Dr. Madhu Chitkara participates in ‘My Business Insider’ talk series hosted by RJ Meenakshi

Dr. Madhu Chitkara, Pro-Chancellor, Chitkara University was in conversation with RJ Meenakshi as a part of the ‘My Business Insider’ series being hosted by 94.3 MYFM. During the conversation, Dr. Madhu Chitkara shared some very interesting takeaways from Chitkara University’s success story. Dr. Madhu Chitkara started the session by expressing her gratitude to RJ Meenakshi for inviting her over. Meenakshi mentioned that in one of their previous conversation, Dr. Madhu talked about how there is no shortcut to success. On being asked “Is that reason for Chitkara University’s success, Dr. Madhu answered “We never believed in the idea of shortcuts from the beginning because shortcuts and immediate gains always make me anxious in a way. I feel like something bad is about to happen. Because I believe that, good things that are achieved with shortcuts don’t last long. The hard work that is done throughout leads to more sustainable outcomes. We have always taught our students to work in a way that leads to sustainable results. That is the reason why shortcuts have absolutely no meaning in our life. We have taken baby steps on our journey and we are very happy about it”.

Talking about the key takeaways from the COVID- 19 crisis, Dr. Madhu explained “how at the beginning of the crisis, everyone wondered if we are equipped for such a big challenge. We sat down and thought of the possible ways to turn this challenge into possibilities. Because, luckily, we were already digital in ways more than one. The IT team on campus has been one of our biggest support. Most of us were very comfortable with the new normal. And the remaining people eventually got comfortable with it once they got familiar with the way thing worked digitally. We never thought that the new normal is going to last for almost a year and a half. But for things to function smoothly, we invested around 1-2 crores. Because we didn’t want our students or our professors to suffer in any way. We developed an e-lounge on the campus to equip our teachers properly. We must appreciate the efforts of the teachers around the globe for they have completely moulded themselves in these testing times. And also, the students who have comfortably adapted to these drastic changes”.

Meenakshi further talked about how in current times ‘work from home is the new normal, she asked Dr. Madhu “How was the organizational culture maintained during such times?” Dr. Madhu replied “For the initial four to five months, it was completely working from home. We started communicating with our faculty and the staff in the hierarchy. I got in touch with the deans of the departments. They further talked to the professors working in their respective departments to ensure that there is no communication gap. We prepared them and made them confident about the new ways of working. Since we follow a mentor system where each professor is allotted 15-20 children and is almost like a parent to them, the mentors to the students and their families about the problems they are facing so that we can solve them and make things easier for them. We effectively utilised our Chalkpad system to help those who did not have access to the internet. And luckily, the industry was with us too during the placements process as well. I would like to thank all the stakeholders for being so supporting and accommodating throughout” Meenakshi was highly impressed by all the measures that Chitkara University took to adapt to the new normal.

Further, talking about the admission process in such times, Dr.Madhu said “The admissions process was also carried out very smoothly online.” Mentioning how the students have been eagerly waiting to join the campus and asking them not to post such beautiful pictures of the campus on social media, Dr. Madhu added “The campus is lifeless without the students and we can’t wait to have them back with us. I always keep telling people to replace the term social distancing with physical distancing because we don’t want to be socially disconnected from people. Because the social disconnect is the cause of many mental health issues.”

Moving on, Dr.Madhu mentioned how it is vital to stay positive and look at the brighter things in life to stay happy. “We have so much to learn from every person we come across in life. And if you don’t love yourself, you can’t love anyone else” she said. “Living in the moment and taking life one step at a time is something everyone should learn. It’s important to be content during every stage of life.” She further added.

Towards the end of the session, Meenakshi asked Dr. Chitkara about when she is going to pen down her book, a question she has been asking Dr. Chitkara for the longest time. Meenakshi wished Dr.Chitkara the best of luck for everything and Dr. Madhu expressed her gratitude and said that it’s always a pleasure to be in conversation with Meenakshi. It was a very refreshing talk session.