Indian MBA System

Today, MBA degree is undoubtedly the most famous degree in India. Thanks to the obscene packages (as one of my MBA faculty speaks of the packages) offered to most of the B-School graduates. Rising packages of IIMs and international placements constitue the headlines easily during the placement season. Many students are of the opinion that placements are the USPs of an MBA degree.

However, I am of a different opinion. I genuinely feel that the much hullabaloo (created due to placements) around the MBA degree has done much of a disservice to the student community than good to it. Nearly, every Engineer who passes out of E-School even before personally reading about the MBA program details offered by the institutes orients himself to join a B-School, forget about taking an exposure in the industry or understanding the fundamentals of business administration which should form the guideliness to form a decision to go for an MBA. The ultimate result of which is “A dissatisfied MBA graduate in his post-graduation tenure and finally a non-interested and relatively lesser competent manager than expected  passes into industry”.

Majority of the prospective students entering an MBA do it inorder to switch their career. But, as per my observation, these students are not fully aware of what they want to get into and tend to experiment a lot (Probably, I am one of them). One of the incident I would like to quote here is of one of the alumni of my institute who worked in IT industry wanted a switch, came for an MBA but later in the second year realised he wanted to pursue MBA in advertising which was not offered by the institute. I think the indecisiveness manytimes hits such students badly as was the case with my senior and thereby the student is not able to appreciate the program and design his curriculm (choose electives) to get benefitted from it the most.

Moreover, the Indian mentality of judging a students calibre on his ability to score reflects on the selection system of B-Schools. You would rarely find a 90 percentiler or 80 percentiler student making it to IIMs. But, at the same time you may find a 650 score getter making it to Harvard Business School. B-Schools tend to give more weightage to written scores and the underlying concept is to identify the best score not the best learner which is derivative of the Indian mentality of scoring more nor learning more. The same mentality percolates during the post-graduation tenure as well and the MBA graduates slog hard to get a higher score in the examination. According to many of the passed out MBA graduates, higher score does not necessarily reflect in depth subject knowledge and pragmatic approach.

Taking all of these aspects, I do feel Indian MBAs do not make great leaders. One of the Harvard Professors commented once about Indian MBA Managers “Indian MBA Managers can keep a well-doing business afloat or move upwards, however they cannot errect a dying business.“

One of the panacea for the flaws in the MBA system of India which have been mentioned above can be pre-requisite work experience before joining MBA. The best B-Schools around the world have such pre-requisites of work experience. Work experience often lets a candidate understand the practical aspects of industry, clears confusion about career path and hence is able to appreciate the MBA program in a much better mode.

With various coaching institutes helping aspiring students to crack the tests and the GD/PIs, I feel somewhere the basic aptitude and intellegence of a candidate is not put into test in the present format of tests. Some of the institutes like ISB, G-LAKES, SPJIMR, SCMHRD, even IIMs have now adopted selection process in which the weightage given to written scores have come down and resume evaluation (background story) is being enforced.

Leadership or life cannot be taught in the class, but surely education system and enterance systems can be altered to help student learn leadership outside the class. The underlying fundamental concept of an enterance system needs to be indentifying the best learners not the best scorers.

Lost your job in this recession?

 

Most people drive through life looking in their rearview mirror and judging the future by the past. They have a really good view of where they have been and mistakenly think the future will be similar to the past as they make decisions based on their previous experiences. Even though past experience gives a base for the future, there are many employability factors to take into account as you plan to grab one of the best jobs in 2010 and beyond. 

The future work world will be even more global. If your job is not one that requires you to physically be in one place, i.e. serving food, washing windows and stocking grocery shelves, you will be competing with bright and hungry workers in India, China, Korea and other developing nations around the globe.  

 

 

 

 

Competing in the new environment will require higher levels of competence and necessitate looking straight ahead, not constantly glancing rearview mirror for warm fuzzy feelings about what you have achieved in the past. 

