The demand for management education in India is much larger than that of
any other country including the U.S. By most estimates, about 2,50,000
Indians are seeking MBA degrees every year. It is no surprise that
several schools have been started in the last six years to offer
management education. Till 2001, Indian institutes offered only a
two-year programme in management. The Indian School of Business that
opened its doors in 2001 offered a one-year programme in management.
This programme targeted experienced professionals who did not have a
management background, and successfully delivered to them. Since then,
several institutes have started offering the one-year PGDM. Part-time
programme The part-time programme is offered to people who want to be in
their jobs but still want to educate themselves. Traditionally, this
segment offered the programme in the evenings. But given the fact that
the bulk of the demand for this programme comes from people working in
the IT industry and who start their work only by 6 p.m. in line with the U.S. time zone,
the part-time programme could not be offered in the evenings, but over
the weekend. The distance mode of delivery of the programme also catered
to this group. The distance delivery mode comprised correspondence
courses, online delivery using technology platforms such as the
VSAT-based one-way delivery of audio, video conference based multi-way
delivery in synchronous mode. Internet-based asynchronous programme
delivery is another method. More recently, given the introduction of
MOOCs (massive online open courses) by several reputed B schools in the
U.S., some providers of online technology platforms are partnering with
Indian schools to attempt such an online programme. Most of these
programme providers, while focusing on the process and delivery,
overlook the real need of the students which is to acquire well-paying
jobs at the end of the programme. Since such job placements are not
delivered, several business schools in India are finding it difficult to
recruit students. Students are not willing to pay a high fee which is
out of sync with the starting salaries that are offered to students
graduating from those institutes. Students look for a 1:1 match between
the fees of the programme and the starting salary. If an institute
charges Rs. 6 lakh as the fee for the programme, students expect a
starting salary ranging from Rs.5.5 lakh to Rs.6.5 lakh. Herein lies the
issue, since most companies do not offer such starting salaries for
entry-level managers. There is scope for offering a programme for
inexperienced students which combines work and study in such a way that
companies are also involved. Such a programme can combine the strengths
of both modes of delivery - online and live classes. A programme that
requires students to work as interns in companies during the weekdays
and be in the class on weekends is an ideal one for inexperienced
students. If companies can be co-opted into this programme by B schools
so that they provide the internship opportunity to these students while
also offering an opportunity to be considered for a job, the programme
gains strength. Students can then get a better compensation upon
graduation so that they would have had two years of experience.
Companies would get to evaluate the candidates deeply before they offer
them jobs. The online technology will help in keeping the students
connected to the professors and other students during the week while the
course is delivered live during weekends. This requires a close
cooperation between the institutes and the companies. Either one or both
can take the initiative in designing such a programme. At the National
Management School, we are experimenting with such a programme this year.
This follows the success of the internship-based study-abroad programme
that we organise for students from U.S. universities. We believe that a
good quality programme with qualified professors can be delivered with
the active cooperation of a few companies that see value in such a
proposition. The writer is Dean, The National Management School. Email:
sankaran@nms.edu.in
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