<p>Shekhar Chaudhuri explores how management education in India has evolved over time. <br /><br /></p>.<p>From a small beginning in 1961, when the Government of India established IIM Calcutta on November 14, and IIM Ahmedabad on December 11, management education in India has come a long way. Till late 70s commerce education was better known than management education. In fact, both were seen as synonymous with each other. However, the setting up of the first two IIMs marked the beginning of a revolution of sorts.<br />In the 70s and 80s the demand for management education grew at modest rate. <br /><br />Professionally managed companies did employ MBAs or PGDMs but not in large numbers, barring the MNCs or their subsidiaries which recruited MBAs/PGDMs on a regular basis in good numbers. The advent of economic liberalization in India in the mid- 80s gave a new thrust to management education. Several PGDM granting institutions came up in the private sector and many universities established departments of management studies.<br /><br />During the 1990s and 2000s the growth in the number of institutions providing management education continued unabated; in fact at a faster pace with the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) giving permission to set up such institutions in large numbers. This growth was fuelled by an unprecedented growth of the Indian economy during the last decade.<br /><br />Customised programs <br /><br />The landscape of management education has undergone considerable change over the years. In the initial days the demand for management education had to be created and the institutions had to invest in exploratory marketing. During the 60s, 70s, and 80s though the institutions gave some weightage to students with work experience in their admission criteria most students did not have prior work experience. This trend started changing with the realization among executives working in professionally managed companies that their professional growth in their organizations could be facilitated by a management degree or diploma from a good institution. The 90s saw a significant increase in students with prior experience, which has continued since then.<br /><br />A large number of executives are being deputed to the more reputed management schools to participate in short duration executive education programs. Customized short duration executive programs have now become a very significant component of management education and a significant source of revenue for B-schools.<br /><br />Domain focused <br /><br />The proliferation of business schools in the country along with several factors gave rise to another interesting phenomenon - specialisation by domain and function. During the early years of management education there were a few institutions that had developed domain or function focused diploma programs. IIM Ahmedabad was perhaps the first institution to start a 2-year program focused on the management of agriculture which was later followed by the Institute of Rural Management (IRMA). The Xavier Labour Relations Institute (XLRI) was the first institute to start a 2-year program focused on Personnel Management and Labour Relations. IIM Calcutta pioneered a 2-year program on Computer Aided Management designed to cater to the IT sector. <br /><br />Today, there are institutions that offer 2-year programs on Retail Management, Hospitality Management, Agri-business Management, Hospital Administration, Sports Management, Fashion Management, Insurance and Banking, Telecom Management, Real Estate Management, etc. There are also institutions that offer specialised programs in functional management domains viz., Marketing, Manufacturing, International Business, Finance, HR, and Entrepreneurship. <br /><br />Online programs <br /><br />While it is widely acknowledged that traditional classroom teaching is the most preferred method it has now become very important to combine teaching excellence with equity and access. This is where the role of technology has come in as a boon. Several reputed institutions have launched long duration executive education programs with the help of satellite communication technology. Currently, the programs are offered as post-graduate certificate programs but in a matter of time these programs will get converted into post graduate diploma programs. <br /><br />Innovations in IT have made a major impact on the content and delivery of programs. Multiple courses are easily available free of cost. Students from diverse locations and communities attend online, web-based lectures. Institutions are investing on training and developing faculty to deliver lessons in a real-time global environment. <br /><br />Thrust on research<br /><br />An important development that is more discernible among the public sector institutions is the growing thrust towards research. The Government of India’s Ministry of HRD, under whose purview the IIMs come, has been during the last few years exhorting the institutions to increase their focus on research. This has entailed increasing availability of funds for research, balancing faculty activity portfolios giving due importance to research, bringing changes in faculty recruitment criteria and implementation of performance based incentive systems - promotion process focusing more on research performance. <br /><br />This scenario is likely to change if the foreign education providers bill is passed by the parliament. With the passing of this bill the pressure on the better endowed private schools to give greater thrust on research would increase and those institutions, which have the mission to offer research oriented programs are likely to be better placed to respond to the new challenges. <br /><em><br />(The writer is the former director of IIM Calcutta.)</em><br /></p>
