The Management Classroom In Transition

Changes necessitated by the pandemic are recreating the spaces and ways in which business students can learn and plan for the long term. The MBA classroom is transforming its content, pedagogy and redefining the meaning of management education. Curriculum and courses are being expanded to be more relevant while providing flexibility and options for students. Digitisation and the use of technology as a primary educational tool has made consistent teacher training and skilling the need of the hour. Entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship skills are in greater demand from industry and students alike. Moreover, the call for inclusion and diversity in leadership is stronger than ever. The management classroom is transforming in every sphere. As there are many challenges ahead for business schools, there are many more opportunities as well. 

Upgrading the B-school Curriculum  

For educators, students and families, this past year has been a test of patience and persistence. Finishing the school year remotely, creating contingency plans for a new year and preparing facilities for in-person learning this fall has forced many of us to reflect on the state of our learning environments. Technology was a lifeline between students and educators during Covid, but even the biggest fans hit a tech-fatigue wall.  

Madhu Raghavan, Director, TAPMI emphasises the need to build soft skills, stating, “Today work has transcended all boundaries. Schools like UCLA, Oxford, Berkeley, MIT all have had to change their curriculum”. Raghavan holds the opinion that changing the curriculum is a fundamental requirement to adapt to the post-pandemic environment. The curriculum needs to be industry-relevant, technologically conscious, aware of changes in skillset and research-oriented. 

Ajitesh Basani. Executive Director, Acharya Bangalore B-school observed a faster burnout rate with students. To confront the problem of the pandemic, they started a programme called ‘Theatre in Management’, which included various management functionalities which translated into better communication skills in students. “Students from the younger generation have been coping quite well with the new change, but at the same time effectiveness of the programmes have to be improved”, he added.  

On the impact of the pandemic on B-schools, Asit K Barma, Director, Bharathidasan Institute of Management, Tiruchirappalli says, "While discussing the curriculum and pedagogy, a lot of time is given to the hybrid online and offline programmes.  
B-schools always imbibe what is happening in the environment. Every time there is a pandemic or any disruption, the economy has to find new ways of recovery. We have to understand how the students of B-schools can play a role here." 

Working on the attention span of students is another issue confronted by academicians. Mohua Banerjee, Director, IMI Kolkata suggests introducing meditation sessions before the start of classes for the students, while Bigyan Prakash Verma, Director, Sies College of Management Studies, supports the introduction of Hackathons for the students organised by the alumni of the university where students are asked to resolve real-life problems. Atmanand, Director, MDI, Murshidabad points out that technology infrastructure used by the faculty to impact education must be thoroughly understood by the faculty first. 

Health considerations and budget cuts, coupled with investments made to build technology infrastructure and support blended delivery models during the pandemic, are set to have a lasting impact on the look, feel, and experience of B-school campus life. 

Enhancing Diversity and Inclusion 

There is a need to bring students from diverse backgrounds, different unrepresented communities and incorporate gender parity. India has a great vibrant and viable legacy for diversity and inclusion in the education system. One can go back 2500 years when students from different backgrounds and geographies came to great universities like Takshila, which contributed significantly to our advanced education system today. However, of late, if we see some current statistics and especially in B-schools, there is a lot that can be done to enhance diversity and inclusion. 

For example, the MBA Batch of 2021-23 across all IIMs saw an 11 per cent decline in female students. Also, the inclination is towards engineering students in the admission process. The majority of the students in India’s B-schools have nearly 60 per cent engineers. There is a need to bring students from diverse backgrounds, different unrepresented communities and incorporate gender parity. The Government of India and various regulators have emphasised diversity and inclusion as an essential aspect of ranking multiple institutions, especially in B-schools and has also made it a part of the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF). 

GNIOT Institute of Management Studies (GIMS) has introduced GAT, GIMS’ aptitude test. In the past two years, a lot of students missed out on examinations such as CAT due to technological or remote location issues. This allows them to appear for the exams. They are specially designed and created for these students. This introduction has allowed the institute to bring in a lot of students and provide them with a platform. To encourage female students, an initiative called GIMS Shakti was launched. Through this initiative married female students are offered scholarships to pursue higher education. Arun Kumar Singh, Director, GIMS adds, “We also have many students at GIMS from the northeastern region of the country. All this speaks volumes about the kind of diversity we bring into our system and institute”. 

Diversity is the first step, but without inclusion, there is a risk of tokenism, that must be avoided. Studies have shown that diversity in leadership can contribute to positive growth, increased collaboration, a better understanding of customer needs and an overall better work environment. For this to be successful students need to feel safe in the classroom. Safety here means that all students are valued, everyone’s voices are heard and their contribution acknowledged.  

In a vast nation like India, we need to see the diversity reflected in our leaders. Institutes are making strides by including more women and reaching out to tier-2 and tier-3 cities. A diverse class has different needs that also require B-schools to upgrade their curriculum and teaching methods. Starting conversations and becoming aware of ways in which outreach programmes are working and finding areas where work still needs to be done are crucial to inclusion. 

Digital University And The B-school 

The integration of digital technology into everyday life has become a core part of education over the last two years. The concept of digitisation is not new, however, the accelerated adoption of technology has been unprecedented and many educational institutes are still figuring out how to seamlessly conduct online and hybrid classes. 

While online education has now been an integral part of our lives, it has brought a digital divide for the overall society. The future world might see hybrid classes, but lose the emotional connection between students and faculty. Moreover, B-schools and digital universities need to train the students as per recruiters’ perspective.  

Management institutions and digital universities are bound to have different education processes and students. B-schools focus primarily on students’ learning experience, balancing knowledge with practical experience, through the recruiter’s perspective. A digital university’s function is to provide a mass education system that can be challenging with various barriers. Online courses can provide accessibility and affordability across vast geographies, however, that is not the primary goal of a management institution.  

Vandana Sonwaney, Director, SIOM Nashik points out, that although a lot of skills can be developed virtually, "not the whole of management education can be replaced by virtual education". While B-schools are doing their part to be accessible to learners everywhere, a lot of the practical experience, peer-to-peer learning, building social capital, cannot be done solely through online means.  

Online and hybrid learning spaces are the future of learning. Roaming cameras, smart classes, live lectures, gamification and many more innovations are here to stay. While network issues, device shortages and building a robust digital infrastructure remain challenges, business schools, edtechs and government initiatives are all working to close this digital divide. The true challenge for educators will be to maintain an emotional connection and build the teacher-student relationship within the hybrid classroom. 

Vasudha Mukherjee

BW Reporters The author works with BW Education