Seeking Advice on Crafting a Comprehensive Curriculum for PG Management Students' Personal Growth

Hello! My name is Dev, and I coordinate the activities of a department called "Center for Excellence and Personality Development" in a Management Institute in Bangalore. I am looking for a detailed comprehensive curriculum. Let me give a background to this.

We are in the process of rolling out a structured training program for the PG students which will cover every aspect of being an excellent human being. We have identified 6 specific topics to create our curriculum from, viz:

1. Human Values
2. Health and Fitness (Lifestyle, Exercise, Diet, etc.)
3. Communication Skills (Language Competency, Verbal and Non-Verbal Communication, Presentation Skills, Public Speaking, etc.)
4. Personal Skills (Self-Awareness, Self-Evaluation, Stress, Time Management, Anger Management)
5. Interpersonal Skills (Relationship Building, Power and Influence, Authority)
6. Group Skills (Leadership, Team Working, and Team Building, etc.)

We would impart this education through multidisciplinary activity projects or basically through experiential learning methods.

I want help on:

- Flow of the entire curriculum (what to teach - when to teach)
- Setting up the session by session curriculum
- What kinds of projects shall we suggest that allow students to get the most in terms of learning, in a short duration of 18 months (approximately 3 contact hours a week and 6 non-contact hours a week).

Thank you for your kind help.
Dev

Dear Dev, Who will be delivering the program? Usually, whoever delivers the program will decide on the structure and activities. Preparing these in detail for an 18-month program takes time. Have a nice day. Regards, Simhan "It is never too late to learn or improve oneself" PS: You can see my profile at

I would be glad if you could respond to Mr. Simhan's query. Allow me to introduce myself as the ex-Secretary General of Khaja Education Society in Gulbarga, Karnataka. I have spent a significant amount of time understanding student psychology, mentality, attitude, and behavior.

Since you are coordinating training programs in a management institution, the kind of modules you are looking for, I suggest seeking help from professional trainers to design perfect training modules that produce desired results. Kindly avoid experimenting by seeking inputs that may not serve the intended purpose.

The reason I recommend seeking professional help is that I understand student psychology across various age groups. Students tend to follow what they have been taught as they may lack exposure to practical life, corporate culture, workplace ethics, and more. Approximately 80% of our lives are based on practical experiences, while 20% or less is based on theory.

If your management can hire and appoint a Training & Placement Officer who can play a dual role, that would be excellent. I have spent around 40-60 hours per student per academic year training them on various modules, which has resulted in a 60% success rate in students, a significant achievement for me.

The key to producing desired results or changes in students is not just presenting training material but allowing them to interact with me for clarifications or when their lecturers/professors complain about their behavior. I have played multiple roles such as counselor, coach, educator, motivator, psychologist, entertainer, and negotiator to help students understand where they went wrong. This practical approach has brought about positive changes in students.

Dealing with students is more challenging than dealing with employees at various levels, including MDs or CEOs.

Lastly, ensure that whatever module you choose for your students is delivered perfectly by the right trainer. Current generations are smart and have numerous queries for clarifications. I have designed a module for students and employees to help change their habits and would be interested in sharing it with you. Please write to me for further discussions.

I suggest looking for the best trainer who is:
- A master in expressing reality,
- Able to influence students with their words,
- Capable of touching their hearts,
- Skilled at making information easy to understand,
- Proficient in body language,
- Able to entertain while conveying important life lessons, rather than just presenting curriculum in writing for reference. If students are impressed, it indicates positive changes in them, proving the trainer's effectiveness and efficiency. Take my words for granted.

With profound regards,

Dear Mr. Dev, I have a query for you.

1. **Have you ever tried to approach your faculty and sought information in this regard?**

2. **Does your faculty have any information or experience in training your students on this subject matter?**

3. **Is any of your faculty trained in SOFT SKILLS, BEHAVIORAL SKILLS, and more?**

4. **To what extent has your faculty tried their best to train your students on other skills besides the CURRICULUM?**

Looking forward to hearing from you at the earliest.

With profound regards,
Regards

Dear SHAIK ABDUL KHADIR,

Firstly, thank you for responding to my queries and seeking clarifications from my end. My responses are inline.

1) Have you ever tried to approach your faculty and sought information in this regard?
Yes, I have sought information in this regard from the subject faculty. In my opinion, most of the faculty would greatly benefit from participating in the program themselves.

2) Does your faculty have any information or experience in training your students on this subject matter?
The faculty has a lot of information on the subject matter but no experience in training my students on the subject matter.

3) Is any of your faculty trained in SOFT SKILLS, BEHAVIORAL SKILLS, and more?
No, except for one person, none of them are trained in Soft Skills and behavioral skills.

4) To what extent has your faculty tried their best to train your students on other skills besides the CURRICULUM?
The faculty has provided their inputs to students on what should be done and what should not be done (with respect to Soft Skills), but speaking about the extent, on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being the least and 10 being the maximum, I would rate them at 1.

Having said all this, my faculty colleagues are among the best in the business in the topics they are responsible for.

Thanks for asking.

Regards

Developing a Comprehensive Curriculum for Management Students

1) Gather information held by your faculty.
2) Prepare a basic skeleton - module-wise.
3) Approach a trainer on commercial grounds and fine-tune your modules as per your institution's needs.

It would be the best way for your faculty to reveal information to the students in the form of small lectures and workshops. It's worth trying rather than holding information to oneself. This will help individuals transform information into a knowledge base.

None of us are trained by birth, but most of us have learned by training students, employees, or individuals, which has helped us fine-tune our knowledge base.

Being a management faculty, they should have attended such programs to explore the practical side of the world, rather than just concentrating on management subjects and teaching whatever is found in the curriculum. To me, an educational institution is a virtual world, and to be honest, at most 20-40% of the curriculum (subject topics) taught during the course of study are utilized or implemented in our real-time practical life. The rest we learn as time progresses.

Every individual is considered one of the best in their domain unless they prove or demonstrate their abilities, capabilities, competencies, skills, and talent in a practical sense.

To face challenges, management students need more information and exposure in effective communication skills, critical thinking skills, decision-making skills, people management skills, change management, team-building skills, and leadership skills.

With profound regards,
Regards