Business schools are moving from classroom education to experiential learning. The world becomes a lecture theatre and learning comes from tackling real life problems facing global companies and societies. Around 30 Sauder MBA students from Canada were in Bangalore for their ‘Global Immersion’ programme. They also visited Akshaya Patra as part of this programme.

The whole programme was designed to aim at learning with respect to global scenario and challenge. The students took part in the case challenge with their counterpart at IIM Bangalore.

According to Murali Chandrashekaran, Associate Dean, professional graduate programmes; these kinds of programmes not only provide international exposure but also equip students to fully function in these environments or take away transferable skills in intercultural relations that they can use throughout their careers.

These students, who travelled to India, visited Aravind Eye Hospital in Madurai, The Akshaya Patra Foundation, an NGO and Infosys. This kind of intercultural collaboration allows students to offer fresh perspectives and expertise to these local organisations. “Here, students not only learn from them, but also offer their expertise in a global context,” explains Murali, who travelled to India with the group.

At Akshaya Patra, Mr. Shridhar Venkat, Executive director Of Akshaya Patra addressed students taking them to the journey of Akshaya Patra. The session was very interactive where students put a lot of questions showing their interest and curiosity about the organisation. They were amazed to know that Akshaya Patra is feeding 1.3 million school children everyday eradicating hunger, malnutrition and promoting education.