B-Schools face faculty crunch

B-schools in the country are suffering from an acute shortage of faculty members with the vacancy rate going as high as 50 per cent. The situation finds many institutes roping in international faculty who pay flying visits to the campus to conduct classes. After they return back to their country, students are left with the option of internet or video link to stay connected with the faculty.

Italy-based B-School, MISB Bocconi, has its new branch in Mumbai where 23 faculty members are expected to visit regularly from Milan, according to its website. The B-school is said to be looking to get permanent faculty on board. Such is the case with a majority of business schools across the nation.

A major reason behind the shortage is likely to be unattractive remuneration, as students after pursuing management studies prefer well paying corporate jobs rather than becoming teachers. Though the business schools allow their faculty to take consultancy assignments with corporations to supplement their income, it's hardly an attraction as only a few teachers are actually able to bag such assignments. There are B-Schools of all sizes, so it is not possible for all of them to pay hefty salaries as many of them are undercapitalized and lack basic infrastructure.

The biggest constraint is that salaries for teachers in India are not at par with those offered by corporate careers, which is not the case in the developed economies. IIM-A itself has 85 faculty, against the 120 faculty members required. There are six permanent faculty members and 90 visiting members at the Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies in Mumbai.

Shalini Urs, chairman and founder of MYRA School of Business, Mysore, told news reporters that there's nothing new about using global visiting faculty, as IITs also started out on the same lines. After the institute got established, the faculty also stabilised. She added that majority of MYRA faculty is made up of visiting professors who stay on the campus for two to three weeks, wherein the students study one course taught by the visiting faculty for that period, in a report by Business Standard. Read More

While this could be a temporary solution, the fact remains that an education system cannot survive without teachers. It is the need of the hour and urgent measures need to be implemented at the earliest possible. The government has a proposal to launch a national mission on teachers and training in the 12th Five-Year Plan.  

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