Assuring quality in management education: the Indian context

R. Jagadeesh

Introduction
In recent years, higher education in the field of management is witnessing increasing demand in India. Most students are pursuing education after graduation and management education is a popular choice because of its interdisciplinary nature, with admission to the courses open to all categories of graduates. Many new institutions have exclusively been set up, in particular by the private sector in large numbers, to offer postgraduate courses in management. Besides, many existing institutes have started offering these courses considering the huge demand. This development, while satisfying the market demand for management education, has also raised a serious debate among management experts, students, academicians and corporate groups, on the quality of education being maintained. Further, the quality of graduates coming from these institutes is also being carefully assessed about their employability by the corporate and business sector and capability to satisfy their divergent needs. This paper examines the critical issue of the quality of management education at postgraduate level currently being offered in the country. In addition, the paper investigates several other related aspects, namely, the reasons for a rise in demand for management education, participation of private sector in setting up institutes, overall quality level, problems and conflicts faced by managers of these private institutes. First, the article presents an overview of postgraduate education and then narrows down to address the issues related to postgraduate education in management. Finally, solutions to the various problems are presented. The objective of the article is to serve as a guide for improving the quality of management education in the country.

The author R. Jagadeesh is Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, S.J. College of Engineering, Karnataka, India. Keywords Education, Quality, Masters of Business Administration, Management, Business schools Abstract The increasing demand for postgraduate education in management in India has resulted in a steep rise in the number of institutes offering such education. However, the quality of education offered in many institutes is seriously being debated by students and prospective employers. The efforts to improve quality appear minimal, resulting in little or no improvement in quality. Provides a summary of status of quality in management education and critically analyses the issue of quality with the backdrop of problems, constraints, and conflicts. Further, the paper describes the structure and pattern of postgraduate management education as offered in India, along with a description of regulatory agencies existing in the country to monitor the standards of management education. Towards the end, suggests appropriate solutions with several alternatives, to improve quality, discussing also their feasibility. The general objective is to provide help to develop strategies for improving quality of postgraduate education in management. Electronic access The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at http://www.emerald-library.com

Rise in demand for postgraduate education in management in India an overview

Postgraduate education in management in India is currently enjoying a higher demand than ever before, for several reasons, as follows: 110

Quality Assurance in Education Volume 8 . Number 3 . 2000 . pp. 110119 # MCB University Press . ISSN 0968-4883

Assuring quality in management education: the Indian context

R. Jagadeesh
.

Quality Assurance in Education Volume 8 . Number 3 . 2000 . 110119

A large number of graduates are coming out of colleges and institutes every year, making every job opportunity highly competitive and difficult to get. Among them, the number of engineering graduates, who constitute the largest category of graduates seeking postgraduation in management, continues to rise. For the year 1997-1998, the number is estimated to be around 97,000 and was expected to increase to 100,000 per annum by the year 2000 (Kanavi, 1996). With job opportunities not being expanded in similar proportion, the majority of these graduates turn towards postgraduate education. Many multinational companies, attracted by India's ``open door''policy, adopted due to economic liberalisation and globalization, have recently set up their branches and offices in India. These companies, during campus placement and recruitment, have shown a preference for candidates with postgraduate management degrees. Several companies have raised the entrylevel qualification itself to postgraduation with specialisation in management. This is being done to ensure availability of candidates with better skills and knowledge and also to filter out the large number of applications they receive for every job they advertise. Many students feel that a postgraduate qualification, particularly in management, will provide them with special skills like good communication abilities, ability to work in teams, leadership quality, and exposure to current trends in business and commerce, thus enhancing their employability.

For these reasons, postgraduate education in management appears to be a popular choice for a majority of graduates. Surge in the number of management institutes and business schools The demand for management education has risen sharply in recent years, resulting in a significant gap between supply and demand (Agarwala, 1995). While the annual demand is about 10,000 to 15,000 Master of Business Administration (MBA) graduates, the

