Where's all the B-school faculty?

By Ruchi Shrimali

With an increase in demand for management professionals, new B-schools are cropping up everywhere in India. Top institutes like IIMs have come up with new campuses and student intake in existing management institutes is also on the rise. However, the faculty strength of B-schools has not been able to keep up with the increase in the number of students in the classrooms. As a result, quality of management education is being criticised by both corporates and academicians.

At present, there are about 2,500 B-schools in India. Even the premier institutions are finding it difficult to employ enough teachers. From 1999 to 2009, number of students in IIM Ahmedabad increased from 165 to 280, while the number of faculty members only increased from 83 to 90. Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad has managed to improve its student-teacher ratio from 60:1 to about 12.5:1 in the past decade. But it is yet to compete with top management institutes of the world like Harvard
Business School, which has a student-teacher ratio of 7:1.

Since there are few teachers, they are more pressed for time and hence, are unable to interact directly with each of their students. Bigger student batches also bring down the networking amongst students. This bonding can help them come with innovative ideas and incubate start-ups.

Other problems that worry India Inc are that the new campuses of even top-notch management institutes lack proper infrastructure. Tamil Nadu's only IIM is still working from the National Institute of Technology, Trichy campus. With the government deciding the pay of faculty members, premier management institutes have an additional challenge on their hands. They now have to resort to other ways to compensate their teachers to attract best brains.

Besides, course curriculum of B-schools is not in sync with today's businesses. Case studies, which require intensive research work and dedicated interaction between students, companies, and teachers, are not getting enough attention.

IIM faculty members had always been in close touch with the industry. But with batch sizes growing, the industry ties are slowly getting severed. ISB, Hyderabad is trying to address the issue but appraising its faculty on three parameters - teaching, administrative matters, and research work but faculty members just do not get enough time to focus on research anymore.

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