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pagalguy_news · July 4, 2009, 10:07am

The 2009-11 batch of Post Graduate Diploma in Management (PGDM) students at Mumbai based SP Jain Institute of Management and Research (SPJIMR) has a significantly higher percentage of women than that present at most Indian b-schools. The new batch consists of 180 students with women making up 42 percent of the students. This program has also been accredited internationally by Association of MBAs (AMBA) which is a London based reputed accrediting body.

The orientation program started with a short prayer from the Upanishads called Saha Navavatu, a classic mantra of togetherness. It is a mantra chanted by the teacher and the student in the beginning and the end of every study and signifies mutual growth through knowledge sharing. Dr. Sesha Iyer, Director - SPJIMR welcomed the new participants and spoke to them about SPJIMR, its history, culture, traditions and spirit of innovation and excellence.

In total, 144 students with prior work experience and approximately 155 engineering graduates have been selected for the program. Selections were made from over 18,000 applications through an admissions process which included weightage being given to the past academic background, versatility and overall student personality.

Dr. Atish Chattopadhyay, the PGDM co-ordinator introduced the programme requirements and pedagogy. SPJIMR has incorporated new initiatives into its curriculum like ADMAP i.e. Learning by Doing, DOCC, sensitivizing participants to social needs and Abhudaya, which involves mentoring the children from poor economic backgrounds. Prof. AB Kulkarni reiterated the expectations from students and clarified the concepts of Shravana (intensive listening & presence), Manan(reflection and internalizing of learning) andDhyana(contemplation and meditation).

The day ended with Dr ML Shrikant, Hon. Dean SPJIMR hosting an interesting question answer session. Dr. Shrikant said, MBA education does not teach participants to find big jobs and earn great money but facilitates their understanding of various management concepts and practices and its relatedness to real-life situations. According to him, MBA education should not build arrogant managers but individuals with humility and receptiveness to new learning. SPJIMR will help participants explore their real self and their ability to serve the society at large.

Other programmes of SPJIMR that have received AMBA accreditation include the eleven months Post Graduate Program in Management (PGPM) and Executive Management Program (EMP). With AMBA accreditation, SPJIMR joins a family of 158 programmes in 72 countries which have been accredited by this body. The award will serve as a benchmark for students, employers and academicians to make informed decision in the present complex and crowded MBA market.

wengi · July 14, 2009, 7:39am

If all goes through as planned and said, the upcoming NIIT University or NU could very well be the symbol of the proposed (and much hyped) educational reforms in India. For the environment conscious, it could also be the symbol of one of the few energy efficient educational institutions in India.

NU, currently offering three courses in Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech), Masters in Technology (M.Tech) and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) is spread over 100 acres in Neemrana Rajasthan and is registered as a Private University under The Rajasthan Administration. It will be operational by September 21, 2009 (this is when the first B.Tech class will commence on the campus). And yes, to get into the Engineering course here, you will have to give an interview; Interview because the University is preparing to produce Technology leaders and not just Engineers. MBA programs are also in the offing on similar lines.

How that will be done is by basing all education on the following four principles, which are that education should be a) aligned to Industry, b) Technology enabled, c) Research focused and d) Seamless or incorporating inter disciplinary studies. In other terms, the education as aspired to be imparted here will be as per industry standards and will be such that the students need not be retrained when they join work in an organization. It will use the new age tools in technology to the fullest (the site itself is linked to Twitter, Flickr and Facebook which tells you that NU is serious about its use of technology bit). Research or rather the absence of it is the buzz word of 'education-India' right now. NU, with its existing research lab for faculty in IIT Delhi and another one coming up in the campus will make sure that both its students and teachers get to do some hard core research during their course. Many of the research papers done by the faculty are already available on the website. The curriculum would be made more holistic by the 'seamless' studies concept. Through this, students will be able to study subjects not directly related to their course but important for their overall growth.

In the above we will see in practice, some of the suggestions of the Yashpal report which have been discussed at length on many platforms. With industry leaders on its board, the university aims to get a cross section of Industry-Academia-Research to develop a knowledge based and not an employment based education in the country. I am keeping my fingers crossed. Hoping they deliver what they have promised.

the_mask_25631420 · July 14, 2009, 6:48pm

How safe is it to study in Australia after Indian students have been attacked in major cities such as Melbourne and Sydney? This question is doing the rounds amongst foreigners studying in Australia and some Indians have made a clear choice of returning home. The attacks have led to parents worrying about the safety of their wards and also resulted in a lot of b-schools communicating with students to reassure them about the institutes safety measures.

Australia is a popular destination for higher studies and over 90,000 Indians are currently studying in Australia. Indian students have been attacked by petrol bombs and stabbed by screwdrivers in various incidents of violence that have taken place at the rented homes of students. I think its extremely important that Australian b-schools ensure that it is easy for students to communicate with authorities in case of difficulties. Victoria University which is one of the most popular destinations for Indian students has wholeheartedly adopted a strategy of distributing safety material to students in various forms and has also discussed safety arrangements with the police and ambulance services.

These attacks will definitely have an impact on the number of international students applying to Australian b-schools in the coming years. B-schools in Kangaroo land are well aware of this fact. Prof Glyn of the Sydney Business School, University of Wollongong says, We are of course concerned that such incidents will damage brand Australia. We will be doubling our efforts to assure all international students that they can expect a very positive experience with our School. Two of my colleagues will be at both rounds of the QS World MBA fairs to be held later this year in India to underline this commitment and to address any concerns personally.

Australian business schools are currently in the middle of addressing security issues with the world media closely tracking how the country is responding to these developments. The Melbourne Business School representative argued that the school has not really been affected because the attacks have taken place in areas located away from the city. According to Victoria University, simple precautions such as traveling with people, carrying limited amounts of money and using computer bags which are not very prominent will go a long way towards improving safety for students.