country's premier (which means reputed and high quality) institutes, namely Indian Institutes of Management (IIM) and top Business Schools (BS), turn out about 2,000 postgraduates in management every year. According to another report (Kawatra and Majumdar, 1998), the estimated demand is for 2,735 MBAs while the supply is about 1,740 MBAs annually. This is of course considering the demand from only those companies, which would be interested in recruiting top quality management graduates, preferably from premier institutes. Recently, the country's top engineering institutes, namely Indian Institutes of Technology, also started offering their postgraduate programme called Master of Management (MOM). Besides, two new IIMs have started functioning, one each at Calicut, in Kerala State, and at Indore, in Madhya Pradesh State. But the demand for admission into the MBA programmes at IIMs continues to rise every year. More than 50,000 students try for admission into these institutes, while the number of seats available in IIMs happens to be about 1,200 only. This deficit is well recognised as a business opportunity and a number of institutes have been set up to offer MBA or equivalent programmes in recent years by organisations in the private sector. In line with the policy of liberalisation and economic reforms adopted by the Government of India (GOI) that began in the early 1990s, the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE), a statutory body under the Ministry of Human Resource Development, has permitted a large number of institutes to start MBA or equivalent programmes. These programmes are called by various names, e.g. PGDMS (Postgraduate Diploma in Management Sciences), PGDM (Postgraduate Diploma in Management), PGDBA (Postgraduate Diploma in Business Administration), and MMS (Master of Management Sciences). It may be noted that, wherever the local university has given affiliation to the programme, it is called a degree, otherwise a diploma. All these developments clearly show that management education is currently enjoying a high priority among those starting new institutes or offering new programmes.

111

Assuring quality in management education: the Indian context

R. Jagadeesh

Quality Assurance in Education Volume 8 . Number 3 . 2000 . 110119

Status of quality
The ever increasing number of institutes and schools offering postgraduate courses in management education has raised one common question pertaining to quality of education, particularly in the recently started institutes. Extensive work has been done in this regard by India's top business publications, namely Business India (BI) and Business Today (BT). A summary of salient points from these reports is given below. Based on the observations made in BI (Panchal, 1998), India has 500 business schools that award MBA or equivalent programmes (degree or diploma), with 60 to 180 students admitted per year. The annual fees charged range approximately from 500 to 1,500. (The fees recently have gone even above 2,500 in some cases.) Most of these operate with three to four professors and a ``skeleton'' office staff. Some are located in high-school buildings so that classes start after the regular school has ended, which means sharing the same building and other infrastructure. As AICTE recognition is not mandatory, anybody can start and run an institute from anywhere. According to a report published in BT (Kawatra and Majumdar, 1998), management education in India is being mismanaged. Quality of education, reflected in the knowledge base and skill set of the graduates coming out of the institutes, is plummeting. Control over quality is conspicuous by its absence. Many institutes appear to be existing only for money. They are aiming at cashing in on the rising demand for management degrees. Bereft of adequate infrastructure, trained faculty, and corporate expertise, the institutes are displaying poor business sense ignoring the real customer, the corporate recruiter. Out of 487 BSs approved by AICTE as at 1 April 1998, no more than 50 make it to the serious recruiters list. Only seven BSs score more than 600 points out of 1,000 in a comprehensive multidimensional ranking based on a survey exclusively conducted by BT. With cut-off reduced to a score of 500 out of 1,000, eight more BSs joined the list of top institutes. By these standards there are just seven ``A-class'' and eight ``B-class'' BSs in the country. In

fact, only 10 per cent of the BSs, i.e. 50 BSs out of 500, had an overall score of above 200 out of 1,000. These observations clearly indicate that quality of management education is quite poor. Similar views are expressed by others and reported in journals and periodicals (Ambirajan, 1996; Ramakrishnan, 1998). While these conclusions are relevant when the country's BSs are compared among themselves, it is equally pertinent to know the ratings on a global scale also, to ascertain the relative strength of top Indian BSs. In a special cover feature on international management education (World Executive Digest, 1997), only one Indian institute, namely, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A), made entry into the top 20 BSs in the Asia-Pacific region. Incidentally, IIM-A is rated as the best BS in India, with both BI and BT surveys ranking it as number one. According to a report by Asia Inc., Hong Kong (Seethalakshmi 1998), the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIM-B) is rated as one of the top 25 BSs in the Asia-Pacific region. This could perhaps be surmised as just two BSs out of 500 in India are of global quality, which is a distressing factor indeed. A close look at the state of affairs According to the author's own experience and observations, besides those discrepancies already cited, some other deficiencies pertaining to BSs are as follows: . Limited number of core faculty and heavy dependence on visiting/guest faculty, who though competent may not be able to devote full attention or time or show serious commitment. . Poor quality of faculty in terms of incompetence, insufficient qualifications, and lack of experience. . Improperly structured courses and course outline. No definite guidelines for course contents, coverage and depth of topics. . Admission norms and eligibility criteria greatly relaxed to accommodate larger number of students regardless of quality. (Lower number of students admitted means loss of revenue.) . Assessment procedures and criteria not properly defined, with every faculty

