Sustainable strategies for B-schools in India

B-Schools can be said to be successful if they are acceptable to the corporate world. There are several strategies which need to be implemented for this. The vision and mission statement of most of the B-Schools remain most of the time on paper. These are statements which are prepared merely because the statutory authorities have demanded the same and cannot be easily implemented.

For sustainability, it is imperative that the Director should be allowed to keep terms for at least three to four years. In many cases, it takes around a year to understand the key issues in the working of that particular B-School, another two years for planning and implementing the new strategies that he devises.

Infrastructure is a must.

Most of the B-Schools do not today have adequate ICT facilities and also adequate library facilities. Several B-Schools claim 100% placements without having even 50% placement. The issue is, are B-Schools placement agencies?

Retaining faculty pool
Faculty payment accounts for almost 30 to 40% of the total cost of running the B-School. With the current DA of more than 65%, this cost seems to be spiralling upwards. Co-creation of faculties, 360 degree faculty feedback, treating the faculties as a family could help in retaining the faculty pool and reducing attrition. Another area of encouragement could be research. In one of the B-Schools, faculties are encouraged to take up summer internship in a corporate so that the quality of faculty teaching can increase.

Inter-departmental programmes
There is currently a need for starting innovative inter-departmental programmes, which are demanded by the industry. Such programmes could be for example in the area of Retail Management, Bioinformatics Management, Outsourcing Management, International business management, pharmaceutical industry management, health & hospital management, biotechnology management, banking & insurance management, logistics & supply chain management, etc.

The prime focus of these programmes is to provide industry with ready to use students from day one itself

Interaction with corporates
Regular interaction with the corporate world is a must. Joint working is the need of the hour. One of the B-Schools has adopted the concept of knowledge partner and industry partner where it has tied up with the corporate for support in admissions, faculties etc.

International and national conferences and workshops are another area through which there could be several interactions with the corporate world.

This also helps in showcasing the B-School as well as the students and faculties. It essentially helps in sharing knowledge and thus enhance the quality and skills of the students.

Guest lectures
Guest lectures are another important area where the quality of students can be improved substantially. Senior-level and junior-level guest lectures, help in understanding the overall view of the organisation and the nitty-gritty of the operations respectively.

Research is one of the most important areas. Innovative pedagogy teaching through the use of ICT technologies, group projects case study discussions, live projects role modelling, group discussions, etc, help the student in realising their true potential. 

MoUs with several global as well as domestic B-Schools can help in the areas of faculty exchange, student exchange, etc.

The writer is director, dean and head of the department, DY Patil University, Department of Business Management.