The forum witnessed participation form 150 Chancellors, Vice Chancellors, Presidents, Directors, Deans & Decision-makers from leading Universities & B-schools from Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Mysore, Madurai, Coimbatore and the entire Southern region.
The experts argued that while the challenges are many, B-schools can focus on their own mission and purpose and create value for stakeholders.
Mr D Shivakumar, Nokia's operations head for India, West Asia and Africa, & President of All India Management Association (AIMA) spoke on the theme of ‘Management Education at the Crossroads’. Mr Shivakumar pointed out that management education has performed an important role in the last few decades. “Management education is about organizing simplicity in complexity. It makes you action orientated and reflects on issues. It creates entrepreneurs. It generates respect for consumer, customer, and partnerships. Overall, it has created value for stakeholders,” opined Mr Shivakumar. He however said that, in a fast changing world, management education is failing on a few counts. “Is our management education society driven, or is merely serving goals of businesses & economy. Are we creating mercenaries who are only focused on jobs, salaries and bonuses?” questioned Mr Shivakumar.
Mr Manish Sabharwal, Chairman, TeamLease Services spoke eloquently on the need for MBA institutes to rethink their ‘core purpose’. He argued that B-schools have no business being in the business of vocational training.
“B-schools that are only focusing on employability and vocational training are facing a tough time. The purpose of a B-school is to make its graduates confident of their abilities. B-schools must make their grads think analytically. It’s not merely a ‘finishing school’ approach that will work. B-schools have to create greater value for their students,” he said.
Mr Abhijit Bhaduri, Chief Learning Officer, WIPRO Group & Author of ‘Don’t Hire the Best’ spoke on why and how B-schools need to create more ‘depth’ in their curriculum, and mere focus on soft-skills and other cosmetic tools will not help. Echoing the sentiments shared by Mr Sabharwal earlier, Mr Bhaduri said, “Most B-schools are seeing themselves merely as a place to train students to talk to recruiters. This is a myopic approach. MBA curriculum must be richer and deeper to make a personal reflect on larger context of society and business.”
Prof J Philip, Founder, XIME & Founder-President, AIMS and Directors from leading B-schools offered their views on how their B-schools are negotiating the current churn in MBA education. Prof Philip was optimistic that scenario is improving for quality B-schools. “I don’t agree with the dooms day scenario being painted by media and experts. MBA education is seeing a revival of demand. We are today better placed than where we were a few years back. There is no cause of worry for well meaning B-schools, who are offering quality education,” said Prof Philip. He added that the only real challenge facing B-schools is the uncertainly over policies and the over-regulation of the sector.
B-school heads representing leading B-schools like IFIM, Alliance University, MS Ramaiah, MYRA,SDM Mysore shared their viewpoints and mantras to survive and thrive in the current chaos. Mr Sanjay Padode, Secretary, IFIM Business School presented a new model on how B-schools can create graduates who are more tuned to industry demands. Dr Swaminathan Murthy, Dean, M.S. Ramaiah Institute of Management, Bangalore spoke on how Faculty can be the key differentiator in meeting industry expectations.
Prof William Verdini, Associate Dean and Director of External Relations, MYRA & Prof Emeritus, Arizona State University, shared his ‘International experiences on building B-school & corporate relationships & its application in Indian context’. Dr. Anubha Singh, Director, Alliance University, Bangalore shared her insight on ‘Delivering high quality MBA Education within Private University Framework’. Dr. N.R.Parasuraman, Director, SDM Institute for Management Development, Mysore spoke on ‘Challenges, Opportunities & Innovations for running a quality B-school in non-metros’.
Following the round-table discussion, the Keynote Address was delivered by Dr. Sylvia Ann Hewlett, Harvard Business Publishing author of 11 books on Talent Management & HR. She spoke on the need for recognizing and promoting women managers.
The program was attended by more than 150 Chancellors, Vice Chancellors, Presidents, Directors, Deans & Decision-makers from leading Universities & B-schools from Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Mysore, Madurai, Coimbatore and the entire Southern region.
Stay tuned to MBAuniverse.com for more news and updates on MBA education in India.
