Corporates are always on the lookout for specialists as marketing, finance, operations, HR and IT remain integral part of every business system. Chances of faster and better placements will increase, if institutes begin sectoral MBA programmes with a general MBA foundation. Students should be developed through an MBA foundation and then given thorough knowledge of tools, technology and nuances of a sector like mass media, banking, IT, insurance, FMCG among others. The focus also needs to be on energy efficiency solutions, Internet of Things, big data analysis among others. The ROI on a candidate groomed this way will be higher than others with a general MBA as training and induction costs will become minimal. Unless institutes create a niche for their students, it will be difficult to survive in today’s disruptive times.
In addition to this, every management institute must devote time to make their students aware of the international scenario and opportunities. Earlier we looked at global companies and made students learn and inculcate the work culture. With the Make in India mission, technology transfer is bound to happen with the foreign companies setting up their manufacturing units in India. Students should be exposed to culture, economic pattern industrial history and knowledge of the country. Such MBA graduates should be then rewarded with better salary packages.
Ideally, this calls for a very intelligent curation of topics, subjects and pedagogies. This can happen only if the institute is run by professionals along with professors. The academicians need to rise and upgrade themselves to meet the industry requirements.
Till now, industry-academia interface remained a mere chapter in the regulatory framework of an institute. The time has come for this to be put into actual practice. Faculty must upgrade themselves and come out of their comfort zone. Joint research, consultancy projects and part-time assignments are the order of the day. Academicians must tighten their belt and act. Administrators must look at research papers and projects while promoting a faculty. Has the faculty contributed to the industry via a new tool or research? Did the faculty offer consulting to a corporate? Any path-breaking research that the faculty has contributed in a sector? These must be the parameters for judging a faculty.
I urge management institutes to first focus on their faculty and then their students. A common complaint by institutes would be budgetary constraints to bring this concept into practice. Intervention from the government or corporates can surely help. Corporates can look at by making academia interface part of their Corporate Social Responsibility programme. If the government enforces a law that each corporate, as part of their CSR budget, aligns with two educational institutes we will find a sea of difference in the quality of students being churned out each year.
If the faculty is upgraded, the students will be trained better, this will obviously lead to better manpower. The ultimate beneficiary will be the corporates and the Indian business scenario.
