Business Education in India at Crossroads: The dilemma of offering programmes that build employability value

By Sandeep Munjal

Business education in India has been at the cross roads for a while now. The last couple of decades saw the emergence of a range of business programmes at both postgraduate and undergraduate level with a promise of solving the ‘employability’ challenge for thousands of aspirants. The touted formula seemed easy enough, especially for those who had chosen the ‘commerce’ pathway post their level 10 school education. The BBA/BBM/BCom qualification after completion of level 12 of school education became a rage, and soon enough the postgraduate top up with an MBA or PGDM award became the norm. The initial response of the Industry was quite positive as MBAs were sought after, and based on the reputation and ranking of the Institute or University, the starting salaries were also quite impressive. The industry was happy to receive trained executives to manage a range of functions- specialized (finance, human resources, marketing, operations etc.) or generic. The business graduates received job offers through campus interviews organized by the institutions and based on perceived rankings or reputation, the salary range varied from place to place and from one industry segment to another. The post graduate business qualification attracted a salary premium that convinced young aspirants that a business degree at an undergraduate level with a post graduate top up was the perfect recipe for a high paying business career.

Emerging Issues and Challenges

The key issue with higher education in India has been an ongoing disconnect with the industry in terms of the quality of graduates or post graduates being produced from a perspective of employability. There is a clear gap that has emerged in terms of what the Industry expects and the talent that the institutions are producing. This issue requires the institutions and their academic leadership to take a hard look at the ‘graduate attributes’ that are required in terms of the knowledge and skill components as well as the curriculum and its delivery mechanisms. The industry too can clarify expectations from the young graduates as they seek employment opportunities, but it is for the institutions to walk the talk to enable the learners to become employable. The recent action by the government to cut down the ‘content loading’ of the curriculum for the 10^th, 11^th and 12^th classes at the school level is indication that there is some realization of how content heavy delivery, that has poor alignment with industry required learning outcomes has failed at multiple levels. While it is early days, it may be the first step in terms of an overhaul of our educational system that is long due.

Indian v/s International Business Programmes

One clear point of differentiation that international business programmes bring to the table is there strong industry focus and connects. The learning approaches and pedagogic interventions too are more aligned with today’s learners and the business environment in which they are expected to perform. The content is clearly vetted for its appropriateness towards building predetermined graduate attributes in real time. A careful periodic review has ensured that curricula are relevant and have not become obsolete given the pace with which the global business environment can change.