Wake up IIMA

But the last 50 years of IIMA have been inward-looking and limited to what is best for its students and faculty. Given the crisis and challenges faced by Indian B-schools,the next 50 years of IIMA should be outward looking and enabling excellence beyond one institution. I argue that IIMA has an important and critical responsibility in enabling excellence in quality-deprived Indian management education. Three primary strands where IIMA could take a leadership role in shaping the management education agenda are: influencing practices and policies,building collaborations,and encouraging interdisciplinarity.

Beyond campus practices and policies: Indian higher education,in general,and management education,in particular,is facing several challenges including a shortage of faculty and funding at one level and ineffective regulation at another level. This is a classic optimisation challenge of managing resources in an efficient and effective manner. IIMA should engage with the larger discourse of shaping best practices and policies not just at the institutional level but also at the national level.

Consider the case of the salary war among B-schools,which has led to a situation of misrepresentation by many B-schools and unfair options for students. Overall,MBA education has been simplistically reduced to placement salaries.

IIMA has recently released a discussion draft for setting placement reporting standards among Indian B-schools. This is precisely the kind of leadership expected from a B-school like IIMAto engage in a discourse and help shape a better future for management education. Its a good start. However,the faculty and leadership of IIMA is capable of bringing a transformational change at several other pressing issues in higher education.

Beyond campus boundaries: IIMA is a global brand and it has to engage with the world beyond its campus boundaries. This means that the institution has to reach out and forge collaborations with institutions within India and abroad. Being protective and restrictive of the brand is a natural instinct. However,the need is to share the fruits of success with many other institutions that need assistance in improving the quality of education.

The RJ Matthai Centre For Educational Innovation at IIMA had been focusing on innovative solutions to problems in education.

The centre had offered executive development programmes for principal leadership and could very well extend the engagement to offer joint-programmes with other institutions,which need capability building and,in turn,develop talent in larger numbers. At another level,the institute has also expressed interest in starting a campus in Singapore or Dubai by 2013 and it will be an important milestone in the internationalisation of B-schools in India.

Beyond disciplinary boundaries: The business and societal challenges are not necessarily solvable by one field of study or discipline. Indian B-schools have to broaden their own mindset by accepting that they are not in the business of offering MBA degrees. Instead they are in the business of developing talent,which innovates,improves and provides solutions to business and societal problems. Thus,one approach to make B-schools relevant is to consider some of the biggest challenges faced by the Indian society and collaborate to offer programmes that go beyond disciplinary boundaries.

IIMA pioneered the management programme in agriculture in the 1970s and since then has contributed in developing managerial talent for the often neglected sector of the economy,which is desperately seeking efficiency. An MBA degree is perceived to be a path for high-flying jobs in consulting and banking. However,many other social sectors also need managerial talent. IIMA should take a proactive stance in inspiring students and faculty members to engage in multiple sectors in an interdisciplinary fashion.

Indian management education is waiting for the leader and it is time for IIMA to wake up and transform the next 50 years of management education. The relevance,rigour and reach of the IIMA brand has all the potential to lead the discourse of creating high standards of quality and enabling excellence among Indian B-schools.

The author is a New York-based higher education specialist and blogs on http://www.DrEducation.com