Institute of Management Technology

The National Education Summit 2011 was held at The Oberoi hotel, New Delhi on 11thJune. Organized by Dainik Bhaskar Group, the summit included an in-depth discussion about the challenges Indian B-schools are facing. Several management experts of international repute shared their views around bridging the quality gap present in the current education system. The director at IMT Ghaziabad, Dr. Bibek Banerjee, contributed to the discussion with his insight on various goals of the management institutes related to quality and brand improvement.

Talking about the need for establishing a brand, he mentioned these three factors as the prime objectives of the B-schools:

- Attracting and retaining the best faculty and equipping them with the most contemporary teaching methods while creating an environment supportive of research and effective corporate interaction
- Ensuring that the students are rewarded with the excellent jobs and well-designed career paths
- Ensuring that the institutes get quality students

According to Dr. Bibek Banerjee, these three focus areas for any management institutes are the basic building blocks for its reputation amongst students, corporate houses and the academia. However, there is often a cost to achieving these objectives. This cost may be in various forms arising from the shortcomings of the institute itself. A careful consideration of these costs and trade-offs in achieving the primary objectives can be really rewarding for an institute.

He shared his opinions on various challenges B-schools are facing these days. He nominated lack of forward-thinking and practical learning methodology as one of the biggest shortcomings most B-schools are dealing with. He said, “One of the biggest shortcomings is that we are still teaching for a world that has in reality gone way ahead of us. There are huge challenges that our students have to face in today’s global and highly competitive market; how ready are they for them? We need to bring far more practical learning into our curriculum.” He revealed that many institutions still find it a challenge to use practical learning tools, such as use-cases and simulations.

Discussing the importance of placements in building reputation of the institute and ensuring better careers for the students, he raised few thought-provoking questions. He asked, “However, the crux of the matter and the main question to ask is whether we created a talent pool that the corporate world demanded? Did we spend enough time with the corporate world to customize our education to their needs? Or have we just put bookworms (‘kitaabi kidas’) in front of them who break into a sweat at the thought of solving a case study in an interview?”

Establishing a relationship between the quality of teaching and placement figures of an institute, he advocated the need to modify the ways of teaching. In his words, “If our students are not getting jobs it’s not the fault of the placement manager, it is our fault; we have not taught them well. We have to create value for both the students and the corporate world.”

He shared his words of wisdom about the real-life challenges, shortcomings, and the goals most of the Indian management institutes have before them. As the one-liner summary of the discussion, he concluded saying, “In the end, how successful the students are is finally a direct evaluation of an institute’s own worth and achievements too.”

Institute of Management Technology

Raj Nagar
Post Box No. 137
Ghaziabad 201001, India

This release was published on openPR.