Educational institutions can only help to a certain extent by guiding students and providing safety measures. Students need to exercise their best judgment while traveling and realize that there are certain risks attached to studying in Australia right now. Applications to b-schools Down Under will definitely reduce if Indians and other international students do not come to terms with this issue.

wengi · July 15, 2009, 1:11pm

Much has been written and talked about the Yashpal report. Opinions have been exchanged like tennis balls across discussion tables. All and sundry have expressed theirs; even some who would probably be the last in line to be affected by the report. Hence, I thought of asking the directors of various business schools their views about the salient features of the Yashpal report. In any case, they are the ones who would directly benefit or lose when the report will be implemented.

The Yashpal report, in brief, proposes various ideas such as the establishment of one regulatory body called the National Commission of Higher Education and Research (NCHER), interdisciplinary education, development of research, discontinuation of granting deemed university status to educational institutes. It also proposes the conversion of IITs and IIMs to full fledged universities granting degrees in all disciplines.

While the step to disregard all regulatory bodies and creating a single one is a commendable one, many of the directors are skeptical about the way it will be implemented. All feel that its purpose will be defeated if the same people from the old regulatory bodies will become part of the NCHER. K. T Chacko, Director of Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, Delhi (IIFT) says that there will be difference in the working of the new body only if integrity is maintained in the manner of selecting the committee members. He also feels that the method of selection should be transparent and not closed door. Hence a lot depends not just on the structuring of the committee, but on who runs the committee as well.

Interdisciplinary education received huge thumbs up from all directors across b-schools as all believe that interdisciplinary education will provide for a holistic development of the student. According to Dr. B.P Pethiya, Director, Indian Institute of Forest Management, (IIFM), Bhopal, interdisciplinary studies will make the student realize the impact of his education on society". As per the report, the creation of Inter University Centers or the IUCs will ensure that universities share infrastructure and resources amongst themselves to further facilitate inter-disciplinary studies.

Research has always been considered a pertinent part of graduate and post graduate studies as without it, there will only be regurgitation of old and stale information within the students. As per the Yashpal report It should be necessary for all research bodies to connect with universities in their vicinity and create teaching opportunities for their researchers and for all universities to be teaching and research universities, which demonstrates the level of emphasis on research in the upcoming educational system. Directors across B-schools too agree with the idea put forward by the committee report and say that teaching and research compliment each other.

Deemed universities were set up to upgrade institutions with a proven track record of excellence, to full fledged universities. During the years, many of them have lost the very excellence they were recognized for. In the new system, the deemed universities will be converted to universities and no new institutes will be granted the deemed university status. Dr. C.S. Venkat Ratnam, director Indian Management Institution, New Delhi is a little apprehensive of that. In his opinion, the method of granting the deemed university has to be amended instead of scrapping the entire system. A point well made. In a more practical format, the deemed university can become the first stage for an institution to become a university.

Even if you do not have a single Engineering or Management bone in your body, you would swear by the quality of technical and management education of The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs). The Yashpal report wants them to develop as full fledged universities on the lines of a Harvard University or a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (funny how we always have an American equivalent of every idea). However, this conversion doesnt make sense to Director of Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, SIBM, Pune, Dr. Arun Mudbidri. As per B.P Pethiya, it will eat up their (IITs and IIMs) autonomy. Venkat Ratnam also, is wary of this conversion and in his view, such a move will further reduce the scope of research in IITs and IIMs. However, for Chacko, although it is an ambitious idea it is implementable if space and vision are added to it.

The new education system sure passes muster as an ambitious project that will help Indian education break from the shackles of mediocrity. People directly involved with the system agree. Is the government listening?

wengi · July 15, 2009, 1:17pm

There is a reason why every problem has been connected with increase in population. Things in India just aren't designed for a large number of people. Think vaguely, do you remember any place or situation where things went smoothly once the number of people went even a little above normal?

I am guessing no; at least I don't remember any. Infrastructure wise we have never ruled anyways. The conditions of the IIMs after the Supreme Court ruling to increase the batch intake are quite predictable too. As anywhere in India, there is a lot of nudging and pushing going around.

Indian Institute of Management-Kozhikode (IIM-K) increased its post graduate program (PGP) batch size from 265 to 325 this year. Of course, the infrastructure was (1) left to be developed only after the start of the session. According to a student at IIM-K, due to the increase in class size, "almost all the courses are taken by two professors now which has(2) overburdened the faculty". He adds that "the new mess (area where the students have their meals) is (3)still not operational thus there is crowding there too". If this is the case with the IIMs, one can only imagine how will the increase in the number of seats affect other institutions.

Recently, a minister in Orissa commented about how not having a school building shouldn't deter students from attending school. He argued how students in olden times used to study under trees and walked for miles to their schools and still became leaders in their chosen paths. Really? Shouldn't we talk about the politicians in olden times as well?

I think it is high time the leaders and the people of India decide which age they want to live in. Lamenting about how great the olden times were while boasting about an advanced and developing India which only exists on paper will make any real growth impossible. Before announcing decisions like the increase in seats in premiere institutes like the IITs and the IIMs, the infrastructure should be the first priority. And ministers should realize that lack of a school building is a reason for students to not come to school; so instead of advocating practices obsolete in present times, they should work towards providing new workable ones.

Corrections:

1) After the email received by the media cell-IIM K, I have realized that the construction had started before the start of the session and various projects are at high degree of completion

2) I spoke to Prof. Anand Kuttan, he replied that the classes have been divided into five sections of 60 students each and the professors are not overburdened, else "we would not have opted for it". According to him, "five classes of 60 students each is better than one class of more than 100 students". I agree.