Here are 10 skills to acquire and refine that will increase your professional confidence level and make you more employable in the 21st Century:

1. Constantly adapt to technology. Dependency on technology in the future will increase, not decrease. Spend time learning new computer programs but more importantly, make applications to your daily routine and strive to use technology as an enabler of productivity, not as a neat new toy with tons of cute features that you don’t use. To decide if the new gadget is worth the time, ask yourself, “Does this make time or waste time?” 

2. Embrace diversity. Get comfortable with other ethnic cultures, religions and customs. Be curious about what makes people from other cultures tick. Learn a little about the customs and attitudes that belong to workers from other countries. The time will be well spent as you begin to relate human to human, not human to inhabitant of another country. 

3. Be a life-long learner. When you finished your last college course did you utter a sigh of relief and mumble something like, “Whew, glad I’m finished with my education!” Surprise…the new century will require you to be a continuous learner. Be prepared to reinvent yourself, the pool of information in your brain and your work-related skills every 4-5 years. 

4. Practice impeccable integrity. Employers need to feel your spirit and have the quiet assurance that you are honest. Even one person in an organization who takes advantage of company assets for personal gain causes untold rules and regulations. Taking integrity beyond just simple honesty, however, means that when you commit to a deadline, you are fully committed to producing results, not excuses. 

5. Be a self-starter. Fire yourself up or look forward to being the first to go when bottom lines dip into the red, a recession lurks around the corner or the next merger takes place. Those who learn to work on the optimistic side of life not the pessimistic side of life, are more valuable to the organization as they create a positive work environment that produces higher productivity. 

6. Demonstrate personal discipline. Employers want to hire people who have disciplined work habits and disciplined thinking. The more disciplined the worker, the less time managers must spend rethinking, retracing and reworking…basically worrying if you will be reliable. When you demonstrate personal discipline, you and your manager can spend more time on solving problems and moving the company forward. 

7. Prioritize and evaluate daily. Two of the biggest time wasters in the world are not knowing where to start when you get to work in the morning and working on low priority items. To compete in the global work environment takes meticulous prioritization of tasks and the ability to identify the highest priority item that you tackle first every morning. 

8. Be adaptable. To stave off obsolescence, organizations must constantly change and regularly introduce change initiatives. Often employee resistance derails plans for updating processes and procedures and stalls company progress. To increase employability in 2010, learn to be part of the solution, not part of the problem. Ask tough questions that define the future and actively look for ways to support the new change initiatives. 

9. Think creatively and innovatively. Contributing to your organization in 2010 demands thinking outside of the box and looking for creative ways to solve nagging problems, increase productivity or produce a new product or service. When a challenge presents itself, be the first to offer a new viewpoint, discover an alternative or recommend another course of action. Your ideas combined with the creative ideas from other employees will help your organization renew itself as necessary to be competitive in the 21st Century. 

10. Have the Can-Do attitude. Immerse yourself in all the available positive mental attitude material you can find. Negatives are thrown at you the entire day from the news, next door neighbors and the nerd in the next cubicle. Teams face hurdles to productivity which causes dissention among members. Management faces stockholder dissatisfaction and product deadlines. To compound the problem, your mind naturally generates negative thoughts before positive thoughts. You have to train your mind to see the positive, to find the positive and to see the opportunity lurking in the obstacle. If you can master the positive can-do attitude, you will add value to every thing you touch and be more employable in an increasing negative world. 

Some of these skills will be relatively simple and others may be difficult for you to implement. As you improve in each area mentioned above, however, you will increase in confidence and competence and create an environment where you add value to the organization and a need for your personal services. You will have greater job stability.      

INDIA, A POTENTIAL EDUCATION HUB

For a culture that traditionally values education, it is only natural that India should become an education hub. An average middle-class household in India spends 15 to 20 per cent of its income on education/careers of children. In fact, education takes the second position after
food in the spend hierarchy, with clothing and housing following it. Fuelled by the popular dream of a foreign degree, the Indian education market is on the verge of a boom. Pursuing a course abroad is not always possible because of the inhibiting expenses involved. Since there aren’t as many scholarships as aspirants, foreign education, often an entry point into the West, remains a dream. Realising the huge market potential, foreign institutes are entering into partnerships with Indian institutes or companies.

