There is a lot of debate regarding the relevance of business education and how it should reposition itself. This has become even more relevant with the advent of Gen AI and other changes in the economy and industry.
Data shows the employment market is evolving and being redefined. Almost all B-schools, including ours, have struggled to place all students. The reason: IT hiring has been lacklustre. In the Indian ecosystem, campus placement is one of the primary criteria for students when selecting an institute. Naturally, IIMs and other institutes with a legacy, history, and strong brand image will always have an edge. That said, everyone is feeling the pressure from the changing market ecosystem, employment opportunities, Gen AI, the falling attention span of students, and challenges related to faculty and infrastructure.
All IIMs are no longer supported by the government. We fund our operations primarily through fees and, to some extent, executive education. One positive aspect is that the sense of complacency that university professors might experience is not something that IIM and B-school faculty face, as we have to update ourselves to stay relevant continually. There’s also considerable pressure to generate revenue from executive education. Executives will only enrol in these courses if they perceive value in them. According to estimates, there are currently about 600 certificate programmes being offered by IIMs and other premier institutes. These programmes, ranging from 6 to 12 months, cover digital marketing, operations, supply chain management, and data analysis.
Imagine this: once you click on an advertisement, within 12-24 hours you receive a call from a marketing agency. We don’t have the marketing capacity to handle that. Therefore, we rely on edtech partners to provide marketing support and the learning management system. All the software is developed by us, the classes are conducted by us, and the programme is entirely designed by us.
B-schools are also under significant pressure to stay updated. There is a big impact of Gen AI and it will play a major role in the future. As faculty, we are still uncertain about what its exact role in education will be. Will the way we currently teach or design the curriculum remain relevant? The types of projects and assignments we assign to students have Gen AI and ChatGPT support. While I can use anti-plagiarism software and other tools to check their work, the issue isn’t about policing.
The real challenge lies in making classroom discussions more engaging. At our institute, we now have 75-minute classes, down from the previous 90 minutes. We changed this because we realised 90 minutes is too long to hold students’ attention. Reducing it to 75 minutes reflects the evolving nature of learning, especially post-Covid. Most of our MBA students currently are from the ‘Covid batches’, having spent two to three years learning online. They haven’t experienced the usual classroom challenges or face-to-face interaction, and now they’re suddenly thrust into an intense B-school environment that requires a high level of involvement. This presents a new challenge, both from the faculty’s and the students’ perspectives.
The Big Funding Challenge
The government has not stopped funds for infrastructure, at least for the newer or the baby IIMs. For this, different discussions are taking place within institutes. While we are growing, we need infrastructural support, and the only option is to take loans. A silver lining is the government’s Higher Education Funding Agency, which offers loans at a competitive interest rate of 5.5%.
IIMs already charge substantial fees, and increasing fees would not be fair. Increasing the number of students poses two issues: first, we don’t have enough infrastructure to accommodate them; and second, we don’t want to compromise on quality. Quantity and quality often don’t go hand in hand. This is why we need to focus on executive education. That’s where our revenue generation lies, and, to my knowledge, every IIM is focussing on this area, especially online.
The certificate programmes are also under focus. Many institutions have been running these programmes because it’s a low-hanging fruit and require minimal logistics. It’s convenient for everyone, especially for professionals in the manufacturing industry with 7-10 years of experience who have not had the opportunity to receive high-quality education. By offering them affordable education, we meet a crucial need.
Edtech platforms play an important role in managing participant enrollment. They are responsible for managing a team of counsellors, spending heavily on social media marketing. If a programme doesn’t attract enough participants, they take a hit, which is risky.
Revision of curricula is important. We have a policy to review our curriculum every three to four years through a dedicated committee. In 2021, we updated our regular MBA and PhD curricula. We didn’t just rely on internal insights but also invited two eminent professors from older IIMs to contribute. Based on their inputs, we introduced a course called Experiential Learning.
Finally, it’s not just about teaching. We need to be adaptive—not only to technology, but also to other changes around us, including addressing issues like mental health challenges.
The author is Dean (Development), IIM Kashipur. Views are personal