Freshers’ Guide to MAHE: Life in the Department of Commerce (DOC)

Established in the year 2007, the Department of Commerce (DOC) welcomes its 14th batch in the academic year 2020-21. DOC sits comfortably on one end of the MIT Campus. Although smaller than Manipal Academy of Higher Education’s bigger alternatives, the engineering (MIT) and medical (KMC) colleges, the last decade paints a vibrant picture of how this college has evolved into a well-rounded success. Several DOC alumni have been placed in some of the most reputed corporate firms today.

Find below a brief account of how the Department of Commerce has carved a niche amongst top management schools in India and what to expect as a student of this college.

Faculty and Staff

DOC has an assortment of diverse faculty and staff well known for its commendable mentoring and amicable nature. All teaching faculty are highly qualified and experienced in their respective subjects. They often play more than just educationists — they’re also a philosopher, a mentor and a friend. Every fresher is allotted a “Teacher Guardian” (more commonly referred to as the ‘TG’) during the orientation program that takes place with the commencement of the first semester. This TG then takes on the role of a mentor-guardian of the student over their course of study in the college.

Guest Lectures are often held at the department to enhance a student’s knowledge in the field by supporting them with wide-ranging insights and expert perspectives. Besides this, all faculty members highly encourage research and are always available to offer their expertise and guidance. Students with a keen interest in research may also participate in DOC’s Student Research Forum, headed by members of DOC Faculty. 

Additionally, DOC houses a Placement Cell led by members of DOC faculty and is run along with students. The Placement Cell is responsible for bringing in various companies to conduct placements for DOC students. In the recent past, several industry-leading companies like Northern Trust, Ernst Young (EY) amongst many others, have successfully placed DOC students. 

DOC also frequently organizes alumni talks, allowing students to gain valuable guidance and insight from successful former students of the college.

Curriculum and Course Structure

Having the advantage of being a private institute, the college curriculum is unique and specially developed to give its students a holistic understanding of what it takes to manage and successfully run a business today. The Department of Commerce, Manipal currently offers 12 varied courses across several programs B.Com, BBA, M.Com, M.Sc., MA and PG Diploma — in the streams of Commerce, Banking, Management and Administration. Students are exposed to a curriculum that aims at acquiring early learning in a wide range of topics such as accounting principles, business economics, business law, financial management, marketing etc., with relevance to real-life corporate scenarios.

Undergraduate Programs:

B.Com (Professional) — Bachelors of Commerce (Professional) is the ideal course developed to specifically suit students with the intention of pursuing professional qualifications such as CA (Chartered Accountancy), ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, UK), etc. The curriculum is embedded with globally recognised subjects of ACCA as part of the syllabus and a student pursuing DOC’s B.Com (Professional) program is eligible to enrol for ACCA as well as enjoy exemptions for the first 9 papers of ACCA (F1 to F9). Additionally, “Centre for Advanced Learning in Finance and Accounting” of DOC provides additional coaching to the students on a need basis with separate tuition fees to enable them to prepare for these papers and to get ACCA certified.

You can find the course structure laid out over six semesters for a typical B.Com Professional student at DOC here.

B.Com (BPS) — Bachelors of Commerce (Business Process Services) was designed specifically to create back-office operations analysts that are highly demanded across several industries today. The course is offered in collaboration with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), one of India’s leading Business Process Service Management Company. TCS enables the delivery of the course through support in design of course structure and advisory through the train the trainer route.

You can find the course structure laid out over six semesters for a typical B.Com BPS student at DOC here.

BBA – Bachelor of Business Administration program gives prominence to shaping its students to best suit managerial and administrative roles. People in the educational sector are popularly opinionated, and for good reason, that studying BBA is like making a good investment- enjoying the educational exposure similar to that of an MBA student for a much lesser cost and at a very early stage.

BBA at Department of Commerce offers specialisation in the following courses:

  • E-Banking and Finance
  • Financial Markets
  • Professional
  • Logistics & Supply Chain
  • Human Resource
  • Marketing
  • Insurance & Risk Management
  • Family Business Management
  • Business Analytics
  • Economic Studies

You can find the course structure laid out over six semesters for a typical BBA student at DOC here

Integrated Program Management (IPM) is the newest program DOC has to offer its students, and MAHE is the first to offer this program in the country. The first batch of IPM started in 2020 — a five-year full-time program created by DOC specifically to prepare young students to become leaders of tomorrow. It is meant for students who have completed 12th standard/higher secondary education (or the equivalent). It is spread over 15 terms, with the first 3 years focusing on building a foundation, while the last two focus on management fields and allow students to opt for two specializations. The five-year degree enables the student to attain an undergraduate and MBA degree simultaneously upon completion of the course. A detailed course structure can be found here