3) Again, Prof Kuttan has told me that a new contractor is yet to be found for the new dining hall. Hence there is a bit of overcrowding in the old ones. The media cell says: "The new mess has been operational from last year. It is shut down in cases of excess capacity, for example, when only 1 batch is present on campus owing to the staggering of the PGP calender for Year 1 and Year 2. It has been fully functional from a few days after the new batch started their course."

almost all of the courses are taken by 2 ppl now, unlike for earlier batches

wengi · July 15, 2009, 2:05pm

While going through the Business Standard some time back, I came across an article titled How many MBAs do we really need? by Abheek Barua who is the chief economist at the HDFC Bank. He talks about the large amount of MBAs available in India and the not-so-MBA-type jobs that they are forced to do. Forced because they are less skilled for the high end jobs but better connected than the section of people who should ideally be doing that job.

This is the flip side of the high growth in higher education in India; characterized by the mushrooming of engineering and management institutions all across the country. While the government and the AICTE can pat their backs on the number of approved institutions they have created for quality higher education so that every child has an opportunity to become and engineer or an MBA, the fact remains that such institutions do little to create a quality Engineer or a Manager. Isnt it true that in most of the engineering colleges in India, you can graduate as a computer engineer without having to write a single line of code?

The problem goes deeper than just the lack of quality in higher educational institutions in India. The problem is due to the lack of thought given to its development. While I agree with the fact that we need more institutes and colleges imparting good quality education, I also believe that we need to create a system which wouldnt skew an individuals thinking to a single domain. Higher education with regards to engineering and MBA shouldnt be made so easy that a student is not allowed to think about options beyond that. The contrast in the number of specialized institutions teaching arts and humanities and those teaching engineering and MBA say it all.

Its high time we stop talking about higher education only in terms of engineering, medical and management. Higher education needs to incorporate arts, humanities, fine arts as well. Till this kind of expansion is not given to the realm of higher education, we can only expect substandard products from even high quality institutions. An important facet of educational reforms should be the availability of options with a student to pursue the subject of his choice with an open mind. This option should be both in terms of availability of institutions and the availability of jobs (after the course). Quality will be restored when students are spread out in the many different fields that education has to offer.

wengi · July 16, 2009, 10:31am

Business schools are having a tough time managing within the restrictions of the English language. Management studies includes everything from the jigging of stock prices to the basics of handshaking. B-schools themselves are doing a fair amount of handshaking when it comes to their names. Institute names include at least one word from Indian, institute, school, business and management and institutes sometimes also have the same initials. Students have to sip this alphabet soup to make sense of things.

The Indian School of Business, Hyderabad (ISB) needs no introduction and has even been ranked among the top 20 b-schools in the world. Well, theres an International School of Business, Calcutta which started functioning in 2002 and the institute obviously refers to itself as ISB. A Google search for ISB also has ISB Kolkata close on the heels of ISB Hyderabad. The initials ISBM seem to quite popular among institutes and a Google search for ISBM throws up four different institutes with these initials.

Even the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) are a party to this situation. There is obviously no confusion between the IIMs and everyone is familiar with how the IIMs are referred to along with their location. Things do need to be considered when Indira Institute of Management, Pune refers to itself as IIM-P. This will not cause problems right now because we all know where the various IIMs are located. Eight new IIMs are being set up in various parts of the country and students should know where such overlap of names is happening so that they don't get confused.

Then there are cases in which the full name of the institute isnt as well known as say an ISB. Theres an NIILM Center for Management Studies and an NIILM School of Business. IILM is another common set of initials and there are quite a few institutes which use this abbreviation and this causes doubts to come up. The Post Graduate Program in Management (PGPM) program is offered at Alliance Business School, Bangalore while Alliance Business Academy has an MBA program in operation. These two institutes are different units of the same body but aspirants do encounter problems in differentiating between the two.

Institutes obviously differ in terms of the nature and quality of programs they offer. Students should definitely find out the details of an institute and not just be attracted to it because it has a well known name. India currently has nearly 2,000 business schools and most institutes are referred to by their initials. Common initials certainly contribute towards confusion among aspirants and students will have to be a lot more careful when it comes to picking out schools. A student will not join a school purely on the basis of its name but the name definitely plays a role in a school's perception and its brand image.

Whats in a name? Quite a bit actually and students will have to dig a bit deeper in order to zero in on the school that they really should go for. I know someone who once boarded the wrong Rajdhani Express and nearly set off to Guwahati instead of Delhi! If students slip up when it comes to institute names then they too might have to change tracks or platforms abruptly. The number of b-schools in India will only increase in the coming years and some out-of-the-box thinking is required if institutes want students to refer to them easily.

wengi · July 16, 2009, 10:31am

The Government has finally realized that something is wrong with our Educational system. And this is not the first time. However, with the abolition of AICTE and UGC and the implementation of the Yashpal Report within the coming 100 days, it wants to make sure that something substantial does happen this time. A big hoopla surrounds the Yashpal report and it is the current new topic of discussion. However, as was with the nuclear deal, do we really know how it will affect us once it is implemented?

The Yashpal report is a comprehensive document that lists out the proposed changes that need to be undertaken by the Indian Education System in order for it to be viable in the changing face of education. However, it has come out to be as vague as the Governments whole idea of quality education.

The ideas presented, though noble, are certainly not clear. For example, an excerpt from the report under the head The idea of a university reads as follows:

Apart from resisting fragmentation of knowledge, the idea of a university should aspire to encompass the world of work in all its forms. Work constitutes the human sphere where knowledge and skills are born, and where new knowledge takes shape in response to social and personal needs. Indeed, the experience and culture of work represents that core space where the humanities and the sciences meet.