And it's not only the lesser known colleges that are trying to hardsell themselves to prospective students here. Ivy League institutions such as Duke University from North Carolina and Columbia University from New York were among those who participated in the October 2004
road shows conducted by the United States Educational Foundation in India and the Institute of International Education in several Indian cities. The others involved Georgetown University from Washington DC and Tufts University of Massachussetts.

Going by US News rankings for America’s Best Colleges in 2005, Duke is at 5th place, Columbia at 9th, Georgetown at 25th and Tufts at 28th. Not only American, top colleges like McGill and York from Canada and Oxford University of UK are increasingly reaching out to recruit Indian
students, especially in newer courses like management and masters in financial economics.

Clearly, the Indian student is in demand. As Stephan Chambers, head of MBA programmes, Said Business School, Oxford University, said: “We will be in India in mid-February 2005 to promote our school and courses. Our reasons are very simple: To attract the best students from around the world and some of them come from India."

A study reveals that at least 131 Indian institutions have collaborative arrangements with foreign universities. The study titled "Foreign Education Providers in India" and conducted by the National Institute of Fuelled by the popular dream of a foreign degree, the Indian education market is on the verge of a boom.Realizing the huge market potential, foreign institutes are entering into partnerships with Indian institutes or companies.

Educational Planning & Administration (NIEPA), reveals that Tamil Nadu has the highest number of Indian institutions with foreign collaborations.Tamil Nadu is followed by Maharashtra and Delhi in that order. While NIEPA admits that the survey was not exhaustive, it gives an idea
of the extent of the education market. The number could actually be close to 250 with an estimated number of 10,000 students enrolled incourses of this nature.

A majority of these foreign partners are from the US and the UK, the biggest players in the education export market worldwide. For instance, the British Council-supported site Edulinks, which helps foster Anglo- Indian partnerships in education and training, lists 57 collaborations
between the UK and Indian institutes across areas such as business, engineering, medicine and fashion design.

Of the 131 institutions identified, a majority of foreign collaborations are in professional and vocational courses. About 107 provide vocational courses, 19 technical courses and only five offer general education. About 80 per cent of these foreign endeavours are in business and hotel
management. This is because management is in huge demand and requires minimum infrastructural investment. For Indian educational institutions, this is an opportunity to build their brands as well as harness the financial strengths of the foreign universities.

It is evident, education now spells big business. One indicator of the growing education market is that educational institutions have emerged as the largest ad spending category in print media in 2004, up from the 6th position just a year ago, according to Adex India, a division of TAM
Media Research. They spent US$48.48 million on print media advertisements in 2004.

In May 2005, the Indian Institute of Planning & Management (IIPM) emerged as the highest advertising brand in the print medium with an ad spend of US$1.18 million. In comparison, its April spend amounted to US$647,329. IIPM’s campaign, which sells its MBA courses offered in eight cities, is well timed and is directed at students who are in the Education now spells big business. One indicator of the growing education market is that educational institutions have emerged as the largest ad spending category in print median 2004.

Stanford University will set up its first campus in India soon. Yale University from the US has formed a joint venture with Great Lakes Institute of Management
(Glim) of Chennai to set up a management research centre INDIA, process of deciding on the educational options available to them.A study of advertisements by foreign universities, conducted by the Association of Indian Universities (AIU), reveals that they are increasingly zeroing in on India. The study conducted in 2000 found that of the 144 advertisers, 53 were from the UK, followed by Australia (40), the US (24), Canada (7), and New Zealand. The
other universities are from Bulgaria (2), Cyprus (1), France (2),
Hong Kong (1), Ireland (1), Mauritius (1), Nepal (2), Romania (1),
Russia (1) and Switzerland (3). While 117 institutions are seeking to attract students to their countries, the rest are offering programmes in India. These
programmes are predominantly in the high-demand management
and engineering faculties.

So guys why go there and study when most of the Top and A listed university from around the world are coming to us.