Mumbai: While a management degree is one of the top favourite professional courses among Indian students, educational institutions have added another branch to this stream by launching a postgraduate program in temple management. Aiming to train professionals for managing lakhs of temples across the country, the course will teach students about various temple-related subjects like spirituality, traditions, crowd and financial management.
Management courses have been a hot pick for students to ensure a fruitful career with better gains after their studies. However, after the likes of Masters in Business Administration, Master of Management Studies, Hotel Management, Event management and similar courses, colleges and universities have now opened a new path for students interested in the management stream by launching post graduate management courses in temple management.
Chari_Sambhu_Temple_Boudh | | Picture Credit: WikiMedia
The University of Mumbai has recently launched a certificate course and a diploma course to teach the students about management, administration and organisation of temples. Under the university’s Hindu Study Centre, these courses will start from the ensuing academic year and might also provide a full-time two-years MBA program in temple management in the near future.
The course will cover subjects like Indian knowledge tradition, crowd management, financial affairs and other subjects related to temple management. Like other business management courses, these courses will also include a three-month on-the-job training, which will include internship opportunities at various temples across Mumbai and Maharashtra.
After the university, a city based private educational institution has also followed the drill and launched a short term course in temple management. Welingkar Education’s We School aims to train a large number of professionals to manage 30 lakh temples across the country. The six-month long Post Graduate Program in Temple Management will include field visits and three months of on-the-job training and will cover subjects like perspective management, understanding spiritual economy, services management, community engagement and financial management.
The educational institution claims that the content for the course has been developed by experts in the field of scientific management and will include guest lectures by practising experts. It also claims that this course will also include development of soft skills like problem solving, decision making, analytical thinking and technology orientation among others.
“People have tremendous faith in the fundamental principle on which a temple is built upon – the power of human compassion. It is estimated that Bharat has approximately 30 lakh temples across the country and to manage them, we need a large team of trained professionals to magnify the influence that temples have on the economy and culture of our beloved country,” WeSchool’s brochure for the temple management course said.