112

Assuring quality in management education: the Indian context

R. Jagadeesh

Quality Assurance in Education Volume 8 . Number 3 . 2000 . 110119

. . .

following his or her individual style, with emphasis on promoting students to the next term and finally awarding a degree to everyone. Low quality of students admitted to these programmes. Many institutes have a good number of retired academicians who occupy prime positions and decision-making posts in these institutes exhibiting a lack of vision and enthusiasm. These people take up the job more as a post-retirement occupation with little or no interest in promoting management education. Many enjoy high salaries and perks solely based on their past reputation, particularly so if they are from premier institutes, and fail to provide the leadership for the new institute or BS they are heading. They continue to imbue the same culture that they have inherited from their previous organisation and stubbornly advocate it, disregarding its suitability and resultorientedness to the new organisation.

IIMs set up by GOI. University departments. University colleges and private colleges affiliated to universities. Private colleges or institutes approved by AICTE. Private institutes not affiliated to any universities nor approved by AICTE.

As a result of these factors, quality of management education has suffered and standards are reduced to dismal levels.

Regulation of quality of management education

Before discussing the issue of improving quality of management education, it is appropriate to study the pattern and structure of management education in India. At present the formal management education available in India can be categorised as follows: . Certificate courses. . Diploma courses. . Graduate courses. . Postgraduate courses. . Doctoral programmes. The present article focuses on postgraduate level courses like MBA and equivalent programmes, as these happen to be the most sought-after courses and currently expanding in terms of number of seats available for formal education. Postgraduate level courses like MBA and equivalent programmes are being offered by different types of educational institutes as given below:

In addition, some institutes are offering MBAs or similar programmes with a foreign university collaboration, with the degree being given by a US, UK, Australian or some European university. Furthermore, MBAs or similar courses are also available through distance education or off-campus programmes. In some cases, both full-time and part-time or evening time courses are also available. All these combinations are capable of satisfying different user requirements in terms of money, duration, status or reputation and recognition for the course. Considering the issue of quality, IIMs set up by GOI are fully autonomous and are governed by their own academic councils and committees. These institutes, though, follow models based on Harvard, Wharton or other BSs in the USA and they make appropriate changes in the curriculum to suit local conditions. They also regularly update and modify the curriculum based on corporate and industry requirements and hence are rated high on the quality scale. In fact, graduates coming out of these institutes command the highest salaries in India, which is an indicator of the market credibility and acceptance of the programmes. University departments, colleges, and private colleges affiliated to universities, are covered by typical university rules and regulations and have to follow whatever the university says. They have very little or no freedom in administrative or academic matters. Universities, in turn, check the standards prevailing in these colleges through committees appointed for this purpose. Admissions, curriculum, conducting of the course, and examination are all done according to the university rules. The degree is finally awarded by the university to the candidates who satisfactorily complete the course requirements.

