MBAs MBAs Everywhere
by Vivek Tuteja
The author is a PGP from IIM Ahmedabad and has 5 years of experience in education consulting.

Now MBAs will work in call centers!

Hello World! Now MBA’s will answer your calls. India is racing ahead to produce unjustified numbers of professional MBAs. MBA’s who will have no choice but to take call center training and do a user end job in Call Centres.

News: ICFAI University has opened 155 MBA colleges under the banner of National College across India with average intake of 300 each. This means now India will produce 45000+ fresh MBA’s every year.

More News: They are not the only one.

Well this is nothing new to India, it has happened earlier to the graduate education and now it is happening to the post graduate education. The problem is much bigger than it looks. in India, too much of importance has been attached to ‘Degrees’ rather than ‘Education’. In 1970’s an average qualified commerce graduate was able to find a good job on his merit. In 1980’s an engineering graduate was worth the engineering tag. In 1990’s an MBA was a respected professional and seen as hi-flier.

And where are we today???

In 2005, none of the mushrooming so-called B-Schools guarantee you that an average qualified candidate will be able to do the relevant job, which requires basic skill set and competencies expected by such a graduate. Ask any corporate recruiter and you will find your answer.

The key question is why?

A Degree in India is more important than the learning associated with it. In Industrial terms, Degree is the product and learning/education is not even a byproduct but the residue. Professional and technical education in India is not governed by a demand-supply gap. Hence it’s a common phenomenon that a civil engineer ends up working in a software company reason being he was never serious about civil engineering, he took it simply because others were not available. Great qualified engineers are we producing who even before starting their engineering education are disinterested in pursuing the skill further or applying it. This frivolity attached to technical and professional education has a multiplier effect. These people in turn hurt the chances of serious candidates pursuing career in their technical field.

Assembly line production when adopted to post graduation has greater implications. Great many candidates choose their post graduation/ professional course because they have completed their graduation. Some of them prioritize, get their goals in place, set targets and start their own battle called “life”. Others, even after graduation have no clue what to expect from their next big degree. Since MBA is the flavour of the season every body wants to be an MBA. They will just do anything for it. Hence you see all these 45000 seats being packed in no time. Some who miss the bus board the next flight abroad in pursuit of an MBA degree. But one needs to understand that Graduates are demanding Degrees, which they think will guarantee good jobs. But not realizing that overall learning and development of their being is far more important.

There are two far reaching issues here which need detailing. Lets take them one by one.

Firstly, is any graduate qualified to be an MBA? A candidate who was at the bottom of the heap in any state level management aptitude test that has moderate difficulty level easily secures admission in these colleges. A simple case, National College had earlier conducted exam for 150 seats per college. But like Reliance Jamnagar refinery, owing to demand they also doubled their capacity in centers where these seats got booked. And now, they intend to start an autumn batch to catch students who would not have managed admissions by the end of MBA season. This frivolity in admission procedure is worth debating. No point doubting the quality of education, it may be great. But, the eligibility criteria are so poor that even great education cannot change the fortunes of the candidate. Still the candidate gets the most coveted MBA degree. By the time he will realize that this rioting which he did behind seeking degrees has not helped his cause, he would have lost his youth. So in a way by meeting this demand-supply gap aren’t these institutes misguiding the youth of the country. The way things are moving now a days, graduation degree is a necessary condition though not sufficient for entry to corporate ladder. But if things move the same way, it will no longer be the same.

Secondly, such supplies of professionals is hurting the chances of good and serious graduates. Today, there are plenty of commerce graduates doing well in the India corporate hierarchy without a professional degree. But this pseudo pressure is forcing them to opt for post graduation degree and as a result very soon one will need to be a post graduate/professional degree holder to get a marketing executive / a customer care executive / accountant’s job.

Reason for concern is – Are we seeing a trend! First came Sikkim Manipal University, then Rai University and now ICFAI National College. ICFAI was respected nation wide for the IBS concept which met the demand of entry level MBAs, but this is totally shocking! Worst is these and there are many more like them are not registered as limited companies under Registrar of Companies and Government of India is giving them tax benefit for this storm they are creating in the education system.

Can we do anything? Definitely!

Government and government affiliated bodies should look forward towards integrating career awareness and career options with the academic courses at HSC, graduation and even post graduate levels, so that candidates can take more informed career choices. They should look forward to regularizing the Technical Education in the country on the basis of demand. The number of seats in each stream should be made more flexible and they should take inputs from the industry. Universities established under state legislation should identify the needs of the state/nation and add MBA seats on the basis of the need. Nationally recognized JBIMS, Mumbai still produces only 120 MBAs every year.

Corporate HR and Placement Consultants should work together in tandem to identify the graduates who are willing to excel in their graduation background and give them a good growth plan. Higher graduate salaries and good training and development programme will save them from the chaos of annual attrition of MBA’s.

Educational Bodies and Corporates should further work together in developing niche courses which meet the demands of specific industry and market them to students.

Rest of us, as most of the readers are regularly approached by graduates/undergraduate should make an effort to guide them towards career focused education rather than Degrees.

Or why not give industry status to professional education and let it be governed by the rules of the market space and locate its own demand-supply equilibrium. With easy education loans should government continue funding professional education when people in this country are already paying many fold more to other Degree colleges?

Vivek Tuteja

Education & Media Consultant
Chairman,
Endeavor Careers Pvt Ltd.
vivek@endeavorcareers.com

Visit the article by Vivek on Cat Myths and Facts at The Article Section .