Over the years, it has been leading the management education sector -- it started satellite-based education in 2000, and then expanded into two international centers Dubai and Singapore.
MBAUniverse.com interviewed Fr E Abraham, S.J., director of XLRI Jamshedpur to share journey of XLRI, and some recent trends in management education domain. Prior to XLRI, Fr Abraham was the Director of XIM-B. He also worked as Joint Director of the Academy of HRD, and the President of the Association of Indian Management Schools.
Excerpts from the interview:
Q: How do you see the journey of your institution since its inception?
A: XLRI has come a long way since its inception. The demand for our flagship programmes, both Business Management and Personnel Management & Industrial Relations, is at an all time high. For the last few years, executive education has also been on the rise. Our one-year General Management Programme for working executives has been very well received by industry, the success of which has inspired us to double the intake of students for this programme. We run Executive Postgraduate Programmes in Dubai and Singapore. Such programmes provide an excellent platform for working executives in the two countries.
In pursuance of XLRI's objective of upgrading skills of executives through dissemination of quality management education in the country, XLRI Jamshedpur introduced satellite-based management programmes, using the network and services set up by Hughes Communications India Limited and Reliance Webworld. This collaboration has taken training and education programmes of XLRI beyond the geographical boundaries of Jamshedpur to various classrooms across India.
Q: How is XLRI different from other top B-schools?
A: The values that are instilled in the students here produce not just excellent managers but good human beings with an ethical outlook. A unique environment of 'caring and sharing' is what makes this B-school different.
Q: How does your curriculum keep pace with the changing business environment?
A: XLRI is in touch with the industry on a continuous basis. The feedback from the market helps us to design a course that is relevant to industry.
Q: Moving on to the admission process at your institute, what kind of skills do you look for in prospective students?
A: We look for Analytical skills, openness to new ideas; ability to learn; ability to work in teams and ethical and social orientation.
Q: Indian MBA programs admit relatively inexperienced candidates. This is in contrast with the US B-schools. How do you look at this trend?
A: XLRI has a student population of more than 50% with an average of 3-4 years of work experience. So we have a good mixture of students. In-experience students bring freshness to the programme. Their ability to question helps the experience student's debate on issues when they work together.
Q: In last few years, IIMs and other top tier B-schools have admitted about 70% students with prior work-ex. What is your view on this trend?
A: I do not recommend that Indian B-schools should admit only students with work experience. Mix of both candidates with experience and fresh graduates is important in an MBA programme.
We have separate programmes with students with work experience like: 1 year GMP Programme and 3 year Part-time Programme. Students with over 5 years of work experience do not need the 2 year full time programmes, whereas fresh students and students with 1-2 years of work experience will need an MBA of longer duration.
Q: What would be your message to MBA aspirants who wish to join an institute like yours?
A: Self-awareness would form a major part of the foundation of success and happiness in anyone's career. The aspiring students should not be carried away by peer pressure in choosing the institutes and the programmes. Success depends on how well the students can match themselves with the opportunities available and decide on the best programme.