As can be seen, there is a lot of thought but absence of an implementable idea.

Further, the report discusses the Problems of the Education Sector. Though the identification of the problem areas is right, there is a failure in quantification of the amount of damage done. Explaining the teaching method and mode of transmission in class rooms, it says: mode of transmission is generally quite poor. This kind of generic terminology might undermine the immediacy of the need to address the issue and thus affect the motive of the report.

The report has little or no data to prove or corroborate many of its claims. For example, it says that in the past, some institutions after being declared as universities had promised to give degrees for a certain amount of money; however, there is no data present to prove such an allegation. In the absence of data, all claims just become mere observations which do not have the capacity to bring about any change.

The report proposes an end to the Deemed University phenomenon. If, implemented, no new institution will be accredited with the deemed university status and the existing ones will be given a period of three years to develop into a university (fulfilling all the prescribed norms), failing which their deemed university status will be withdrawn. It is a difficult idea to implement as it is unfair to expect an institution to start with university level standards. A better idea would have been to declare an institute a university in stages; the first stage being a deemed university.

In the Indian higher education scenario, there is one regulatory body to cover all possible areas of education. For example, University Grants Commission (UGC), All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE), Medical Council of India (MCI), Bar Council of India (BCI), Council of Architecture (COA), National Council on Teacher Education (NCTE), Indian Nursing Council (INC) and Pharmacy Council of India. The Yashpal Report proposes the development of a single regulatory body called the National Commission for Higher Education and Research (NCHER) to overcome the chaos created by the confusing rules of a large number of bodies. This will certainly make regulation more effective and transparent and also reduce corrupt practices by institutes. According to the report, the new regulatory body will move from the current method of the inspection-approval to a new method of verification and authentication. This will ensure that the educational institutions work in co-ordination with the regulatory bodies and the upgradation of an institute becomes an ongoing instead of a one time process.

The report lays down the objectives for higher education which indicate that there will no more be any confusion in policy decisions as there will be a single point of contact of all policy related queries. Also universities will become autonomous which will give them more freedom. It has mentioned continuous reforms in education, although again specific details about them are missing.

Amongst all other recommendations of the report, the one that grabs attention is the proposal to convert universities like IITs and IIMs into full fledged universities imparting knowledge in all areas. This proposal, if not implemented with caution can ruin the engineering or the MBA education of the IITs and IIMs.

The ideas presented in the report can improve the quality of higher education in India only if it provides tangible ideas that can be implemented in reality. Although it has started a debate which is necessary for reform, resenting merely what needs to be done will not help any one.

the_mask_25631420 · July 16, 2009, 1:54pm

Officials of the University Grants Commission (UGC) have kicked and screamed that the UGC cannot be shut down like a factory so that one body to regulate higher education can be set up. However, the UGC is waking up to the fact that the grades offered at various Indian universities need to be assessed and some kind of uniformity should be established across these grades. A system by which credits can be easily transferred across institutes is on the cards and this will definitely help students when they want to apply for further studies in India or abroad.

This is a small step which may help bring some standards to education in India. Such a system will also help students to not have any confusion about which institutes they can apply to after completing their course. Institutes should also be told to clearly disclose the credits given to various courses so that students know from the beginning what they are getting into. Sometimes students are confused about the value of degrees offered by institutes and prospects after graduating from a particular institute.

An official credit transfer system is definitely a welcome move but India's universities urgently require opening up of the various disciplines which are offered at universities. As suggested in the Yash Pal report, students should be allowed to opt for courses from various disciplines offered at a university. I think that it is a waste of resources if a university offers disciplines such as engineering, medicine, management, sociology etc and does not allow a student of say engineering to take any subjects from the other disciplines. Studying subjects from various disciplines will help students to get a wider perspective of things and learn in a holistic manner.

It will be interesting to see how the credit transfer system is designed and how courses at institutes are evaluated. I hope that it does not prove to be simply an academic exercise which does not provide any insights into the quality of the program offered. Courses should be rigorously examined and the system should ensure that the credit system provides a lot more transparency about the offered course.

wengi · July 16, 2009, 2:30pm

Nothing can stop you from taking a pause at the dome of Symbiosis Institute of Management (SIMS), look up and say a few words in its praise. The colored stripes intercepted with translucent ones create a semi luminescent environment below which is as close to serene as it gets. No wonder it is prohibited to talk underneath. Well, you can dare.

Cannons, used as early as in the Kargil war greet you when you step inside the gates of SIMS and introduce you quite early to its defense connection. The discipline of the students and their behavior make that connection even stronger. The institute is almost totally run by the students, with each and every department run by student committees comprising of senior and junior students. What strikes you is not the novelty of the concept, but the efficiency with which it is executed. Students run some committees and are members of the others. In short, they have quite a lot on their plates and they seem to enjoy it.

Perhaps the one thing that remains with every student at SIMS is their Induction Program. It is a fifteen day ritual that every new joinee undergoes at SIMS. The day starts at 5:30 am (yes! 5:30 am) with brisk physical exercise; the exercise is only deemed effective if the junior boys can wake up their seniors with their war cries (after the jog, the junior boys assemble under the senior boys hostel). After that the itinerary of the day includes seminars and (whacky?) assignments in areas important for students aspiring to be managers. Most of the students get so addicted to the induction schedule that they adopt it even after the induction is over. According to them, the discipline of that schedule makes them grow to become better managers.

The SIMS campus, compact as it is, is a very technology friendly campus. Even the attendance is taken online and is send to the admin department within first five minutes of class (So yes, the institute is not a place for proxy attendance lovers). This is also a step towards the campus to become an eco friendly one by using as less paper as possible. The students are also working towards putting up an online assignment submission system which will save paper used for assignments. An online system called synapse is already in place in the placement committee which has replaced almost all the paper work needed during the placement process. I am more than average concerned for the environment and I find these efforts commendable. It sure is a lesson to each one of us to contribute in our capacities towards the well being of the earth. Makes you an ethical MBA too; better than an oath right?

