MBA Admission: ‘PGDM at National Insurance Academy is industry focused; expansion plans in offing’

NEW DELHI: The National Insurance Academy (NIA), now situated in Pune, was established jointly by the ministry of finance and all the major public sector undertakings (PSUs) in insurance. Originally a training institute for insurance industry professionals, it has been offering a postgraduate diploma in management (PGDM) since 2004 and has placed 100% of its students all through.

Sanjay Mali, principal of PGDM at NIA, spoke about the unique position of the institute in the insurance industry, its PGDM course, and its plans to increase student intake, course offerings and off-campus activities. Edited excerpts

Q. Could you tell us a bit about the National Insurance Academy – its history and how it came to be?

The journey of the National Insurance Academy is very different. It came to be when the ministry of finance and Government of India decided that there should be a training institute for executives in the insurance sector. That’s how the institute was started. But later on, realising that the infrastructure was available, they started the PGDM programme in 2004.

The main purpose of the institute was to provide education, training and research in the field of insurance.

This institute was set up by all the PSUs – Life Insurance Corporation, New India Insurance, Oriental Insurance. So right from the beginning, this PGDM programme had the backing of the industry. If you look at the governing board of the institute, the chairperson of LIC is the chairperson of our governing board.

Q. How many students do you have? And how much do you charge?

The last two years, we had an intake capacity of 180. But from this year, we will have 120 students. This is because we are considering the introduction of some programmes that are in the pipeline. So, we decided to keep it to 120 right now.

Regarding the fees, we have not increased it in the last four or five years. Currently, it is Rs 12 lakh for the two-year programme, including hostel facilities.

Q. Which courses are in the pipeline?

So, this PGDM programme is basically industry-focused and the curriculum is prepared according to what the industry requires. So, naturally we have to be aware of what is going on in the industry and we have to prepare our curriculum accordingly.

The industry requires a good number of professionals from our side. And insurance is not just remaining as insurance, technology is becoming a crucial aspect. So, we are thinking of starting programmes in data analytics or AI. Not only that, but subjects like actuarial science and risk management are things we are looking at. Right now, we are looking at expanding our campus.

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We are also looking at more off-campus activities. We’ll make some decisions in the coming year about starting another branch of NIA. There is a lot of demand and we are not able to give admission to all students. We are thinking of some expansion activities. It’s still in the pipeline but the management is thinking very seriously about it.

Q. You mentioned that you are constantly in connection with the industry. How does their input come in?

We have a summit for CEOs and HR managers from all the big companies who come over here and give their inputs. We have a very good combination of teaching faculty and industry experts.

Every two years, we review the curriculum. We take inputs from all the beneficiaries. Present students, alumni, industry experts – all help us in this matter.

Q. What makes your PGDM stand out from the rest?

First of all, we have a lovely campus and the infrastructure facilities are great. Now coming to the curriculum, this is a niche programme. It is totally different from the general MBA.

The course is run not just by the core faculty but also faculties deputed by the PSUs. Retired professors help us as chair professors. Around 50% of the faculty are professionals from the industry.

In other places, they have visiting faculty but our faculty are directly from the industry. They get deputed for two to three years, in senior positions, and are then replaced by other senior persons from the industry. That is a unique thing that makes us different.

Also, our alumni network is also really good. They visit the institute on a regular basis and have mentoring sessions which really help our students.

Q. What challenges does the institute face?

There is a lot of demand in the industry for our professionals. Our present challenge is keeping up with this pace. Earlier, our intake was only 60 but now we have increased to 120 students and now we want to increase to 180 students.

We want to make it a residential programme. So, increasing the hostel capacity is something we are planning to do. This would be the biggest challenge because the industry is expanding rapidly but the supply is not keeping up from our side.

Q. How do you want NIA to grow in the next five to 10 years?

We are planning to introduce certain programmes like I mentioned. And we are also thinking very seriously about having an off-campus. We want to have some kind of collaboration with foreign universities. Since we are so well connected with the industry, we need to provide what it requires. As I mentioned, insurance technology is coming up and we need to have labs and the latest technology to include in the curriculum.

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The government is coming up with insurance for all by 2047. And for that we require the manpower and skilled professionals. Our challenge is providing this manpower. Earlier insurance was just general insurance and health insurance. But today, the spectrum of insurance is increasing; there’s technology insurance, crop insurance.

Particularly after COVID-19, the importance of insurance is increasing. That is why we are thinking in that direction.

Q. What kind of research happens in insurance management?

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has treated NIA as a think tank. Most of the companies consult our faculty here, not only about the product but also about the implementation. In particular, some state governments are asking us to give a solution for insurance-related claims in disaster management.

States such as Kerala are constantly asking for some models developed by our faculty. Research and consultancy in that field is going on very well.

Q. What’s been your record with placements?

From inception, we have had 100% placements. Even now, I think 99% of the placements are done for this year. The exams are going on and after that we will have one more phase to place the few that are left.

Students are placed in general insurance, health insurance, information technology, reinsurance, counselling, brokerage. The majority is going into the general insurance sector but IT is also picking up. Our highest salary last year was Rs 22 lakh and the average was Rs 13 lakh.

Q. How do you see insurance management education evolving?

Nowadays, cyber insurance is something that has a lot of scope. Then, there are settlements, claim management particularly. For example, vehicle insurance and accident insurance. Technology such as AI is being used heavily to settle such claims to the extent that everything is paperless. There are online platforms that provide policy completely paperless so the sector is changing drastically.

For that, labs and new technologies are required from our end. Moreover, not only are insurance companies increasing, the number of people going for insurance is also increasing.

One other important thing is data. Secrecy of data is very important in insurance companies and data management is a big problem. That is a new challenge.