Critical and analytical study of MBA education in India

Abstract

Management Education reforms in India have been selectively implemented to include the Indian Institutes of Management and a handful of premier B-schools. There have been limited efforts to upgrade the quality of the MBA degree programs in a vast majority of the business schools. Also the fact that even the premier management institutes in India have failed to make it to the top 20 non-US business schools (selected based on infrastructure, research, faculty, student profile, placement, etc.) suggests a close look at the issues of Indian management education system and the quality of MBA graduates from the business schools in India. The gap between the sills desired by the industry and those imparted by the business schools needs to be closely examined to understand whether business education is congruent with the needs of business. Perspectives from Deans, Directors and select faculty members of business schools in India offering MBA degree programs and select members of the business community recruiting MBA graduates are obtained for an in depth and critical analysis. The views from both the groups concerning the importance of certain business skills to these organizations and how well MBA programs prepare students in these desired skills are analyzed from the responses. There is a gap between industry and B-schools with regard to understanding the knowledge, skills and attitude required of MBA graduates. In addition to this a comparative study on the growth of management education in USA and India highlights the lack of focused policy level decision making that characterizes the growth of MBA programs in India. Inputs from industry and senior B-school academics and administrators are obtained through a qualitative data collection method and are used to critically analyse various issues that confront Indian MBA education. Suitable recommendations for the improvement of the Indian management education system are suggested to the B-schools, Industry and Policy makers. newline