In the 21st century, visiting lectures have been viewed as an instrument that exposes students to new perspectives, industry expertise, and real-world applications from professionals inside or outside of their academic circle. Thus, visiting lectures cultivate critical thinking, enhance career guidance, and most importantly, become a platform for networking opportunities with future mentors. On that front, University Al-Azhar Indonesia (UAI) and its partners hand in hand in organizing an engaging visiting lecture on January 15, 2025.
UAI invited Dr. Kirti Dang Longani, Associate Director from Akemi Business Institute (ABS), and invited Dr. Sugandh Arora, Assistant Professor at the School of Management from Ajeenkya DY Patil University (ADYPU). The visiting lecture was divided into two classes, Dr. Kirti taught Introduction to Communication in the 517 room, 5th floor, whilst Dr. Sugandh taught Introduction to Business in the class located in the 006 Room, basement.
Visiting Lecture by Dr. Kirti
With the room full of Communication Bachelor students, Dr. Kirti delivered her presentation on “The Language of India: Exploring Formal vs Informal Communication Across Cultures”, in which she conveyed the strategy for effective cross-cultural communication.
In order to implement effective cross-cultural communication, it’s imperative to learn local languages, respect their cultural norms, use clear language, adapt to their communication style, keep an open mind and foster emphaty towards their culture.
The lecture opened an interactive QnA session that was closed with a group photo.
Visiting Lecture by Dr. Sugandh
The class begins with an introduction by ADYPU students who visited UAI, Sahil Parmar who studied Bachelor of Business Administration, and Tushar Joshi, who studied Master of Business Administration. Both ADYPU and UAI students exchange teaching methods that they experienced in India and Indonesia along with sharing business that are currently growing in respective countries.
Big corporations can go under if they don’t have a wise management and business model, one of the key successes to grow your business is research and after-service. Research allowed you to know your target market, segmentation, potential partner, products or services that will be a hit in the market, etc. While astute after-service gives you customer retention that will create trust in the customer’s mind and eventually, your excellent after-service will attract new markets.
Afterward, Dr. Sugandh concluded the lecture with an engaging brain exercise where if she told us to stand up, the students needed to sit down and vice versa. If Dr. Sugandh instructed the class to clap, you need to stay still and vice versa. This exercise creates an appealing learning atmosphere and a playful method of learning.
Conclusion
After an insightful and delightful lecture, the class must come to an end. While the visiting lecture is fleeting, the impact, memory, and knowledge they imparted will long last in the student’s mind, Hopefully, UAI lecturers will be able to conduct a visiting lecture in both ABS or ADYPU, Aamiin. (BR)