In an initiative to bridge the gap between academics and industry, SAP University Alliances and SAP Labs HR jointly hosted a special event dedicated to college / university professors called the SAP Faculty Day on the 14th June 2013. There were more than 100 professors from the top Engineering and Business colleges across India who attended the event. Also three Train-The-Trainer (TTT) Workshops were conducted two days prior to SAP Faculty Day for the professors to train them on HANA, Design Thinking and Agile Project Management approach, Business Model and Innovation. This was a wonderful opportunity to hear from the professors and also share thoughts about the rapidly changing space of Information Technology and the opportunities which we all have to play an active role in its transformation in India.
After its tremendous success last year, this year SAP Faculty Day was hosted around the theme of "Innovating at the Pace of Changing Customer Expectations". The event was kicked off by welcome note by Anil Warrier, Global Head Early Talent Acquisition, who talked about the Faculty Day initiative. This was followed by Andy Dey, SAP Labs India MD who talked about Innovation at SAP and how the academia help innovate as well. Dr. Jeffery Word also interacted with the professors on SAP’s future product strategy and fostering product innovation inside the SAP ecosystem.
The event had Head of Global SAP University Alliances, SAP AG, Ann Rosenberg address the professors about the new "Learn Apply Share" model of SAP UA and shared the latest programs launched under SAP University Alliances.
It was a proud moment to have four new member schools - Chitkara University, M S Ramaiah Institute of Technology, ABV Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management, and Saveetha University – sign the UA agreement.
Proud moment for me was when we students Manas, Keerthivivek, Karthik and myself were announced as the SAP Student Ambassadors and we also shared our experiences of wining the Techniversity 2012 competition and the many many opportunities that we were provided by SAP.
SAP Faculty Day was a smashing success where the professors were able to get valuable insights into the HR Recruitment plans, challenges and requirements with regard to IT graduates in India and how the professors can help in attracting the right talent to SAP. Overall a fantastic week of learnings and meeting new people!