113

Assuring quality in management education: the Indian context

R. Jagadeesh

Quality Assurance in Education Volume 8 . Number 3 . 2000 . 110119

Burgeoning of institutes compounding the quality issue AICTE, in recent times, has given approval for many institutes to run postgraduate diploma programmes considered equivalent to MBA, and has prescribed its own standard covering such details as curriculum, infrastructure requirements, faculty qualifications, library, computer centre and course outline. It has also formulated the national policy on management education. While the standard set by AICTE is not difficult to follow, many institutes, once they get the approval, simply would not adhere to the standards prescribed. As AICTE is only a statutory body in the form of adviser and supervisor, it unfortunately does not have the power or authority to penalize or punish the erring institutes. At the most it can withdraw the recognition it has given to the institute. Even to do that, a lengthy procedure is involved, and bureaucratic hassles occur. Hence quality becomes the casualty in the process. AICTE, however, insists on affiliation every year, which is usually obtained by the institutes as a ritual, without any serious commitment. Many experts feel that AICTE, which is primarily set up for administering and governing technical education in the country, should not be the authority on management education and instead a separate body should be set up exclusively for management education. Private institutes not affiliated to any universities nor approved by AICTE claim that they follow some model framed after a popular school like Kellogs or Wharton of the USA, or follow a course outline developed by their in-house experts. They assert that their courses are more relevant and satisfy contemporary needs. Here also the quality cannot be easily ascertained and hence no attempts are usually made to evaluate the programmes for their relevance or benefit. As they do not seek recognition or affiliation from a university or any other agencies, they enjoy a kind of immunity to all the rules and regulations. In fact, the success of these institutes solely depends on the market acceptance of their courses. Any instance of high rate of acceptance is perceived by many as an indication of superiority in quality to other similar courses. As AICTE approval or university affiliation is not mandatory, these

private institutes have absolute freedom in their operations. The case of collaboration Many institutes are offering a programme for which a degree is awarded by a foreign university. The lure of foreign degrees has made many students enrol in these institutes, where a collaborative programme, based on a tie-up between the local institute and some other leading US or UK university or school, is being offered. Some examples include: Manipal Institute, in Bangalore; Karnataka State, collaborating with Ohio University in the USA; and the Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India, collaborating with Transworld University, USA. Here the reputation of the foreign university exclusively resolves the quality of education, as the whole programme is structured and monitored by the collaborator or partner university. These institutes enjoy full functional autonomy and are not subjected to any control or checks from the local authorities. This has also resulted in some private institutes offering programmes with a degree awarded by some dubious overseas partner or collaborator university whose credentials are not known. Thus the students take a certain amount of risk when joining these programmes. As such, no regulations exist to prevent anybody from operating these kinds of courses. Opinion regarding such collaborative programmes seems to be divided. On the one hand, it is said that these programmes, which are modelled after a foreign degree programme, may not be able to satisfy the local needs of the business or industry. With their ``Westernized'' approaches, concepts, and case studies, these programmes prepare students more to deal with foreign situations than Indian industries. On the other hand, it is said that these programmes include more advanced courses and cover the latest developments. Hence it is argued that the students can meet the challenges of the industry, both at present and in future, more effectively. However, the recognition and the global ranking of these foreign universities, make these programmes attractive to those students who want to pursue careers outside the country. The same reasoning holds good for the popularity of MBA programmes that are advertised by many UK and Australian

114

Assuring quality in management education: the Indian context

R. Jagadeesh

Quality Assurance in Education Volume 8 . Number 3 . 2000 . 110119

Universities. Examples include RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia, and Lancaster University, UK. These universities also conduct a selection process in India and admit students who meet their admission criteria.

Conflict of business and ethics, and other problems

One of the major problems faced by every BS is raising the required monetary resource for setting up and running the institute. According to a report published in BT, a typical BS of an international standard would require anywhere between 0.2-0.3 million sterling for setting up, and 0.1-0.2 million sterling for meeting annual expenses. This is where the crux of the problem lies. With government funding totally stopped, the private sector has to first arrange for a massive investment for a project on BS. Since the return on investment is uncertain and slow to occur even to break-even, several years of operations would be necessary. This raises serious doubts about operational feasibility of such ventures and demands high risk-taking capacity from the people or group setting up BS. The second major problem is maintaining high academic standards without affecting the revenues. High academic standards demand strict quality control right from the admission of students, through the process of education and to final placement of successful candidates. As fees charged to students constitute the most important and the primary revenue, it is not affordable for a BS to cut down the number of students being admitted or promoted just on the basis of quality. Thus lowering the standards may be justified to sustain the feasibility of operations and business. This unfortunately proves to be counter-productive in the long run because lower standards gradually may lead to loss of credibility, and lead to low ranking of the institute or BS. A poorly rated BS may not get enough number of students, affecting the financial success of the programme. ``Quality-cost'' dilemma Though every BS would love to admit meritorious and bright students, it is difficult

