Education and Opportunities

The fast changing technology brings in its wake the new applications, processes and gives rise to new business issues. To remain abreast with the latest we should be well prepared to absorb this technology to our advantages. In order to see whether our Management Education is geared to the emerging and fast changing needs of the industry and business, it is proposed through this article to take stock of the present status of our management education, discover the gaps if any and make recommendations wherever needed. To prepare the would be managers to face the emerging challenges of the changing business environment, the following issue need a fresh look:

1. The objectives of an online MBA programs

2. The selection procedure for entry in to MBA courses

3. The syllabus and teaching methodology.

4. The selection and training Faculty

5. The quality Assurance.

The objective of online MBA programs in India

The establishment of Indian Institutes of Management was aimed at developing entrepreneurial talent in the country. However, the emphasis kept on shifting from the start itself and finally training of commercial managers became the main focus of most of the correspondence MBA institutes relegating the entrepreneurial development to second place.

Most of the AICTE recognized management institutes and the University departments in management have built up their course designs around core papers. These constitute approximately 85 percent of the total course component. In the case of some universities/ AICTE recognized management institutes, a third category of courses have been christened as non- credit packages. However, a pass in such courses is considered a must for the award of the MBA degree or one year executive MBA diploma. These course constitute about 10 percent of the total course that have to be completed towards the fulfillment of the award of the executive MBA degree or one year executive MBA. Mostly the AICTE recognized MBA institute and the university department require the students to complete about 20-24 core courses, 4 electives, 4-6 non-credit courses, a short-term and a long – term project. The long-term project is given a weight age of two core courses.

The executive MBA courses should at present have twin objectives of developing entrepreneurial talent and developing MBA online professional for our industry. However, mostly study of entrepreneurship does not find its due place in the curriculum of majority of MBA online courses institutes. Indeed this is a serious gap which is crying for rectification.

The quality of any product largely depends upon the raw material, the technology and the process used and the quality checks. The quality of our managers will also depend upon their temperamental suitability and aptitude for management in addition to the quality of teaching imparted in MBA institutes and the credibility and fairness of internal assessment and the final examination.