Thus MBA is even more relevant in these times of economic slowdown, especially when companies are looking for specialists with skills to better manage future growth. That’s the key message delivered by Dr Prem Vrat, Vice Chancellor, UP Technical University at Management Avenues ’09, held in Lucknow on March 15, 2009.
Said Dr Vrat, “The current economic slowdown and recession is the consequence of mis-management of economy and companies. We need good minds and trained managers to develop effective strategies to come out of this situation. I believe MBA education is even more relevant today than in past.”
He also added that India is not hit by the recession but just a slowdown as the economic growth has been slowed down from 9% to 6%.
Dr Vrat urged the students to work towards developing life-long employability skills that will keep them employed for a long time rather than expecting their MBA institutes to create placements. He further said, “MBA institutes are not placement exchanges. Both students and MBA institutes should focus on developing employability skills.
There are several emerging areas in which MBAs can focus to generate quality employment and even entrepreneurship opportunities.”
While speaking on diverse emerging aspects of management, Dr Vrat added, “Over the last decade, traditional management schools and MBAs have ignored areas like Health Management, Rural Management, Environment Management, Knowledge Management etc. By focusing on these critical areas, MBAs can benefit in the times of slowdown.”
Ending his address on a positive note, Dr Vrat said, “India is good at crisis management. We have historically done well when our backs are against the walls! I have no doubt that India will emerge stronger from this period of economic slowdown.”
Prof. Prem Vrat is the Vice Chancellor, U.P. Technical University, Lucknow and Founder-Director of IIT Roorkee. Prof. Vrat has more than 40 years of experience in teaching, research, consultancy and management development at Mechanical Engineering Department at top institutions like IIT Delhi, AIT Bangkok and IIT Roorkee. He taught a wide spectrum of courses related to Industrial Engineering and Management Science at IIT Delhi. He obtained B.Tech. (Hons.) in Mechanical Engineering in 1966 from IIT Kharagpur and M.Tech, Industrial Engineering and Operations Research, from the same institute in 1968. He received Ph.D. Degree in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research from IIT Delhi in 1974.
Management Avenues 2009 is organized by MBAUniverse.com and Dainik Jagran I Next across 9 cities to provide a platform for MBA aspirants to understand more about management education. Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more highlights from Management Avenues.
