?The single most important contribution a good institute can give you is to help you realise your true potential, the degree you receive is only an incentive,? declares Jitin Chadha in his director?s message at the Indian School of Business & Finance (ISBF) website. True to the message, he says in an interview with Rajiv Jayaram of The Financial Express that the ability to pay higher fees doesn?t necessarily mean you will obtain a good professional degree. ?Education is an experience. It boils down to these questions?did you enjoy the experience? Did you learn? Did it add quality to your life?? he remarks. Excerpts from the interview:
ISBF was established in 2006 and the major advantage you have is the affiliation with London University. How do you sum up the four years?
One of the major areas of satisfaction for ISBF has been the steady progress both in terms of growth in numbers as well as the credibility?of our institution. Not only has the University of London given an affiliate centre status to?ISBF after incisive screening and quality audit, students and their parents have also shown?much greater degree of confidence in the programmes we offer. We have created an environment of academic development blended with overall personality development of our students through co-curricular activities, which are an integral part of our working. Above all, our results in the annual examination of the University of London have been very encouraging. Our students have been top performers and have received special mention in this regard.
What are the key features of your curriculum and teaching method that are conducted with academic direction from the London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE)?
While?the courses are formulated by the LSE and the examination is conducted by University of London, the teaching is done by the faculty at ISBF. The work schedule consists of?regular classes, tutorials and assignments. One of the features of the teaching method at ISBF is regular presentations by the students. These presentations cover different parts of the syllabi and are attended by members of the faculty who not only ask searching questions from students but also give them suggestions?regarding clarifications that need to be made. Inspection teams from LSE have been impressed by this innovation introduced by the ISBF faculty.
Why the emphasis on economics and statistics in your management study programme?
Basic laws of economic behaviour constitute the essential kernel of management decision. No business manager can afford to ignore these laws. Likewise,?analysis of data?is a tool which all business managers require for keeping?a watch on the trends both internal to their organisation as well as the economy as a whole. It is?imperative for all business managers to have?awareness of the economic forces and factors as well as have a firm knowledge of the statistical tools.
Do you think institutions like yours will be affected by the proposed entry of foreign universities to set up campuses in India?
Since we are offering a course that leads?to the University of London degree, which is one of the most prestigious universities?of the world, we have no immediate challenge emerging from the entry of foreign universities in India. On the contrary, with the growing acceptance of the role of?foreign universities,?we are at an advantage in terms of our past performance and the prestige of our university.
Faculty crunch is an oft-heard issue in India. What factors can help nurture quality faculty?
There is?faculty crunch particularly for teaching the type of courses that we teach. Fortunately, we have been able to find faculty for our core courses and are in a position to identify the appropriate faculty for a number of courses. We have also created?opportunities for conducting research and carry out projects. This also helps our students in working on research projects.
The accusations against B-schools are many, but one main criticism is that educators overwhelmingly focus on short-term profits instead of long-term consequences of business decisions. What are your views about B-schools teaching ethics?
It will be unfair to paint all business schools with the same brush. In any case, all successful and respected B-schools have?focused on the quality of their output even at the cost of losing monetarily in the short run. At a personal level, I am quite aware that success indicators of ISBF are based on the?performance and acceptance of?students in their field of work. Profitability, if any, is a distant issue.
Fortunately, we have not been guided by our short-term gains, but obviously no venture can survive without breaking even in the long-run at least. With ever-increasing costs, it may not be very early.