IIM Calcutta Director Dr Saibal Chattopadhyay, who has recently taken charge of the coveted IIM, believes that a positive and healthy competition among the top IIMs will only work in the interest of quality Management Education in the country.
In a free-wheeling chat with MBAUniverse.com recently on the sidelines of IIM summit in Goa, Dr Chattopadhyay said that the clear mandate for IIMs is to focus on quality and accordingly all the IIMs are striving to achieve academic excellence and do more research in the larger interest of Indian society.
In this interview, the IIM-C director who has been a senior faculty member in the Operation Management Group with more than 30 years of rich academic experience in India and abroad, also speaks on importance of international accreditation, collaboration among the Asian B-schools and other vital issues that impact business education in India.
Excerpts:
Q: IIM Calcutta under your leadership has organized the first of its kind Pan-IIM summit in Goa. How was the experience for you, especially since you have recently taken over as the Director of the institute?
A: It was indeed a great experience to be the part of such a noble process where we focused on enhancing the academic output and discussed on different aspects of emerging issues in management education.
Though the conference was jointly hosted by all the 13 IIMs, our BoG Chairman Mr Ajit Balakrishnan supported the idea and encouraged us in every possible way. He has always emphasized on the intellectual excercise that IIMs and non-IIMs must take up. In fact, Mr Balakrishnan led this project from the front.
The platform discussed game changing ideas in management placed in a societal context and offered new insights to existing management problems.
Q: How do you see the role of IIMs in the present business education scenario in India? What are challenges for them?
A: What IIMs are doing is the fundamentally right things in management education. I feel this is the key to our success, relevance and sustenance. For New IIMs, these are still a challenge and they face competition from other B-schools also.
But if you start comparing the intellectual output of the IIMs with those of the best quality institutes in West, you will also need to look into the different quality parameters that exist. A management theory that works well in West might not work in the same way in the country like India given the country’s diversity and socio-economic challenges. Also, the western model of management education is getting saturated and therefore we need to create momentum and develop a sustainable model for India.
Q: Many IIMs including yours have increased the class size in last few years. Is it affecting the quality and impacting overall placement process in the IIMs?
A: With increasing population of the country, we as responsible institutions, also need to accommodate more students. Hence, we have increased the batch size. But remember, simultaneously we are also improving infrastructural support and other essentials to maintain our high standard & quality. As far as placements at IIMs are concerned, we have been very successful so far.
Q: Is there a sense of competition among top IIMs – IIMA, IIMB, IIMC?
A: Being among the best, there is always a sense of positive and healthy competition among us. This competition, in fact, does only work in the interest of quality Management Education in the country. But unfortunately, sometimes media unnecessarily creates hype over the issue.
Q: What are the key parameters that B-schools should look into seriously to uplift quality in Management Education?
A: The top three things that Indian B-schools must aspire for is 1.Updated curriculum; 2. Bigger interaction between industry and academia; 3.Research that is in larger interest of society.
The clear mandate for IIMs is to focus on quality and accordingly all the IIMs are striving to achieve academic excellence and do more research in the larger interest of Indian society.
Q: How important is international accreditation for B-schools. Does it really add value to them?
A: Yes. The international accreditation is very important factor as it promotes and encourages quality education. The accreditation also gives you a good feel and boosts B-schools’ brand. But, again the accreditation parameters should be different based on the regional context.
Q: Indian B-schools have collaborated with B-schools in many Western and European countries. But there have been very few tie-ups within the Asian region. What is holding back the Indian B-schools in collaborating with Asian Business schools?
A: I agree that there have not been much collaboration with Asian B-schools. But Indian B-schools are increasingly warming up for the same. India B-schools are engaging with B-school in other Asian countries like Singapore, China etc. The language barrier with countries like China is also breaking. I believe, we will have more collaboration with B-schools in Asian countries.
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