There is a lot going on at SIMS at a particular time and the students are constantly simulated in an actual corporate environment before they get their degree. Sharon Chandy, a first year student at SIMS quotes The Guardian while summing it all up. He says Water is where you have been called to serve, and water is where you will be tested.

The analogy is crystal water.

I don't think I need to say more.

wengi · July 16, 2009, 2:36pm

A Talk with the Director SIMS makes you put an MBA in perspective. Quite simply. Brig Rajiv Divekar is a retired Army brigadier who did his MBA while still at services and through it realized the 'why' of his own job. He still believes that this is what an MBA ought to do for a future manager. And though only a month old at SIMS, this is the MBA he plans his students will take back from the institution. Continuing with the backpacker story on SIMS, here is what the Director, SIMS has to say about his college, its students and its ideology.

What does an MBA at Symbiosis Institute of Management stand for?

At SIMS, students are encouraged to make a connection between their MBA degree and the work that they are or will be doing. The pedagogy is not just about teaching from books but making the curriculum application oriented. Through the MBA, the students should realize the reason for doing what they do.

What is the cut-off in the SNAP test needed by a candidate to be called for GD-PI at your institute? What are the qualities that you look for in him/her at this stage?

The cut-off varies from year to year but it generally hovers at 70 to 75 percentile. There are five qualities that we look out for exclusively in a candidate at the GD-PI stage and they are as follows: a) Their knowledge of academics and of the general world around them, b) If they are logically thinking individuals, c) Their communication skills and how well they can express themselves, d) Their confidence levels and lastly e) If they are team players or not. A large portion, almost 60 percent of our students are from defense background while 40 percent are from other walks of life. There is a symbiotic relationship between both set of students and each gain from the other's experience.

What is the average size of the PGP class? What would be the region wise mix of a standard class at your institute?

We have 60 students in each class of MBA and they come from all the states in India providing good diversity to the institute.

How have the placements been affected because of the economic situation? Have all the students from last year's batches been placed?

Although we have been able to place all the students of the 2007-2009 batch, the placements sure have been affected. The Industry has been choosy and thus more companies have been required to place the same number of students. The pay packages also came down by two to three lakhs.

Based on the lessons from the recession, is the college looking to transform its placements process next year?

To tackle a situation like recession, we have planned to increase the base of the companies recruiting from the campus. We already have a loyal base of companies that come every year to recruit; however, we have to increase it in case they start recruiting lesser number of students.

Any other comments that you would like to add about SIMS

SIMS has started various courses to make education a fruitful experience for the students. We encourage students to take up subjects different than their core subjects for their overall development. We are one of the five institutions chosen to be a part of the National Foundation for Corporate Governance (NFCG) after IIM Ahemdabad, IIM Banglore, IIM Calcutta, MDI and ISB. We are already in the top 25 b-schools in India and the quest is to rise up a few notches higher.

the_mask_25631420 · July 17, 2009, 6:23pm

Students will benefit from this year's Union Budget but there is a lot which remains to be done on the part of the government. Let's go with the facts first. It's been declared that students from weaker sections of society will not have to pay any interest during the study period for loans which are taken from scheduled banks. This means that no interest would be charged during the time of the education program for these students. There's been an increase of Rs 2,000 crore in money allotted for higher education and that figure stands at Rs 8,000 crore. These funds will definitely be used for developing infrastructure but banks must improve policies for providing loans to students.

Scheduled banks include banks such as the State Bank of India and other public sector banks, private banks such as ICICI, HDFC Bank and also select foreign banks. Approximately five lakh students are expected to benefit from this scheme. It remains to be seen if such a large number of students from the weaker sections will indeed get loans sanctioned from these banks.

The government has implemented these measures in the budget but provision of education loans is another area in which the government can make some useful changes. These days most students are opting for an education loan to fund their MBA studies in India and these programs usually cost in excess of Rs five lakhs. B-schoolers are facing issues of loan repayment because of the slowdown. A student at a Symbiosis management institute said, "At the State Bank of India (SBI), it is completely up to the branch manager to decides whether the loan should be granted or not. SBI also requires that there should be a branch in the student's hometown and the student or his parents should have an account in that branch." These details often result in students at schools which do not have bank tie-ups encountering difficulties in securing loans.

I think that the government should definitely lay down rules which smoothen the process of obtaining loans. It is unfair to force students to approach multiple banks so that they can get funds for their studies. Banks should be given clear directions so that education loans are more easily available to students enrolling in India's accredited MBA colleges. The government can also set up organisations to ensure that loans are available for students entering accredited institutes.

Top b-schools such as the Indian Institute of Management (IIMs) have bank tie-ups to provide loans for students at lower interest rates while students at other institutes have to make their own arrangements. Public sector and nationalized banks could be encouraged to have tie-ups with b-schools outside the top ten institutes so that students can get education loans in an easier manner. A lot of b-schools have increased their fee in the past two years. The government should definitely make efforts to ensure that the loan process does not stop deserving students from making use of management education.

wengi · July 17, 2009, 6:36pm

Relationships are meant to last. And they are meant to grow. And who can better demonstrate that than our very own forum members at PaGaLGuY.com. I have recently joined the company and was blessed with a chance to go for an All India PaGaLGuY meet (AIPGM) soon after joining. This is where I saw the exceptional relationship that the forum members share with each other. No one could have guessed that some of the people at AIPGM were meeting each other for the first time!

