The Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC) of Jagadguru Sri Shivarathreeshwara University hadorganizedUniversity Leadership Programme held from 17thto 19th February 2017 at, JSS College of Pharmacy, Ooty to equip upcoming academicians with a broader understanding of the leadership needs and challenges. Thirty faculty members across the institutions of JSS University who had the urge to be the future leaders were selected through a structured online application process. Various resource faculty who have demonstrated their leadership skills at national and international levels were invited to share their experiences with the emerging leaders of the university.

On 17thof February the team of selected participants and course coordinators traveled to JSS College of Pharmacy Ooty. The program began with an ice-breaking session, where the participants introduced each other. Dr. Suresh, Vice-Chancellor, JSS University, formally welcomed all the participants and resource faculty and describe the background and objectives of the University Leadership Programme.

On 18thof February, the program was formally inaugurated by lighting the holy lamp by the resource faculty. This was followed by a session on the Overview of leadership by Dr. B Suresh. Addressing all the domains and dimensions of leadership skills, the Vice-chancellor mentioned that leadership is an evolving process, which needs to be nourished. His presentation was full of analogies and real-life experiences, which motivated all the participants to actively work towards developing leadership qualities.

Dr.C.G.Betsurmath, Executive Secretary, JSS Mahavidyapeetha deliberated on a very interesting topic of leadership in service excellence. In his motivating speech, he shared some of his real-life situations, which demanded him to demonstrate his leadership qualities in challenging situations and how it translated to a success story.

Dr. G. Parthasarathi, Former Ambassador and ConsultantGeneral, Government of India, deliberated on the topic, “My experience of leading teams to success”. In his presentation, he defined the leadership and qualities of a successful leader. He shared his experiences of team building, human resource management, addressing the grievances between team members, differences between a boss and a leader.

Mrs. Vandana Suri, an emerging entrepreneur, who runs a cab service for women “ TAXSHE” shared how she perceived a need for innovative business and how she could successfully implement her idea after overcoming all the difficulties and hurdles.

Dr. Bhaskar Balakrishnan, Former Ambassador, Govt. of India, spoke on the topic “What you should take care of as a leader?” He described that the leaders should set priorities and deliver their services most proficiently to enable the efficient functioning of an organization.

This was followed by a hands-on activity called “Card Sorting”, where the participants working in teams sorted the pieces of colored cards in various leadership themes. This was following by a group discussion and each group presented their themes.

A panel discussion on challenges on leadership was an interesting event, where the panelists answered various queries asked by the participants on the issues like dealing with team killers, how to overcome situations when a decision is over-ruled, how to motivate the colleagues in a team, convincing the boss when he is wrong, time management, etc. The day ended with cultural activities presented by each group during the dinner.

Sessions on 19thof February began with a brief recap of their learning on day 1by two participants Shri. S. Sathyam, Former Secretary, Govt. of India delivered a talk on “How JSS leaders can make it big for themselves and for JSS”. In his most resourceful and humorous deliberation, he described his experiences on how a leader should take a lead in various issues and demonstrate his ideas. How the changing needs of the country are demanding newer leaders who can do the best in their profession.

A session by Dr. Pradeep Desai, faculty of JSS University, gave lots of insights to the participants on the characteristics of an ideal leader.

The program ended with the concluding remarks by Dr. B Suresh, where he categorically mentioned, this is just a beginning and there is a long way to go as leadership is an evolutionary process. He mentioned that the leadership skills learned in the workshop need to be practiced and demonstrated in the day to day life.

Participants expressed their gratitude towards the university for organizing the event and assured the team that, they will work hard towards achieving the aim of the university leadership program. Dr. Prashant Vishwanath,Professor and Head, Dept. of Biochemistry, JSS Medical College& IQAC Co-ordinator,JSS University,Dr Praveen Kulkarni, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Community Medicine, JSS Medical College, Dr Pradeep Desai, Faculty JSS University, Dr S A Dhanaraj, DeanGlobal Affairs, JSS University, coordinated the event.