Dr. P. Alli Rani is presently serving as the Director at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Institute of Textile Management, Coimbatore, Ministry of Textiles, Govt. of India. Acquiring twin Post Graduate Degrees in Management specializing in Finance and Marketing, and PhD in Economics, her career began with the Indian Economic Service (IES), a specialized cadre of the Government of India. She has a vast experience of working in various services and Corporate sectors as well, including the Indian Railway Accounts Service Container Corporation of India, and Cotton Corporation of India Ltd., playing major roles as Group General Manager/Finance, Director Finance, Chairman-cum-Managing Director, etc. 

SVPISTM

What is your philosophy of leadership?

“Forming teams and communicating well”

I believe in building strong teams, I think I am good at building teams. For building teams, you need to know what everybody’s aspirations are in the team, from the top to the bottom. For that you need to have your communications line open. That’s why I keep myself accessible and approachable. And because I keep myself accessible all the time, and people feel that they can communicate with me, I am able to know what their aspirations are. Thus, I am able to make a team and keep it together. And as a team, there is no doubt that more achievements can be made, than as a single individual. 

How do you strategize the key plans for the administration of your Institute?

“Discussing, outlining and executing action plans”

We have very frequent brainstorming sessions being held in the Institute regarding programs and implementation of policies. Every faculty member and also the staff of administration meet once a week or twice, and discuss strategies, whether it is admission or a project, or student development activities. We sit together and invite suggestions. Everybody has to speak in the brainstorming session and give their suggestions. So, we collect all the suggestions, big or small, and make a plan of action. After that, we put a couple of faculties in charge and ensure that they coordinate well so that the plan of action is implemented in the best possible manner. 

How do you bring a practical approach and make subjects industry-oriented?

“Faculty Seminar Program and Expert Talks”

I always understand that the resources within the college will never be sufficient. So, I try to organise webinars, including international webinars. I bring international speakers, international organisations in close connection with students and faculty. We have two systems which we have made permanent here in the last one year. One is the faculty seminar program, in which every week, on a particular day, one faculty will give a seminar on any topic which is not connected to the curriculum. The topic must be diverse in its perspective like technical textiles, new discoveries, AI and industry 4.0. This helps the students and us to know new things and trends every week. The second thing is, expert talk. We arrange frequent meets wherein an expert from outside is invited who gives an online/offline talk, followed by student interactions and discussions. This helps them, and improves presentation and communication skills as well as makes the students more aware of what’s happening in the world, not just the curriculum. Moreover, I intend to ensure that the students are exposed to a lot of other industries, how they do things. We are also trying to get videos of how retail shops manage abroad or an industry flow is organized through industrial visits.

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How does your institute prepare students for the placements in this industry?

“Enabling pre-placement and improvement activities”

We take a lot of interest in placement and there have been a lot of offers also in the past. We are trying to enhance that by teaching the students how to approach a particular company for a job, right from scratch we teach them how to write a cover letter, how to write their CV, their resume, etc. We are bringing good people from outside, to speak to them, to teach them how to communicate, and build up personality. Also, we invite industry people for these talks to make sure industries are aware of what the students are doing and what they are capable of. So, we are very focused on placement.

What is your Institute’s greatest strength?

“Speciality in the Textile sector”

The college’s greatest strength is its specialization in textile education. When the Indian Textile sector is reviving, they need professionals to maintain the pace. So this college is able to by continuing to produce students with specialisation in various disciplines in textiles, to keep the industry comfortable as far as the availability of professionals are concerned. Hence our strength is that we provide the basic HRD for the textile sector. 

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What is your vision for the Institute?

“Making every aspiration possible”

The vision is to make this Institute a well-known, reputed college, and make sure that the students who decide to join us, should be fully equipped, they should be totally employable and the industry should find them attractive as employees. The students nowadays are more visionary and want to become an entrepreneur, and go into the textile sector on their own terms, not as an employee. Then, he/she may want to be a civil servant. So, we want to meet every aspiration, whether the student wants to become an entrepreneur or textile manager in the textile sector; or wants to become a civil servant or to continue with studies and research. So, in whatever way, the student wants to go ahead, we want to make sure that the student is well-equipped and employable at all costs. By employable I mean that they should have basic skills in problem solving, team work, digital skills and a progressive outlook.