Revitalising Management Education in India: A Strategic Approach
Year: 2012
Type: preprint
Abstract: Context & Current ScenarioManagement education in India is gradually losing its charm. This is evident from sharp decline in the number of MBA aspirants so much so that a large number of seats in the Business Schools (B-Schools) across the country remain unfilled. Many colleges have opted for closure. Even the corporate looks at the B-School graduates with suspicion in terms of their competencies and employability. Unfortunately, regulatory body has focussed more on granting approvals rather than improving the quality of management education in the country resulting into high proliferation and low quality of teaching- learning.The problem is further compounded by faculty shortage, poor quality of faculty, short term focus of the management education providers, poor governance, lower degree of accountability, indifference of the corporate and above all competencies of MBA aspirants in terms of undergoing rigor of professional education. Emerging scenario demands immediate course-correction and greater involvement of all the stakeholders vis-a-vis management education.Looming Crisis in management education in India can be attributed mainly to the mushrooming of B-Schools. At present there are approximately 3,900 B-Schools in India which have a capacity of about 400,000 students a year (Sarkar, 2011). While in 2004 this number was 1200 with an annual intake of 75,000. The number of B-Schools in 1990 was only 130 with an annual MBA intake of 12,000 (8000 full time, 3000 part-time, and 1000 distance education) (Gupta & Gollakota, 2004). Interestingly only 4 B-schools were added in the first three decades since the launch of formal business education in India.However, sudden mushrooming of B-Schools has put immense pressure on the available resources. Additionally, the quality of education in terms of student intake, faculty and curriculum has been compromised by most of these B-Schools. Recent trend shows a decline in the number of aspirants for the admission tests for MBA in various institutions. CAT saw a shocking decrease in number of aspirants from 275,000 in 2008 to 204,000 in 2010, while there were 2,05,000 aspirants in the year 2011. Simultaneously the number of Indians aspiring for GMAT, a standard test of proficiency in mathematics and English language for admission into graduate business administration programmes dropped from 21,612 in 2009 to 18,675 in 2010. Similar fall in the number of aspirants was observed in XAT where the number of aspirants fell from 103,427 in 2009 to 84,979 in 2010 and in case of NMAT from 45000 in 2009-10 to 40,500 in 2010-11 (Sarkar, 2011).As a result of decrease in the number of MBA aspirants, around sixty five B-Schools in India are planning to close down as the trustees of these institutions believe that there is no future of management education in the country. Data reflects that many of such B-schools are located in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. It is feared that this number may increase before the start of the next academic session (Nanda, 2012). Further, there is no occupancy for about 40 per cent of management seats and there is a decline of 65 per cent of occupancy rate in B-Schools in 2011-12 (CRISIL, 2012). It is observed that the B-schools which want to close are mostly those in remote India which are of inferior quality and thus do not get students (Chhapia, 2012). The reasons for this acute decline may be attributed to increase in number of seats in the B-Schools across the country, shortage of competent faculty, absence of industry-institute interface, increasing awareness among students about the quality of education disseminated by the B-Schools of the country (CRISIL, 2012).Additionally, the objective of most of the B-schools in India has interestingly been transformed since its establishment from imparting skills to placement. Event before the establishment of formal management institute in 1953 (Indian Institute of Social Welfare and Business Management), Tata Institute of Social Sciences (1936) and Xavier Labour Research Institute (1946) were already imparting training programmes for managers. …
Source: SSRN Electronic Journal
Authors: Shweta Jha, M. Kumar
Language: English
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W3124359829