Professor K.J. Paulose, Professor Emeritus, SCMS Cochin, is widely recognized as a luminary in the realm of education. Through his unwavering dedication, SCMS-Cochin has ascended to prominence as one of the nation’s premier institutions. With an academic foundation comprising an Engineering degree from REC, Calicut, and a Management degree from IIM, Calcutta, Prof. Paulose now holds the distinguished position of Professor Emeritus.
Prof. K.J. Paulose’s association with the institute dates back to 1992 when he joined the institute as a faculty member. Though he was an engineer by profession and had taken some course in IGNOU, it was his passion for teaching that impressed Dr GPC Nayar,chairman of the SCMS Group, and got him a job there. He feels that despite drawing a handsome salary in his corporate career he never got any personal satisfaction. It was only when he joined SCMS-Cochin and taught students that he felt worthy and proud of his achievements.
Talking about the institute’s growth story, Prof. K.J. Paulose says that when he joined the institute there were just 30 students and five faculty members. Now the institute has grown tremendously and boasts of 40 + faculty members and more than 300 students in a batch.
Despite a satisfactory journey, Prof. K.J. Paulose admits that teaching management concepts is not easy. Unlike teaching physics or chemistry where you can teach from pure theoretical knowledge, management is a practical subject and needs to be taught by giving applications and examples. It becomes difficult teaching management in a western style by learning theory from western books, we can refer those books but we need to give examples in the Indian context so that students can understand it, he feels.
Giving importance to overall development of students, Prof. K.J. Paulose feels that it is important to develop the personality of students and instill values in them so that they become great leaders as well as good human beings. He feels happy that his belief has been fostered by the institute by conducting personality development programme that grooms public speaking, presentation skills and inculcates values like honesty, discipline and initiative.
Talking about the need to give students a work-like atmosphere along with their education, Prof. K.J. Paulose feels that Internship programme helps students in understanding life in the corporate world.It gives them an unmatched exposure, helps them to identify their strengths and weaknesses and know where their interests lie. It is for this reason that he has taken keen interest in the internship programme of PGDM which is of three months duration unlike many other institutes with just a month or so.
Besides a passion for teaching and facilitating overall development of students, there is another cause that is close to the professor’s heart and that is environment. He believes in conserving and preserving the environment and has espoused his belief in ‘Think Green, Go Green’ campaign which is a part of the curriculum here.
Explaining that students should not fear failures, Prof. K.J. Paulose says that failures are a stepping stone to students. He tells students that they should learn from failures. Where there is a good thing that happens, give the credit to your team. Also on giving and getting respect to others, he feels you are respected for your deeds and can never demand respect from anyone – in his case his excellent classes automatically makes him a teacher being respected by all students.
