How can B-Schools ensure this holistic development?

In India, there are currently more than 4,000 B-Schools. The A category schools are normally those schools which are always positively rated amongst the top 10 or the top 20 B-Schools in India by various regulatory organisations and are characterised by their long existence of over  15 to 20 years. The B Category schools are normally those schools which are positively rated amongst the top 100 B-Schools.  Some of these schools have been in existence for merely 5 to 7 years but have taken great strides to improve their ratings. They are mostly run by private bodies and possess reasonably good potential to upgrade themselves to the A category.

A recent article in the newspaper indicated that currently, a large number of B-Schools have applied to AICTE, UGC and MHRD for closing down the B-Schools. On the other hand, every year at least around 200 new B School applications are submitted to the AICTE for approval. The cause for such closures is essential students not willing to join a particular college and consequently, there is a poor capacity utilisation in a particular college.

The issue is what exactly is a student looking at? Why are students not joining a particular B-School and why is a student showing a preference for one school over the others. Is it the fees? Is it placements? Is it faculties? Or is it the infrastructure?

At a recent orientation for admissions to a B-School, the probable students asked several questions on various topics. An analysis of these questions revealed that 8 out of 10 questions were related to placements and average salary.

Discussions with various organisations indicated that they would prefer students who have a rounded personality and are also good at studies—good holistically developed students. According to these industry partners, holistic development of the student includes having good negotiation skills, the capacity to do group work, the capability to be Go-Getters, problem-solving capacity and the capability to think outside the box.

How can B-Schools ensure this holistic development? Some of the tools that are available could be:

1. Organising and participating in International, National Conferences and Workshops: By organising and participating in these conferences and workshops and allowing the student to do all the preparatory work, a student is able to understand the dynamics of group work, negotiating with the partners. He is now in a better position to think out of the box, develop his problem-solving attitude, etc.
2. Guest lectures: A good guest lecturer while discussing the subject would also talk about the challenges and the opportunities the company or the lecture faced. This would give an opportunity to the student to have an idea about the various probable solutions.
3. National and International industrial visits: These visits help the student to understand the processes used in the various industries as well as the culture of the different countries and thus widens his knowledge. 
4. Group projects. Here students are asked to work on projects which involve working in a group. The student tends to understand the views of the other persons and also this gives him the power to develop the art of listening.
5. Class presentations, Individual and Group presentations: Through this technique, the student tends to lose “stage fright”, develops the  art of communication
6. Case study discussions: This is an area which opens the decision-making process and helps the student to develop an analytical mind
7. CSR activities: Activities that include several CSR projects like Blood donation camps, HIV awareness camps, eye camps, clean Mumbai camps, etc. helps in making the student aware of the societal needs, develop sympathy and empathy for the downtrodden people etc
8. Students need to be mentored and counselled in many areas: Such mentoring could be in areas which are as diverse as faculty interaction to issues like loss of a girl or boyfriend. Experience has shown that no student ever voluntarily feels that he needs to be mentored or counselled. In many cases, he feels he can handle the situation himself. It is the job of the faculty to identify a few weak students who need to be mentored or counselled and then counsel them. Many good institutes have a student-faculty ratio of 15:1. Identifying students and letting them known that XYZ is a mentor, does help.

Conclusions

Based on the above it is quite clear that in order to succeed, B-Schools must provide opportunities so that the student can develop himself holistically. This will help him face the world with a greater degree of maturity and stoic and become a wholesome person. He would be able to hold himself in the corporate world

About the author:

Prof Dr R Gopal is Director at School of Management, D.Y. Patil University, Navi Mumbai. He is a Mechanical Engineer from IIT, Kharagpur. He has also completed his MBA, ICWA, PhD and Post-Doctoral Research degree -- D. Litt. He has also published more than 200 research papers both in Indian and foreign journals. He has been awarded the Best Outstanding Research Paper at the Asia Pacific Marketing Conference held in Malaysia. He has over three decades of teaching experience at various B-schools in and around Mumbai. His motto is to transform every student into an achiever so that every student will create a success story.

Note: The views expressed in this article are solely author’s own and do not reflect/represent those of Shiksha