to attract them, because they too would be evaluating the quality of BSs before joining. Besides, if the fees charged are high, not many students may be able to join, thereby eroding the viability of the programme. This has prompted some compromise during admission itself. It is not a secret to find that many BSs tilt the admissions in favour of those with a heavy purse, ignoring their capabilities. Paradoxically enough, many bright students may not be able to join due to their non-affordability of high fees. Often strict quality control may not be possible to exercise because, with poor quality students joining the course, maintaining high standards may lead to more failures among the students in meeting the prescribed standards. Many students may even have to drop out of the programme because of their inability to meet the minimum standard. This would result in negative publicity and may adversely affect the admissions for the coming years. Thus dilution of standards sets in voluntarily and almost seems inevitable in some cases. Once students with lesser capabilities are admitted, the faculty members would be under severe strain to bring the best out of them. Again, if the assessment methods insist on high quality, many students would automatically fail to get even minimum scores or grades. Thus to project a healthy picture the assessment criteria are lowered leading to dilution of standards. However, when it comes to final assessment in the hands of recruiters and prospective employers, the low quality of output churned out by the institute or BS gets seriously exposed, putting credibility of BS itself at stake. This triggers very low campus placement, which in turn affects the demand for admission in future. To safeguard the interest of the institute, revenue is given first priority ahead of quality, bringing down the standards. Thus, people managing BSs would admit low quality students to fill up the seats ensuring financial viability and continuity of operations. The problem is analogous to a ``product cost-quality'' decision encountered in manufacturing enterprises. Moreover, a BS is also an employer with a sizeable workforce and investment, and hence cannot afford to close down for want of revenue. Thus the issue of business and ethics

115

Assuring quality in management education: the Indian context

R. Jagadeesh

Quality Assurance in Education Volume 8 . Number 3 . 2000 . 110119

assumes greater dimension and resolving the conflict could prove to be tricky and elusive. Faculty-related problems Another major difficulty faced by every BS is attracting good and competent faculty. Here the problems are as follows: competent, well-qualified and experienced faculty demand high salaries and perks which many BSs cannot afford. Moreover, good faculty members once recruited are difficult to retain, unless they see career growth and high returns. Quite often they are lured away by the competitors. Sometimes, people from industries and non-academic organisations who get attracted towards an academic career, take up the role of educators. But often they find the job neither satisfactory nor challenging compared to their earlier profession, and immediately quit the job. Another common feature is the high rate of faculty turnover in almost all institutes. Many people join the profession of management education, but leave within a short span of one to two years. Some common reasons are: disillusionment with the profession, lack of support from the top management, absence of autonomy in academic and non-academic matters, poor monetary rewards, work load not appealing or uninteresting, and not able to cope with young students. By the time a faculty member becomes acquainted with the profession or the place, he or she decides to quit in disappointment, seeking a new career. This discontinuity drastically affects the quality of functioning and efficiency of programmes. As far as other non-academic activities that might generate revenue are considered, it is difficult for every BS to create an atmosphere conducive for conducting research (sponsored or institute supported) and/or management development programmes. For lack of financial support and response these programmes simply fail. Similarly, consultancy work may not be possible in every institute, as the required expertise may not be available within the institute.

platforms, for a long time, and suggestions have been made. In a national conference that was held more than a decade ago, a suggestion was made (Hanumanthappa, 1988) that management education must be delinked from AICTE and a common coordinating and controlling agency at the apex or national level called ``All India Council for Management Education'' be established. The other suggestions include, networking of management institutions for resource sharing, establishing a central funding agency, setting up a central coordinating agency for monitoring and continuous evaluation of the standards and programmes, interface with the user system, collective efforts in preparation of course materials, books, and research publications, and exchanging faculties between practitioners, and teachers both on a shortterm and a long-term basis. It is stated that corporate acceptance of the MBA programme is most vital for the success of management education (Roth, 1995). Accordingly, an MBA programme should concentrate on team-building skills, and presentation and communication skills among the students, which are very much essential for corporate success. Further, it is pointed out that the modern business world demands two types of skills: (1) Skills that allow students to react successfully to international competition and foreign governments. (2) Skills that allow students to identify and create new business opportunities both at home and abroad. However, the most crucial step would be to translate these needs into appropriate curriculum and develop the infrastructure to implement it. This also entails suitable allocation of resources and, above all, a dedicated leader, say a director or a chief executive officer (CEO), to manage the business of BS. The CEO of a BS has to be a pragmatic, market-driven, business-minded leader who understands the necessity of matching the needs and aspirations of gifted researchers, teachers, academicians, and students with the needs of the marketplace. (Chawla, 1996). It is most important that a BS, like any other business enterprise, has to be market focused in adding value to the product that it delivers to the market.

