Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/269179
35 BizEd March/April 2014 University-affiliated MBAs are overseen by the University Grants Commission, while PGDMs (excluding the IIMs) are regulated by the All Indian Council for Technical Education. In the past, the AICTE also regulated MBA degrees, but the Indian Supreme Court recently questioned AICTE's authority over MBA education. Every effort to develop effective regulation has led to greater mess, resulting in a policy vacuum. On quality and capacity In this hyper-competitive market, the only way to move forward is to improve quality. At IMT Nagpur, which is a standalone school that awards PGDMs, our focus has been on upgrading the curriculum and pedagogy by incorporating current industry perspectives. We've also looked for ways to build capacity among our faculty. For instance, we conduct man- agement development programs for junior and senior corporate executives, and faculty members who participate gain insights into business practices. We also encour- age faculty who have little indus- try experience to study company reports and read relevant articles— although they must overcome the commonly held belief that books and journals are the only sources of knowledge. In addition, we conduct training programs for entrepreneurs and CEOs of small and medium enter- prises. Many of these individuals have been keen to narrate their business challenges, which our faculty members can turn into case studies. However, only a limited number of faculty members are interested in these endeavors, and the resulting case studies often fail to capture the complexities of busi- ness in a holistic sense. On India's model for education Developing nations will have very different reactions to issues such as World Trade Organization norms or Federal Reserve tapering or cli- mate change. The issues are global, but how they impact business in developing nations will be unique to those nations. Therefore, many Indian busi- ness schools have been trying to create India-specific curricula that focus on Indian business models and leadership challenges. At my school, for instance, we're design- ing a curriculum that caters to the needs of business managers in developing nations but still offers a global perspective. Taking a cue from a Harvard Business School class that examined business his- tory as it unfolded in Europe, North America, and Japan, we plan to offer a course on the his- tory of business education in the developing world. Our version would also focus on China, India, the ASEAN block, Africa, and the Middle East. We plan to include this course, and a few others like it, in our ongoing revamp of our curriculum. Providing such Asia-specific courses will be even more impor- tant when Western business schools begin to enter our market. If we're offering the same curricula that Western schools do, Indian institu- tions will take a beating. Of course, Eastern business schools must teach the fundamen- tal business basics that Western schools do—but I believe West- ern business schools also should cover models and concepts that are unique to Asia, or at least that originated here. These range from kaizen, the Japanese con- cept of continuous improvement that informs Toyota's Production System (TPS), to the Beijing Con- sensus, which refers to a business model in which the government is heavily involved in stimulat- ing economic growth. Any school that claims to be global ought to provide insights into both Western and Eastern business philosophies. Biggest hope or fear for the next five years My hope is for better quality of business education in India as existing schools with poor infra- structure are closed or consoli- dated. I don't believe the market can sustain the number of business schools we have now. I also hope to attain stable, fair, and uniform regulatory policies that will cover foreign universities, Indian state- owned universities, and Indian private universities. My fear is that more schools will continue to struggle but remain operational and that regula- tory policies won't improve, lead- ing to a bitterly competitive market for business education. If business school administrators worry about admissions and placements on a year-to-year basis, they risk com- promising on the key deliverables: designing industry-relevant learning objectives, displaying innovation, and maintaining a strong ethical orientation. Excluding the IIMs with their strong reputations, the vast majority of Indian business schools face significant challenges in the years ahead.