The Need for Metamorphosis in Management Education in India

The agenda of the MBA program in India needs a thorough makeover in terms of its academic and industries connect. The number of schools offering a PGDM/MBA degree is increasing by the day whereas the quality of education offered for the degree is on the decline. There is a mushroom growth of these institutes all over India. Over the last 10 years the number of institutes offering these degrees in Pune itself has crossed over 200; some are recognized under Pune University/AICT while others are private institutions. In earlier days admission in a B-School was highly competitive with stringent procedures for selection involving taking tests, participating in group discussion, and being personally interviewed by a team of highly knowledgeable and experienced management persons. Nowadays with the excessive supply of B-Schools, the selection process has becomes highly diluted. Each institute needs to enroll a minimum of 150 students to meet their operating costs. This gives a chance to students with a low aptitude for management studies to also obtain an MBA degree. This in turn leads to poor standards for academic performance in schools and therefore a poor quality of learning and development of students.

Another compromising factor in the MBA education in India is the lack of proper infrastructure as needed by a B-School. Classrooms are outdated, labs are not well equipped with the latest technology which will keep the students at pace with the rest of the top B-Schools, and the libraries are not abundant in the literature needed for reference by management students. Also the student-teacher ratio is imbalanced and is much higher than the preferred 1:10 ratio. The ideal ratio as practiced in the successful B-Schools abroad is 1:5. This ratio needs to be corrected to improve the quality of the program. Due to the abundance of schools, the number of permanent faculty is very low. Most schools depend on the visiting faculty from the industry or other academics institutes. The problem with this is that the faculty does not get sufficient time to interact with the students to understand and nurture them on a personal level. They are able to give only a limited knowledge about what the corporate expects from an MBA graduate. There is neglect in terms of the quality of learning and student development due to time constraints as well as the huge number of students who are enrolled in the many institutes offering MBA/PGDM degrees. The focus is more on the benefit of the institute in terms of funds etc, rather than student grooming.

The mindset of the students pursuing an MBA nowadays is very casual. There is a lack of commitment towards learning and understanding. Every student looks at the MBA degree as a passport to obtain a well paying job in the industry. The effort that is put in is minimal and mechanical rather than aggressive and eager. The students do not have the proper understanding of what is needed to build a career in management and they are ignorant to the fact that it is not possible to climb the corporate ladder unless you develop and imbibe all the various management aspects and obtain the skills of how to apply the knowledge of the degree in real time industry situations.

A major drawback in the MBA program in India is the design of the course curriculum and the teaching methodologies. The entire focus is on classroom teaching i.e. the lecture method with limited exposure to study by working on case studies and projects in industries. The curriculum has minimum scope for field visits, interaction with industry professionals, and facilitation for research and publication. Therefore the entire learning process is compromised on the practical application aspect of the program. All the leading B-Schools abroad for e.g. Harvard, Kellogg, Stern, Stanford etc as well as the IIMs in India give a lot of emphasis on student development and learning by emphasizing on the practical aspects of the curriculum. The curriculum of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences included 4 days of classroom training and 2 days of compulsory industry work to get the required exposure and understand the requirements and protocols of the corporate. The objective of such B-Schools is to nurture a high performance work environment by individual development of the student and also to maintain an active dialog with the industry to keep up with the newest and most efficient practices and approaches required by MBA graduates.

Most schools fall short in the global focus of an MBA program. The MBA students are weak in analytic & statistical skills,logic and reasoning, problem solving skills, and leadership qualities for effective decision making and implementation. The students are uninformed about the economical state of developed and developing countries. They need to be made aware of the national and international economy so they can contribute positively towards the development of the country. Some schools like SP Jain offer a global MBA program in the 3 major cities of Singapore, Dubai and Sydney to give their students an international exposure to become effective global managers. More such programs should be developed by the Indian B-Schools for the progress of the MBA students. There should be more productive engagement with global researchers, practitioners and policy makers to enhance and attract world class faculty to give an international and global exposure and understanding to the students to help them develop management skills and a global approach which is much needed in today’s times.

More joint seminars and projects (industry and institutes)should be initiated for real time exposure and experience. Students should be sensitized towards society and the environment in terms of overall development of a healthy, progressive environment. Students must be trained to have excellent IT skills and also be groomed to possess good interpersonal and communication skills on a local as well as global level. Therefore the MBA programs need to be designed towards business orientation in terms of extracting the best returns out of your investment. There should be process and functional orientation for effective operations like Sales and Marketing, Supply Chain and Logistics,Project Management, Product Development etc. The program should also be equipped for people orientation in terms of working efficiently in a team and growing in the corporate with a global mindset.

In today’s competitive world if the B-Schools in India have to keep up with the rest of the world in terms of quality, standards and brand name, they need to comply with the global requirements of MBA students. Up to date infrastructure, research facilities, industry exposure for consulting assignments handled and completed by the institutes etc should be met with according to top B-School curriculum. Engagement of students in field research activity (such as market research, feasibility study, risk analysis, company performance analysis, industry based practices etc) in the industry is a mandatory inclusion in today’s management education curriculum. This will enhance the student output and in turn produce better MBA graduates who are prepared to meet the expectations of the corporate.

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