Post-graduate/Masters Programs:

M.Com — Masters of Commerce is a two-year full-time program wherein student learning will be cemented through either an individual research project or internship program which will be carried out under the guidance of our DOC’s experienced faculty. Students also have the option of undertaking a study abroad program in their final semester. M.Com at DOC is offered under the following three specializations:

 

  • M.Com in Logistics and Supply Chain is designed with the intent of educating students on the importance of supply chain management as part of the global economy. The course structure for M.Com. (Logistics and Supply Chain) can be found here. 
  • M.Com in Banking Technology is a program enabling students to receive practical training and exposure to banking software as part of their curriculum. The course structure for M.Com. (Banking Technology) can be found here. 
  • M.Com in Professional is a program mapped with ACCA, allowing students to receive paper exemptions with completion of the course. The course provides detailed knowledge on accounting, auditing, taxation and equips students to build a career in these fields. The course structure for M.Com. (Professional) can be found here.

Masters of Science (M.Sc.) —

DOC offers 3 specializations under their Masters of Science degree, all of which are two-year full-time programs.

  • M.Sc. in Business Analytics is designed specifically to nurture business analytics skills to create professionals in the ever-growing field of analytics and data science. The inter-disciplinary and application-oriented course structure can be found here. 
  • M.Sc. in Financial Economics is a course designed to enable the cohesion of theoretical aspects of finance, economics, statistics and mathematics with the practical aspects of the same, as seen in the corporate world. The course structure curated specifically to fine-tune analytical and research skills can be found here. 
  • M.Sc. in Health Economics is a program offered in collaboration with other MAHE departments (Public Health, Pharmacology, Bio-statistics) with the main intent of developing health professionals and economists for the healthcare industry, in order to improve well-being through the use of limited resources. The course structure that is oriented with research opportunities can be found here.

Master of Arts (MA) in Digital and Creative Marketing –

The M.A in Digital & Creative Marketing program is a full-time two year program created with the intent of providing industry exposure and in-depth knowledge to future digital marketing professionals, through hands-on experience. The course also allows students to obtain professional digital media certification courses from industry giants such as Google, Facebook, Youtube. Detailed course structure can be found here.

PG Diploma (PGD) in Logistics and Supply Chain –

­­­­The PGD program is a one year full-time program. It is designed to provide students with specialized, relevant and in-depth knowledge in the field of logistics and supply chain with a practical as well theoretical focus, thereby, equipping them to enter the dynamic industry. The program structure can be found here.

Extra-Curricular Activities

The college is always buzzing with cultural events and fests all-round the year. Some chief highlights include:

Conscendo is a management fest organised annually by the students of DOC. Conscendo is popularly known to bring the boardroom fire and corporate drive into the college corridors. It is the perfect combination of fun and on the field experiences with all the ingredients of challenges, brainstorming, stress management, teamwork, and seeking success. This global arena provides students with an opportunity to not only display their strength but also learn about how to deal with real-world business scenarios.

Convergence is an in-house management fest organised by the seniors of the college for the freshers batch every year. It aims to give every student the understanding of how managerial tests work and what it takes to put up a good competition.

Step-n-Beat is an annual cultural night organised by the college student council to provide a platform for young individuals to showcase their many talents.

2017 saw the establishment of a student club in DOC called Rangasthala. It is a performing arts club that stages multiple plays and performances. It has also organised many of their own events encouraging students and faculty alike to participate. Students of DOC are also able to join most MIT Clubs and Organizations.

Hostels and Accommodation

DOC students are housed with the MIT, SOC, and FOA students in the same hostels. First-years are required to live in the hostels compulsorily, while seniors can opt to live off-campus as well. A first-year student may live off-campus if they are a local, already living in the region. The hostel curfew for first years is 10:00 P.M, while it is 11:00 P.M for seniors.

For more information on the hostels, follow the links given below:

Hostel Accommodation for Boys (Freshers)

Hostel Accommodation for Girls (Freshers)

Here is a map of Manipal in case you want to check out the proximity of the classrooms to the hostels.

Manipal Map

The education of a student of the Department of Commerce, MAHE is seldom limited to the four walls of a classroom. The Department of Commerce has recorded a consistent improvement in research and placement performance. The college has collaborations with Manipal Global Education (MaGE), Bangalore and National Stock Exchange (NSE), Mumbai to deliver various stock markets. It also has academic exchange programmes with universities in Netherlands, France, Australia, New Zealand, UK, US and Europe. The college aims to develop into a world-class centre of excellence in education, training and research in the years ahead.

All the links have been sourced from Manipal’s website.
For further details, the Department of Commerce website can be accessed here.

Written by Tanushree Shivaram for MTTN
Updated by Sanam Lulla for MTTN

 

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