3 new specialisations to choose from for Bu's MBA students

Conclave for final year students to create awareness on April 30

 This year onwards, final year MBA students under Bangalore University (BU) will have an option to choose from any of the three new specialisations in addition to the traditional ones like finance, marketing and human resources (HR). 

These specialisations – healthcare management; startups and SME (small and medium sized enterprises) management; business, finance and insurance services (BFIS) will be introduced as part of the new syllabus/curriculum brought in last year. Efforts are on by the department of management to provide more information on these specialisations for students to help them make an informed decision. 

Students who joined the MBA programme last year and who will be entering their final year in August this year will be the first batch of students who will get the opportunity to pursue these specialisations.

According to Prof M K Sridhar, dean, Department of Commerce and Management, BU, there are 3,500 students pursuing MBA in 55 colleges affiliated to BU. When asked if all these colleges would have the faculty for the new specialisations, he said, “They will have to start somewhere. In any case, we will soon start faculty development measures for these specialisations.”

Srinivas H M, a first year MBA student under BU, aims to pursue dual specialisations in his final year. While he is sure about taking up HR as one of his specialisations, he is still undecided about the other.

“I think it is a good move on the part of the university to introduce the new specialisations so that they can explore avenues other than the traditional ones. While placement is a concern for any student at the end of any specialisation, the fact is that many students who pursue finance or marketing end up working in other fields,” he said.
As a first step to create awareness about the specialisations, a conclave for third and fourth semester students will be organised on April 30, where a number of industry experts and heads will speak on various topics. The university aims to reach at least 1,000 students who will then become ambassadors for these sectoral specialisations.

While third semester students will have a session on the new specialisations in the morning, fourth semester students will get an opportunity to interact with experts and industry heads about career prospects in finance, marketing and HR. Heads of companies such as Toyota Kirloskar, Teamlease and HCG will be present. The conclave is being organised by the Canara Bank School of Management Studies along with the National HRD Network, Bengaluru and Bangalore Chamber of Commerce and Industry.