PG as PaGalGuY.com is fondly called is as close knit as close knit can be. Hence, apart from being there for each other for preparation for CAT and other MBA entrance examinations, the members have started a thread under the forum touching lives where they can serve other people outside the PG community who would gain from their experience and expertise. Preparing the Special KIDS in Bangalore to make their dreams come true is one such thread started by Prem Ravi Kumar (prem_ravi). Prem_ravi is easily one of the most active members on PG and also off PG. He is also a moderator (which shows how much PG HQ respects his decision) and his resilience is something anyone will vouch for.

On November 15, 2008 prem_ravi received a phone call from one of his colleagues who requested him to talk to his friend who was physically challenged in order to motivate him for CAT which he was writing the next day. The conversation touched him emotionally and influenced him to start working for the benefit of MBA aspirants who were physicallychallenged or economically weak. Along with Prem, two other PG users Abhishek (the_hate) and Sandhya (Sandhya venkat) joined in this exercise to help the special kids achieve their dreams of cracking the CAT. Prem had (and still has) his focus clear, "I need to instill self confidence in them". According to him, even if they do not crack it, the experience of taking the CAT with three lakh aspirants will make the special kids confident enough to take on any challenge in the world, the learning will be high, he says. By the way, three lakh?. Oh Yes. He wants them to write the CAT in the general category.

Presently there are three students in their class which is now called Spurti. Two of the three students are visually challenged and are taught with the help of the JAWS software. Although they are visually impaired, their grasping powers exceed expectations. The infrastructure is provided at no cost by Career Launcher (CL), Bangalore after its city head, Anant heard Prem's story and decided to let his center be used for the noble cause. Hence on Saturdays at CL Banglore, Prem teaches the students data interpretation (DI), Abhishek teaches quantitative aptitude (quant) and Sandhya, verbal ability (VA). All of them have full time commitments but that does not come in the way of giving their full support to Spurti.

In the entire story, we have two sides. One is trying to take one of the most competitive examinations in the country even when it is at a disadvantage physically. The other is trying to train them to take this challenge even when it does not have the optimum time and resources.

Things will never be perfect. However, it is us, who can (and who will?) make them perfect.

the_mask_25631420 · July 17, 2009, 6:46pm

The Right to Information (RTI) Act is not another law which results in cases hanging around in court rooms for years without any action coming through. In a major development, the Faculty of Management Studies (FMS), Delhi has revealed the marks breakup for the entire batch of students admitted to the institute in 2008. Prof JK Mitra, the institute's Dean, has been fined Rs 25,000 for not revealing the information in time specified by the RTI Act. Also, the admissions of the entire batch of students admitted to the institute in 2008 remains provisional till date.

A fine of Rs 25,000 is the maximum penalty which is possible under the RTI Act. This amount will be deducted from the Dean's salary from August to November of this year. Prof Mitra has said that marks breakup could not be provided till now because of the provisional admissions status of the batch of 2008-10. The admission status of the student does not make a difference; the CIC believes that by using this as an excuse, the Dean was trying to use any possible excuse to escape penalty. It is also shocked that the admission of students who have been studying for over a year is yet to be confirmed. On being contacted, Prof Mitra refused to comment on this issue and said that he is still to receive a copy of the CIC ruling.

Nitesh Duhan, a student of the MBA - Management of Services (MBA-MS) had filed the RTI request on April 7, 2008. He says, "The RTI is an extremely useful tool and more students should come forward to file requests. Two lines and Rs 20 is all that one needs."

Prof Mitra also said that the marks breakup was maintained on sheets but not entered into the system and that is why the details could not be revealed. Information does not have to be stored in a system to be revealed through RTI and the CIC has termed this excuse as being preposterous. The institutes admissions committee had met on June 10, 2009 to discuss the issue of providing the marks breakup for 2008 admissions. And this meeting was held over a year after the RTI request had been filed on April 7, 2008. The CIC has said that it is extremely unfortunate that the Dean of a well known institute like FMS should blatantly defy orders by statutory bodies for a year and take action only after being threatened with a penalty.

The CIC had earlier ordered Prof Mitra to disclose the admissions process followed at the institute and appear for a showcause hearing to explain why he should not be penalized. Prof Mitra defended himself at the hearing by claiming that the implementation of the OBC quota did not allow finality in the results. According to papers submitted by Duhan, the CIC believes that Prof Mitra intentionally decided to not reveal the marks but resistant to transparency was the reason behind this and not bad intentions.

This is not the first instance of institutes revealing admissions information. IIM Bangalore had been forced to disclose its admissions criteria after an RTI request had been filed by a visually impaired MBA aspirant. Most recently, IIM Ahmedabad has revealed that there has been a significant rise in RTI requests which have been filed regarding admissions and appointments of institute officials.

The RTI is definitely a way of obtaining crucial information from b-schools. It can help students to get a clear idea of how institutes select in their admissions process. B-schools should ideally be open about their admissions and reveal the marks breakup. It will be interesting to see if this ruling results in changes in admissions at b-schools or if students are encouraged to file more requests to know details.

wengi · July 21, 2009, 2:04pm

The Budget-2009 has allocated Rs.15, 429 crore (Rs.154.29 billion), including a planned allocation of Rs.9,600 crore. The break up is as follows:

1) UGC has been provided Rs 4,374.95 crore, which includes expenditure for both Central and Deemed Universities.
2) The allocation for Central Universities includes allocation of Rs 1,033 crore for implementation of OBC reservation in terms with Oversight Committee recommendations.
3) Rs 900 crore for National Mission for Education through ICT.
4) Rs 827 crore allotted for one Central University in each uncovered state.
Rs 215 crore for Indian Institutes of Science for Education and Research (IISERs).
5) Rs.3,902 crore for Technical Education that includes assistance to IITs, IIMs and NITs.
6) Rs. 494.5 crore for setting up and up-gradation of Polytechnics under the Skill Development Mission.