Improving quality pragmatic approach

Quality of management education has been debated and discussed by experts on several

116

Assuring quality in management education: the Indian context

R. Jagadeesh

Quality Assurance in Education Volume 8 . Number 3 . 2000 . 110119

Further, the CEO has to be a deft leader in knitting a diverse community of intellectuals into a goal-oriented team. There are also suggestions about the courses, their number and duration of the programme (Prasad, 1998). It is stated that students who seek admission to BSs should have work experience of at least two years to appreciate the nuances of business decisions. The faculty should go back to industry to update and freshen their knowledge. The programme could be reduced to one year's duration with no specialization of any kind. This leads to graduates who are not just specialized in one area but are aware of problems in other areas, too. Changes in classroom instruction pedagogy are also recommended. A faculty member in a leading BS (Sindhwani, 1999) comments that, while business is in a dynamic mood, most BSs appear to be in a static mood. The institutes must provide the students with opportunities to reflect on strategic issues, in the global context, enabling the students to get exposed to cross-cultural and multi-cultural business environments. It is recommended that BSs should develop customer focus, i.e. the industry, and involve the customers in their academic planning and selecting teaching techniques. An accreditation system is another suggestion (Singh, 1999) to ensure quality of management education. However, it is mentioned that the accreditation system should not be developed by the government but by the professional or industrial associations, and also by employers' associations. This ensures better quality control that would help both the students who join, and the recruiters who come for campus selection.

achieving operational feasibility needs to be struck. Table I shows the different sources of revenue, their variability to meet situations, associated advantages and constraints. It is to be noted that one single strategy may not work for every BS and a mixture of strategies needs to be adopted for operational success. Observing the poor quality and poor infrastructure of private institutes, many business houses and leading industrialists have set up their own management institutes, a kind of backward integration. For example: Tata's have started their management institute at Pune, Maharashtra State, Kirloskars at Harihar, Karnataka State, and Nirma Industries at Ahmedabad, Gujarat State. These business houses have adequate investible funds and thus can strive for better quality without any compromise. These institutes primarily offer management development programmes for their personnel and from other industries, and recently some of them have started offering the traditional degree/diploma programmes in management. The recent example of the Indian Business School (Thakore, 1998) proposed to be set up at Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh State, as a joint venture involving industries like Reliance, Indian Tobacco Company, and Hindustan Lever Limited, clearly shows the priority given to management education by the industries.

Conclusion
Management education has seen a remarkable growth in India in the recent years as reflected in the steep rise in the number of institutes offering postgraduate programmes in management education. The demand for top quality management graduates is increasing, due to more and more multinational companies entering India for their operations. This has resulted in a surge in the demand for seats in reputed management institutes and BSs. However, the number of institutes supplying the required number of management graduates satisfying the needs of the industries happens to be quite low. The gap that exists between supply and demand is taken as a profitable business opportunity, and participation by the private sector has been very noticeable. In this

Towards solutions
Successful funding for setting and maintaining a BS can assure better quality and stability. Besides the fees, which are the chief source of revenue, several other sources need to be carefully explored. A strong industry-institute partnership would be very helpful in this regard. In addition, a balance between setting/maintaining standards and

117

Assuring quality in management education: the Indian context

R. Jagadeesh

Quality Assurance in Education Volume 8 . Number 3 . 2000 . 110119

Table I Various options available for funding a business school (setting up and running) Sl no. Source of income 1 Students Mode and feasibility as a resource Extent of funding Variability to suit the situation Limitations/requirements High rate of fees may be discouraging to prospective students

Fees charged. Prime source, Moderate to large Can be easily varied to easy to get, recurring in nature suit the demand Fees charged. Competitive, needs a lot of contact and a good client base Moderate to substantial

