Saturday, June 25, 2005

Bschools: behave or else...

AICTE (All India Council of Technical Education) has issued detailed guidelines which b schools will have to follow, reports the Times of India.

But, I have doubts whether anything will really change. For example, AICTE has asked the state fee committee to fix fees taking into account the 'core structure of the course'. Wonder what the hell that means!

B schools are able to charge the amount they do today because there is an insatiable demand for the MBA course. And only a very limited supply of quality institutes. But who's to decide how much a course is 'worth'?

Full time faculty and infrastructure are the two main components of 'cost' for an institute. Most b schools - including some very well known ones like Bajaj - manage with 10% full time professors. and 90% visiting faculty.

So some kind of formula could definitely be worked out... but who's to do the job and ensure that everyone accepts it? AICTE hardly seems prepared to take up the challenge.

What AICTE does...
Is issue guidelines. Its 'declare-or-else' threat-list is admirable in scope. Bschools are being asked to share detailed details on no of seats, cut off marks for admission, and even placement statistics of last two years with minimum, maximum and average salary.

The question is - who will verify this information?

The magazines who undertake B school rankings also attempt to collect and validate such details, with the help of professional market research agencies. But given the large number of institutes - and the many ways available to embroider the truth - even they are unable to nail those who exaggerate or ovesatte claims.

Additionally, B schools with foreign collaborations are being asked to disclose the accreditation and ranking of the foreign institute in its home country, among other details. But many b schools - such as IIPM with its 'IMI, Europe' collaboration - are not approved by AICTE in the first place.

Bottomline: At worst, AICTE can derecognise an institute which refuses to follow its diktat. How many students however really CARE whether they are joining an AICTE approved B school? And recruiters don't seem to, either

AICTE itself needs to go on a MASSIVE brand building exercise.As well as improve its own credibility. By behaving like a typical government department and giving accreditation to unworthy institutions it has lost the high moral ground it is now seeking to re-conquer.

Frankly, I think a new and more powerful 'stamp' of quality from an independent body is now required to help separate the good from the ghatiya and worse, the ghotaalebaaz.

3 comments:

  1. "Frankly, I think a new and more powerful 'stamp' of quality from an independent body is now required..."
    Independent body?? How to ascertain their usefulness and credibility?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Its a crazy world you know... and the demand for MBA course is as crazy. . on both sides it is as crazy. . be it the aspirants or the recruiters. .

    Brand building is many a times hollow.. That may be bold but no one really knows the truth. .

    When business becomes important, quality takes a back seat.

    Thats the problem you know with demand. . demand makes business grow but also eats it with in. .

    and we have the cycles

    AICTE can not do much . . they are a typical government organisation who have nothing to do with work. . they believe in making money. . .

    I have studied in a college which had only one faculty and he was the head of the department cum everything. .

    his qualifications : bsc and a diploma in sugar chemistry. . and his philosophy: the engineering degree course in chemical engineering does not have enough chemistry????

    Stamps do not help we have India todays doing many surveys and times of indias doing the brand building for all kinds of institutes

    ReplyDelete
  3. I don't understand why the Govt needs to meddle in all this. You know what is the best way for Govt to make money : provide 100 loans for the needy engineering / MBA students. It is one loan type that will not be an NPA.

    I'm sure that there will be ways and means to make sure that this is foolproof. For instance, any company that recruits the student who has taken a Govt loan, needs to repay the EMI for that loan, as a deduction from the salary of the student.

    I mean, instead of wasting time with guidelines, rules, etc, here is a simple, easy way to invest the hundreds of crores that the Govt. spends annually on worthless education-related endeavours. Just appoint a finance company, hand over the money to be disbursed as loands, and watch the cash registers ring. The resulting income can be used to better the cause of primary and secondary education in our country.

    Let me tell you, I (or anyone else, for that matter) need to be an Education Minister.

    ReplyDelete

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