As I see it, again there will be large amounts of money doled out to the education sector and most of it will enter the pockets of various middlemen/babus or whatever you might want to call them. The effective money will be too less to do anything substantial and that will be the end of story for Indian education reforms. On the contrary, things might not be as bad as I picture them out to be and something might come out of the education budget after all. However, when I see no change in governments thinking and planning for the cause of higher education, I strut back to my pessimism.

We do need more funds on education; no denying that, but with that we also need a new direction in which these funds would be utilized. Apart from the incessant focus on students, shouldnt we focus on teachers? Much has been talked about the importance of teachers education and development to uplift the education sector in India. Is it not peculiar then that there is no allocation of budget exclusively for teachers education and training in the present Budget-2009?

Over the years, teachers have received substandard training in India which shows that it is not a section recognized by the government as worthy of paying attention to. The attention is always paid to the end product; i.e. the quality of the students coming out of the institutes. Tough entrance exams ensure that the students who enter sail through on their own (without much input from the teachers) which in turn ensures that the incompetence of teachers does not become a matter of much concern.

Education for teachers should follow a periodic certification system as followed by many corporate organizations around the world. This means that the teachers should revise their knowledge by a periodic certification examination system in which they are able to upgrade their knowledge as per industry requirements. Of course it should be additional to high quality research which should be compulsorily undertaken by all teachers especially in the higher education sector. Teachers should also be encouraged to take workshops with people from the industry to impart the latest information to their students. And all of that will only be possible if the teachers have their own budget to start with.

Unless focus shifts to the input in education, little change can be expected in the output. The government should realize that a good teacher is rarely born, but can always be trained.

the_mask_25631420 · July 22, 2009, 3:08pm

The walls are clearly breaking down as far as education is concerned and the web will be a significant carrier for education in the near future. Distance learning MBA programs have been around in India for some time now where students prepare from printed study material and meet over weekends at study centers. Education in cyber land has drawn a business figure like Jack Welch as well as our very own Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU).

Jack Welch, former Chief Executive of General Electric, has decided to invest money and lend his name to an MBA program at a Cleveland based university. Interestingly enough, Welch has lent his name to the program but will not be teaching any of the courses. Nearly all the coursework for the program at the Jack Welch Management Institute will be delivered online and the business icon believes that the program will definitely help people who want to hold their jobs and get an MBA at an affordable cost (the program sets a person back by just over $ 20,000).

Closer home, the Karnataka State Open University and IGNOU have also included web based learning in their courses. While the Karnataka Open University has tied up with University18 Business School to establish virtual classrooms, IGNOU has set up a six month online based course to train people looking to enter the BPO industry. IGNOU is also providing a mix of online and offline study materials for creative media arts courses. Xaviers Labour Relations Institute, Jamshedpur also provides an online course which students can access.

This method of education is an option that is gaining popularity. The distance learning MBA program is favoured by working professionals and the competition is lesser than that in a fulltime program. Part time MBA programs and distance learning programs serve the similar purpose of allowing people to study without giving up work. It will be interesting to see whether the job market attaches a higher level of importance to such programs in future. These programs are so far mainly considered to be helpful for moving ahead in the same company. Will the internet become such a force in education that these courses also help students to move across jobs? How sophisticated will the methods of delivery become in the future?

wengi · July 22, 2009, 3:10pm

When Bush became the President of the USA, his MBA from Harvard signified just another educational qualification. During his eight year long tenure as the President of the USA, it again remained just another educational qualification; though of course it did become a cause of shame to Harvard. However, the current economic scenario and the collapse of Wall Street have made the Harvard Business School a household name as the one entity responsible for it all. And it is not just Harvard. It is a common belief that business schools are indeed responsible for the financial mess that the world is in right now.The constant global badgering has made the MBAs believe that they just might have done something wrong; hence the MBA oath by Harvard students and a horde of other ethical endeavors which mushroomed in the rainy season of curses. All MBA graduates want to be seen as principled individuals who only want to serve people.

The run to join oaths and declarations has been a fierce one in the west. Contrary to expectations, Harvard's MBA oath had people joining it from all over. Everyone wanted to be part of it, as if the act in itself will cleanse them of their past and future follies. It has created quite a buzz and continues to do so as loads of new people continue to join it to promise a greed free future for the people. However, there has been no such initiative from the Indian side although some Indian students from FMS Delhi have signed it.

Why would there be no response to a seemingly high energy phenomenon that has caught the fancy of the rest of the world? Indians generally do not fail to follow the west at any opportunity. Is it because the scale of the damage due to recession has been considerably low in India? Or because Indian students believe that there is no problem with their principles (they may be right too). Or perhaps they have had the (happy) realization that lack of principles is a part of the structure and there is no point trying to change it.

Let's analyze all the reasons one by one. Firstly yes, the scale of damage due to recession has been considerably low in India; growth has slowed down but has not been totally stalled. Consequently, the MBAs who graduated in 2008 did not obtain high paying investment banking jobs but they did not go jobless either. Most of the top business schools in India could place their students at respectable positions in respectable companies with similar respectable salaries. With a job in their kitty, why would they bother to make an ethical connection with their predecessors and the economic crisis?

Secondly, Indian students believe that there is no problem with their principles and claim that whatever (wrong) decisions they make or have made are or have been forced on them by the system. The system is corrupt and unethical and one has to survive in that. Is there a choice left for a business graduate?

And lastly, the happy realization. What have we been able to change in the past sixty odd years? Yes, just take the hint.