Consultancy

Possible to quote high and Special skills, experienced and fancy fees depending upon expert faculty required reputation, and clients' willingness and affordability Easily variable based on duration, topic, coverage, and type of programme Requires expertise and specialisation. A conducive and encouraging local environment necessary. May not be a success in small towns and cities. Good industrial surrounding a prerequisite Identifying the sources, and getting the funds depends on contacts and chances. Funding agencies may not sanction the grants without demonstrating strong research capabilities Difficult to get collaborations. Industries hesitate to tie-up with new institutes without a track record. Unless returns are assured, industries may not come forward. Institute must demonstrate strong in-house capabilities Needs strengthening of faculty and supporting staff. Slight increase in operational expenses Needs willing and co-operative partners. Image boosting possible through high profile partnerships. Geographical location may be a constraint

Management development programmes and short-term courses

Participation fees. Good source if done on a recurring scale. In-house expertise can be put to use during free time

Moderate to high

Sponsored research

Research grants. Highly competitive to get, but substantial revenue. Ongoing projects can support faculty salaries and help to enhance infrastructure Indirect funding through setting up chairs, establishing endowments, scholarships, joint research work, training and placement opportunities

Moderate to high

Not variable once sanctioned

Industry institute partnership

Moderate to high

Not variable

Part-time courses and Fees charged to the evening courses participants exclusively conducted for working people Collaboration with other institutes Fees shared with partner organisations

Moderate to high

Variable to suit the situation

Low to moderate

Resource sharing possible. Investments can be minimised

Alumni, particularly those who have become successful businesspeople

One-time funding in each case

Moderate to substantial revenues possible

Innovative and novel way Not possible for new institutes. of funding. Both monetary Alumni should be willing and and non-monetary funding philanthropically-minded. possible Constant interaction with alumni required

paper, the various issues concerning the setting up and running of a BS with the key aspect of quality assurance are investigated to identify the problems. Based on these observations, a number of remedial measures are suggested. Further, the article has tried to

explore the different options available for long-term growth and viability of BSs besides the conflicts that need to be resolved. The quality of management education in the country has serious implications, particularly at the time of India's new globally-outward

118

Assuring quality in management education: the Indian context

R. Jagadeesh

Quality Assurance in Education Volume 8 . Number 3 . 2000 . 110119

look to become more competitive and selfreliant, and the country's reckoning as a favourable destination for foreign investment. While generalisation is not intended here, it is emphasised that the country's BSs and management institutes have to gear up themselves for improving quality, have to abandon their short-sighted and fire-fighting approaches, and adopt a policy of continuous improvement. The article is intended to provide a direction and motivation in this regard.

References and further reading

Agarwala, P.N. (1995), ``Trends in management education'', The Economic Times, 14 November, p. 7. Ambirajan, S. (1996), ``Business of business education'', The Economic Times, 3 March, p. 9. Chawla, N.S. (1996), ``The leadership conundrum'', Business India, 17-30 June, p. 121. Hanumanthappa, K. (1988), ``Accreditation and professional standards in management education'', Proceedings of The National Conference on Policy

Implications in Management Education, Bangalore, April, pp. 127-33. Kanavi, S. (1996),``The engineering bubble'', Business India, 6-19 May, pp. 64-7. Kawatra, P. and Majumdar, N. (1998), ``Business and the B-schools'', Business Today, 7 May, pp. 55-84. Panchal, K. (1998), ``The B-school report card'', Business India, 9-22 February, pp. 58-68. Prasad, A. (1998), ``Seven habits for successful B-schools'', The Economic Times, 28 December, p. 7. Ramakrishnan, K. (1998), ``What ails management education?'', The Times of India, 13 October, p. 14. Roth, W.F. Jr (1995), A Systems Approach to Quality Control, Indian ed., Jaico Publications, Bombay. Satyanarayana, P.V. (1996), ``Industrial parks'', Business World, 6-19 March, p. 93. Seethalakshmi, S. (1998), ``A success story: how IIM-B became top business school'', The Times of India, 27 October, p. 4. Sindhwani, T.N. (1999), ``The world is your arena'', The Economic Times, 1 March, p. 7. Singh, P.N. (1999), ``A question of quality control'', The Economic Times, 11 January, p. 7. Thakore, D. (1998), ``The importance of being Chandrababu'', The Times of India, 26 October, p. 15. World Executive Digest (1997), ``MBAs for the global village'', March, pp. 15-20.

119