What lacks in Management Education in India ?
Dr S.R. Singhvi

Management Education in India started with the opening up of a Department/Faculty of Management under the University System. ‘Quality’ management education in India started with IIMs.  Later IITs or Engineering Colleges thought they also need to be in management education. In the name of changed industrial scenario and privatisation, AICTE made things much simpler so that any coaching college can convert itself into a management school. Now we have large number of management schools/departments of 30-60 seats capacity. It appears Management education has been considered as an industry. Possibly, it is covered with the similar philosophy of keeping capacity down to avert monopoly and protect small scale entrepreneur. Further, Government thinks that all disciplines of education meant for industry, for governance requirement need to remain together. There is no thinking that technical education and management education need to be separated. Primarily management education in India is a post-graduate education, is hardly appreciated.     In management education, Educators found a new opportunity to get promoted upward to position of Senior Lecturer to Professor. They moved from their own departments specially Faculty of Commerce and Industrial Engineering. Many of them had limited exposure to the Post-graduate education or professional education. Number of hours of teaching  had been their focus. In-company programmes or Management Development Programmes became extended versions of teaching. What does specialisation mean to be rated as expert by the industry or firms got further diluted in the name of inclusion of Visiting Faculty with practical experience. Some schools over extended it to be predominantly dependent upon the visiting faculty. The old guards are busy in creating the barriers of entry for right type of educators. It is common knowledge that many positions remain vacant in prestigious institutes for years. The capacity constraint of 30-60 seats, resultant financial constraints and no worthwhile exposure of educators, had forced the continuation of the system. Further, Faculty Development Programmes run by IIMs, AICTE and others have concentrated more on exposure rather than building the teacher’s skills relevant for the purpose.   As a result the whole process is run through incapacitated machines. It gets further worsened by the provision of  freedom accorded to  the machine to decide what it wants to produce and deliver. There is hardly any debate about the course curriculum and pedagogy. Since the syllabuses are available on net or through prospectus, all schools may have the similar subject/courses to be taught. But what is covered and the manner in which it is covered may be widely different. The obsolescence comes much later.   Creating new knowledge and skills hardly appear to be on the agenda.  The primary source of sponsored research is Government and it relates to those sectors which are of little interest to management grads and utilised in their education. Management Consultancy in terms of idea to implementation is rare. With the invasion of foreign management consultants and their skills, consultancy in its real sense is shifting from management schools.   The first user of management education, namely student is driven towards it by the  prospect of employment. He does not look forward to be a  scholar. Even ‘Fellows’ at IIMs have been demanding campus placement facility. Management Schools spend substantial amount of money to arrange the placement. In the name of industry interface, festivals, presentation of college to firms, HR Meet, Visiting Faculty etc, the basic objective is to somehow sell the grads. Alumni too have decided to farther this singular objective. The story goes around that this organisation/firm belongs to such and such school grads only. Self-interest in terms of competence-building do make students work hard. They do want good process of competence building supported by the right infrastructure, yet are unable to find out how to ensure it inspite of heavy fees paid.    The other user of management education, principally industrial firms had developed their own picture of management schools. Large Public Sector firms, notably, want to use the schools for a week-long refresher courses or mini-MBAs. This is driven more by faith in training or availability of funds. There are no pressures or very little interaction from the firms over the process of education be at grad level or executive level. Some of the leading firms believe in their own management training system only.  Even for fresh recruits, they take schools as one of the stages of screening the applicants. Some firms pick grads only based on degree-level qualifications. Firms are confused with demand of salaries expected by young grads. Some of these firms simply find these grads unworkable. These firms shun away from better school grads.   Society is at loss. Some thought that given the incompetence in managing simplest things in our country, these grads will possibly do some wonder to improve common man’s living. How it gets done by a neighbourhood make-shift school to college outfit is beyond their understanding. Some are bewildered now with ever growing salaries paid to the young pass-out. It has become fashionable to say that my child is doing MBA. Some of them consider it as a passport to wonderland of MNCs.  Professional education body at all India level should project type and level of skilled manpower required through a stream of education. Schools should be asked to cater to  specific segment of the requirement. Market in any case takes care of not-thought factor. For example, pass-outs of large number of B-schools end up only as first level salesperson. These grads are not acceptable to firms as managers. The author was asked by  the then Minister of HRD  in 1994 at Kellogg to name a single factor that can improve the quality of management education in India. My response was please merge all the schools teaching management at Delhi in one school. This will enable a teacher to grow as an expert in a specific subject where he can create knowledge and good practices. The whole system should gear towards it. The process and practice of management education need to be debated and understood by all stakeholders, on a continued basis.   (These are personal views of the author and not of FORE, where he is employed as Chair Professor)

Dr S.R. Singhvi,
Chair Professor,
Fore schools of Management,
New Delhi - 110016.