<p>Shekhar Chaudhuri explores how management education in India has evolved over time. <br /><br /></p>.<p>From a small beginning in 1961, when the Government of India established IIM Calcutta on November 14, and IIM Ahmedabad on December 11, management education in India has come a long way. Till late 70s commerce education was better known than management education. In fact, both were seen as synonymous with each other. However, the setting up of the first two IIMs marked the beginning of a revolution of sorts.<br />In the 70s and 80s the demand for management education grew at modest rate. <br /><br />Professionally managed companies did employ MBAs or PGDMs but not in large numbers, barring the MNCs or their subsidiaries which recruited MBAs/PGDMs on a regular basis in good numbers. The advent of economic liberalization in India in the mid- 80s gave a new thrust to management education. Several PGDM granting institutions came up in the private sector and many universities established departments of management studies.<br /><br />During the 1990s and 2000s the growth in the number of institutions providing management education continued unabated; in fact at a faster pace with the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) giving permission to set up such institutions in large numbers. This growth was fuelled by an unprecedented growth of the Indian economy during the last decade.<br /><br />Customised programs <br /><br />The landscape of management education has undergone considerable change over the years. In the initial days the demand for management education had to be created and the institutions had to invest in exploratory marketing. During the 60s, 70s, and 80s though the institutions gave some weightage to students with work experience in their admission criteria most students did not have prior work experience. This trend started changing with the realization among executives working in professionally managed companies that their professional growth in their organizations could be facilitated by a management degree or diploma from a good institution. The 90s saw a significant increase in students with prior experience, which has continued since then.<br /><br />A large number of executives are being deputed to the more reputed management schools to participate in short duration executive education programs. Customized short duration executive programs have now become a very significant component of management education and a significant source of revenue for B-schools.<br /><br />Domain focused <br /><br />The proliferation of business schools in the country along with several factors gave rise to another interesting phenomenon - specialisation by domain and function. During the early years of management education there were a few institutions that had developed domain or function focused diploma programs. IIM Ahmedabad was perhaps the first institution to start a 2-year program focused on the management of agriculture which was later followed by the Institute of Rural Management (IRMA). The Xavier Labour Relations Institute (XLRI) was the first institute to start a 2-year program focused on Personnel Management and Labour Relations. IIM Calcutta pioneered a 2-year program on Computer Aided Management designed to cater to the IT sector. <br /><br />Today, there are institutions that offer 2-year programs on Retail Management, Hospitality Management, Agri-business Management, Hospital Administration, Sports Management, Fashion Management, Insurance and Banking, Telecom Management, Real Estate Management, etc. There are also institutions that offer specialised programs in functional management domains viz., Marketing, Manufacturing, International Business, Finance, HR, and Entrepreneurship. <br /><br />Online programs <br /><br />While it is widely acknowledged that traditional classroom teaching is the most preferred method it has now become very important to combine teaching excellence with equity and access. This is where the role of technology has come in as a boon. Several reputed institutions have launched long duration executive education programs with the help of satellite communication technology. Currently, the programs are offered as post-graduate certificate programs but in a matter of time these programs will get converted into post graduate diploma programs. <br /><br />Innovations in IT have made a major impact on the content and delivery of programs. Multiple courses are easily available free of cost. Students from diverse locations and communities attend online, web-based lectures. Institutions are investing on training and developing faculty to deliver lessons in a real-time global environment. <br /><br />Thrust on research<br /><br />An important development that is more discernible among the public sector institutions is the growing thrust towards research. The Government of India’s Ministry of HRD, under whose purview the IIMs come, has been during the last few years exhorting the institutions to increase their focus on research. This has entailed increasing availability of funds for research, balancing faculty activity portfolios giving due importance to research, bringing changes in faculty recruitment criteria and implementation of performance based incentive systems - promotion process focusing more on research performance. <br /><br />This scenario is likely to change if the foreign education providers bill is passed by the parliament. With the passing of this bill the pressure on the better endowed private schools to give greater thrust on research would increase and those institutions, which have the mission to offer research oriented programs are likely to be better placed to respond to the new challenges. <br /><em><br />(The writer is the former director of IIM Calcutta.)</em><br /></p>
