Industry-oriented education is what most business schools in India aspire to provide. But, in the absence of regular industry-academia interaction, many of the business schools in the country have found it difficult to design courses that are relevant to corporate management. Students are the ones worst affected by this. Lack of guidance tells upon their choice of specialisation, leading to situations like the one the MBA (finance) graduates in the country are faced with.When the financial boom was on, a disproportionately large number of students opted for the finance stream in management education. This led to an excess turnover of MBA (finance) graduates, beyond what industry could absorb. The situation worsened for these graduates the moment the NBFCs in the country started closing shop. Most management schools had overlooked the cyclical nature of HR demand in the finance sector and that happened because there were no inputs on the subject coming from industry. Indeed, management education has to beindustry-oriented if it is to withstand the fluctuations in the job market.
Margaret Murdin, principal of Wigan & Leigh College, the UK, emphasised "the need for industry and education to go hand-in-hand," during her recent visit to New Delhi. Murdin was in the Capital to interact with the business chambers and help the Indian counterpart, Wigan & Leigh College (India), design courses that are relevant to corporate India. "Our aim is to design and develop courses that are relevant to the Indian industry," she said.
Murdin represents an institution that has done remarkably well in the UK. "We are the best rated college in the UK, with a good inspection record," she said. And, she was equally impressed with the way the Indian counterpart has progressed. "The management centre here has more books than we have in the UK. The infrastructure is excellent, with high quality information technology and software facilities. The computer-user ratio in the college is a healthy 1:6," she remarked.
"We are nowplanning exchange programmes for the students and staff here," she informed.
Murdin felt that Indian industry could play a vital role in improving the application value of the management education imparted in the country. "There was a time when the MBA degree had lost all meaning in the UK. Students who appeared competent on paper, failed to translate their theoretical knowledge into successful business processes. To overcome this, the management schools entered into a partnership with the business chambers to enable the students gain hands-on industry experience. Practical training of this nature made management education in the country relevant to industry needs," Murdin explained.
Multi-skilling is an essential part of management education. "Managers should possess the capability of managing change, and that is possible if the incumbents have received training in a wide range of subjects," she said.
But, will multi-skilling rob someone of his specialisation? Murdin felt that specialisation is indeedimportant for occupying a particular corporate slot. But, to dispense with managerial functions, one must be adept at handling a variety of subjects, she observed.
Murdin felt the Indian industry is highly supportive of all efforts that are being made to make management education industry relevant. She has, in fact, proposed a four-way partnership between the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), Chamber of Commerce of North West England, Wigan Leigh College, the UK, and Wigan & Leigh College (India). Such a partnership will provide students an internationally-relevant business education.
Murdin said that in the UK the performance of the students has a bearing on the management education administrators' career growth and income. In India, such accountability is not there. Business schools here are not quite concerned about the nature of placements their students get. The focus is on the earnings, not on the functions that students garner on being placed in industry. Murdin feltit is time the business schools in India got a feedback from the employers on the performance of their graduates. This will aid in the designing of new management courses.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
