employability through series of workshop and counseling sessions on Career Choices / Options Awareness, English Language skills, and Various other behavioral training programmes like skills for successful people and emotional Intelligence.