Stakeholders' opinion to shape BU's new MBA syllabus

With the MBA curriculum under Bangalore University (BU) all set for an overhaul after a period of five years, the authorities and students at the Canara Bank School of Management Studies (CBSMS) of BU are working overtime to elicit opinions and views from various quarters that will form the basis of the new curriculum.

The CBSMS that is in charge of designing and regulating the MBA course of BU has identified a number of stakeholders - entrepreneurs, professionals in the industry, alumni, experts, the government, teachers, parents, civil society organisations/NGOs and students.

These stakeholders have been requested to fill in a detailed questionnaire prepared by the school to know their opinion on a range of issues such as the present limitations of management education, what the basis of specialisation should be, subjects that should be offered and the overall approach to the course.

Apart from these stakeholders, the public have been invited to share their opinion and give their recommendations on the website www.cbsms.co.in.    

A group of 53 research scholars from the school, divided into groups of three, have been assigned the task of distributing the questionnaires to these stakeholders and at least 13 colleges, including RC College of Commerce and Management and the Canara School.

Started on December 5, this process of collecting views will go on till December 15. Shobha N S, assistant professor at RC College of Commerce and Management and research scholar at CBSMS, has already collected opinions from various colleges.

“In my own college, the response has been positive to this initiative and they are looking forward to the new syllabus. However, it would have been good if majority of the opinions were from the side of the industry as they are the ones who would ultimately provide employment to students,” said Shobha.
 
“Once these views have been compiled into a report, we will take them to the board of studies. A committee of the board will then work out all the details. Once these are approved by the committee of the board, it will go to the faculty and for the final approval, it will go to the academic council,” said M K Sridhar, reader, CBSMS.

He pointed out that the school would ideally like to base its new curriculum, expected to come into effect  in 2014-15, ‘largely on the report’. “Once the syllabus is ready, other works like faculty development and faculty awareness will start,” said Sridhar.

Speaking to Deccan Herald, Dr H Thimmegowda, vice-chancellor, BU, said that he wanted the chairpersons of other departments to initiate a similar process of opinion collection, and would finalise such plans at a meeting to be held on December 15.