Grounding B-school curriculum
P. K. Vasudeva
WITH globalisation taking its root and the inter-connectivity of the global economy asserting itself, the demand for management education is experiencing exponential growth. Nowhere is the craze more conspicuous than in India.

Old teaching methods help retain knowledge
OLD-fashioned ways of teaching like reciting times-tables and verb conjugations are better than trendy new teaching methods, say researchers. Researchers believe that reciting facts shortly after learning them is better than many new-style educational methods.

CAMPUS NOTES

• Stress on all round development

• Results declared

• Semester exams

• Hobby classes from Feb 1

• Ultra-modern endoscopic procedures

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Grounding B-school curriculum
P. K. Vasudeva

WITH globalisation taking its root and the inter-connectivity of the global economy asserting itself, the demand for management education is experiencing exponential growth. Nowhere is the craze more conspicuous than in India.

The number of MBA graduates churned out by about 2,000 government-approved B-schools in the country is around two lakh annually. China has some 200 B-schools and an annual turnover of 40,000 graduates, while the corresponding figures for the US are around 900 B-schools churning out 1.5 lakh MBA students.

A comparative analysis of the figures made by the Technopak Consulting Group, shows that India has 100 management school seats per billion dollars of GDP, as against six in China, 11 in the US, and 13 in the UK. The All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and the University Grants Commission (UGC) are flooded with applications from 200 new institutions every year for accreditation of their MBA courses. With the numbers registering a steep rise exceeding 20 per cent every year, it is becoming difficult to separate the chaff from the grain.

Management education has become a sort of El Dorado, with aspirants willing to pay whatever asked for in the hope of making up in the placements and salaries they hope to command.

The result is that fees are skyrocketing with no regulating authority going into whether they are commensurate with the quality of education and teaching and the employability of the products. The AICET has to be very strict in allowing such poor quality institutions to stop mushrooming.

A more disturbing aspect is that most of the so-called B-schools are content to be clones of each other. They offer identical courses, use indistinguishable nomenclature and parrot similar jargon, unabashedly imitating Western B-schools, especially those of the US.

They take pride in flaunting their tie-ups with B-schools abroad, importing a large number of their faculty members and case studies at a huge cost. Most of the case studies generated abroad make no attempt to draw on the lessons provided by the phenomenal achievements of Indian private and public sector institutions and civil society.

Private sector luminaries, Western scholars and some like-minded Indian academics dominate their governing bodies. There is no display on the premises of any of the B-schools the geniuses of this great country, whose profound insights could vastly enrich the quality of management education and make it relevant to India’s cultural and social contexts.

They can only be of minimal help in finding Indian solutions to Indian problems viewed through Indian eyes. The curriculum in B-schools continues to be silo-like, functionally focused. Not surprisingly, the mantra that has echoed in the halls of B-schools in the recent past has been “integrative thinking”. Although that is vital, tomorrow’s B-schools will fail in their mission if they are focused on facilitating integrative learning of the business functions only. These functions are obviously critical, but they may not be sufficient for successful business leadership.

To help produce the type of transformative leaders, B-schools should provide students access to non-traditional knowledge areas. For example, the training that one needs to run a successful financial institution goes beyond the knowledge of business functions and likely includes an understanding of public policy, law and politics.

The importance of New Delhi to Dalal Street or Washington to Wall Street is more critical than we think, and the distance between them is shorter than one would imagine, if you are trying to succeed in business. The latest competition law needs to be included besides sustainable development of the country.

Tomorrow’s curriculums in B-schools will have to break free of the legacy of Western business education and focus on the unique needs of the vast growth markets of tomorrow — that include Prahalad’s insights on the “bottom of the pyramid and strategic intent”.

Also, new methods of marketing research for the “bottom-of-the-pyramid” require creative approaches to survey and measure key issues such as customer needs, preference and choice because of hurdles such as customer illiteracy or semi-literacy. These methods are being developed and can be expected to become a part of curriculums in the successful B-schools of tomorrow.

 Today, management education is at a crossroads. There are unique opportunities emerging from the changes, challenges, and expectations shaped by technology, market needs, the public’s perception of business, and discerning MBA aspirants.

The B-schools that excel tomorrow will likely be those that grab these opportunities by modifying existing curricula to address the public’s expanded expectations of business leaders and cater to new priorities in emerging markets. Further, these schools will need to make available to their students areas of knowledge outside traditional business functions, and facilitate life-long learning for their alums by providing access to modern knowledge from faculty involved in cutting edge research, and offering these faculty incentives to be involved in beyond-the-classroom teaching and mentorship.

This is a high order; however, the B-schools that pursue such an agenda are likely emerge as true catalysts of change in the personal growth of budding business leaders, and through them, in the growth of corporations and communities of tomorrow.

The author is a former trade senior professor, ICFAI Business School, Chandigarh

Old teaching methods help retain knowledge

OLD-fashioned ways of teaching like reciting times-tables and verb conjugations are better than trendy new teaching methods, say researchers. Researchers believe that reciting facts shortly after learning them is better than many new-style educational methods.

Although most students expected to learn more from the mapping approach, the retrieval exercise actually worked much better to strengthen both short-term and long-term memory, the study said. — IANS

CAMPUS NOTES

Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak
Stress on all round development

Meanwhile, in a meeting held here recently a decision was taken for the installation of statues of luminaries involved in establishment of the Jat educational institutes, including the legendry kisan leader Deenbandhu Chhotu Ram.

Results declared

The university has declared the results of Diploma in Education (DEd) first year supplementary examinations held on January 4 and 6 this year. According to the Controller of Examination, Dr B.S. Sindhu, the result have been made available on the university website www.mdurohtak.com. The candidates who wish to take the next examination in July 2011 on the basis of this result may submit their examination forms up to January 31 without late fee.

Semester exams

The MDU will hold the Semester Examinations for I.T. & Management courses of Directorate of Distance Education (DDE) from January 28. According to the university spokesperson, the varsity has made necessary arrangements for smooth conduct of semester examinations. Date sheet is available on the university website www.mdurohtak.com. The timings for the examination will be from 2.30 pm to 5.30 pm.

Hobby classes from Feb 1

The university under the aegis of its Students' Welfare Office will conduct hobby classes of music and dance for the university students. Hobby classes are being introduced on the campus to provide students' with an opportunity to develop musical skills to broaden their personality and provide them recreation as well.

According to university officials, students can learn both classical and folk dances in the hobby classes of dance, while the music class will cover the learning of guitar, mouth organ, harmonium, and tabla. The hobby classes will commence from February 1 at the Students' Activity Centre of the university.

Pt. B. D. Sharma University of Health Sciences, Rohtak
Ultra-modern endoscopic procedures

PGIMS, Rohtak, has launched various ultra-modern endoscopic procedures, including endoscopy, colonoscopy and ERCP, for the patients with disorders related to gastroenterology, a wing of the super-speciality medicine. The latest move has been made the Medical Gastroenterology Department, which was started only five months ago. The department has started endoscopic procedures on twice-a-week basis with indoor facilities, claimed Dr Parveen Malhotra, head of the department. Dr Malhotra has been specially trained for these procedures at a Hyderabad-based super-specialty hospital of international repute. He said such procedures would help in diagnosing and treating patients suffering from ulcers, blood in vomit or stools, liver, esophagus, stomach and intestinal diseases, cancer, and foreign body removal.

— Contributed by Bijendra Ahlawat

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