The effectiveness of the MBA oath has not been proven yet. Considering that it is still in its nascent stage, it deserves some time to produce results. It is a small initiative and one that, if successful, might change the corporate world into a better place. It might fail completely too; in which case there wouldn't be much of a difference between now and later. There is no harm in introducing something that might not work. However, it is the lack of an initiative which is dangerous and business students in India should realize that.

update:

Lauren Bloom thinks it might actually work!: MBA oath could make a difference

Give it a chance people.

wengi · July 22, 2009, 3:10pm

Can an event be a solution to the not-so-high-level of popularity in the education sector of an MBA college? Subhadeep Bhattacharya says "Yes". For him, an event is a solution to most of the business problems of various organizations.

Subhadeep belongs to the category of MBA graduates whose career dream does not end at a high paying job after the degree. He wants his education to give him something more. He is a second year student at the SIES College of Management who along with three of his batch mates, Harshvardhan Gaur, Avinash Korudu and Dhanraj Israni have set up a website known as 'Eventbandaas.com' to promote the idea of events as one of the probable way to provide solutions to various business problems. Subhadeep had always been an active event manager at the school and college level and found that events excited him; during his MBA he developed a method to integrate his passion and studies and launched the website after finding like minded people in his college. He plans to make it a one stop shop for all event related information and will try to bring reforms in the education sector using his website as a tool for change.

Education as a tool for reform has been around since the start of time. However, today the combination of education, vision and technology has become a force to reckon with for in terms of the power they have to turn situations around. An education visionary can develop new ventures, create jobs and thus affect public opinion in a major way. Entrepreneurship by MBA graduates is catching up in a big way and can be termed as one good result of the recession. However, it shouldn't be taken as a temporary alternative to the high paying jobs that did not materialize this season. The government should also help in making the country a entrepreneur friendly one. Quality will become a norm rather than an exception if out of the box thinking is giving the impetus that it needs.

wengi · July 23, 2009, 3:46pm

From now on, when you are going to do something good, make something better or change something that is old, dont always expect a round of applause. Because very simply, even with the best of ideas you cant please everyone!

In the education sector too, I saw the same scene present itself when I read that the Left has denounced all reforms proposed by the Human Resources minister Kapil Sibal. They claim that this is a move towards privatization and centralization of education and according to West Bengal Secondary Education Minister Partha Dey, this move will actually take education beyond the reach of ordinary and poor families. He is correct; with the average years of schooling of adults a little more than 5 years, education was always within the reach of the ordinary and poor families.

The literacy rate in India is at a dismal 59.6 percent, which can be argued to be better than a lot of countries but lets face it, it is still dismal. We are still following the old educational system which was started by the British to serve their own political and administrative needs. In more than sixty years, all we have done is a patch up job in the education sector and lauded our mediocrity. Many reports such as The Radha Krishnan Commission (1948-49) on University Education, the Laxmanaswamy Mudaliyar Committee (1952-53) on Secondary Education, and the Kothari Commission (1964-66) for the common school system have been tabled without very visible results. I would not be an authority to judge why they failed to bring out the intended effect; however I do think that it was due to the lack of an attempt to change, rather than repair, the present system of education.

Our education system, unless totally revamped, it will become the death of millions of Indian students who would be looking out to develop original ideas in the future. As it has started with the Yashpal report, we need to go forward to shun all old practices and construct new ones. It will be difficult to make everyone follow the lead or believe that a new system is possible.

I request the reformers to not even try.

wengi · July 23, 2009, 3:49pm

Not really, and if you ask the status at various coaching centers around the city, students are now more concerned about their strategies and fundamentals for the CAT than if they will be holding the pencil or the mouse in their hands while writing it. It is the season of mock CATs and city heads of coaching centers across the city say that whether pencil or mouse, it's still the fundamentals that reign supreme.

According to Nand Kumar, City Head, Career Launcher (CL), Dadar, students are taking one complete test and three sectional tests in a week. The classes are going on too and students now divide their time between both of them. At IMS Learning Resources, apart from taking mock tests, students are more in the preparatory mode and are smoothing out the rough edges of the various topics they will be tested on the final day. They are almost done too; rather they should be done as the Open SIM CAT, which is the IMS mock CAT open test for all students (irrespective of them being IMS students or not) is scheduled for Sunday, July 26, 2009. At T.I.M.E again, almost 90 percent students are taking mock cats although no one has stopped going to classes. Most of the tests are online; while CL has scrapped all of its paper pencil tests, IMS and T.I.M.E has a combination of 60-40 percent and 70-30 percent of online and paper-pencil.

Strategies always fail you on the test day when CAT comes with a pattern and a structure which no one thought about before. However, students devise it always too since it always is good to be armored for a battle (or is it war?). At CL, a detailed analysis is given to the students after every mock test, so that they can check out where they went wrong. Class room analysis and one to one mentoring is also provided. This helps a students find out his weak areas and as there are still more than four months to go for the C-day, work on them too. T.I.M.E and IMS follow more or less the same technique. According to Satyes, Center Head IMS every student is different, hence they help devise strategies according to the needs of an individual student. One thing that can be very dangerous to students at this time will be copying some one else's strategy. What works for Ram does not work for Shyam!

So you think everything is the same and CAT going online is not to be paid much heed to? If you say no, you sure have forgotten the Reading Comprehension (RC) exercise. How do you plan to highlight an important point in the RC so that you may refer it while answering questions? There is a tip given to me by Kumar:

You divide the page into nine grids (by drawing two parallel horizontal and vertical lines on it). Number them from one to nine and now highlight the grid (or make little notes in it) where you think your paragraph on the computer screen will fall.

Top (1)	2	3
Left (4)	Middle (5)	Right (6)
7	8	Bottom (9)

It can be helpful once you get used to it. Do you think you have more such tips to tackle CAT? Give them as comments or discuss them on the forums. It will be interesting!