575,000 Skilled MBAs

575,000 Skilled MBAs Can be Created With the Right Policy Reforms – Vision 2025

·        Globally Renowned Academicians call for rethink of current paradigms

·        Discuss measures aligned with Government’s National Vision & Priorities during 5^th Indian Management Conclave

New Delhi/Mumbai, 8^th August 2014: The 5^th edition of Indian Management Conclave (IMC), the flagship event of MBAUniverse.com started today with the unveiling of the ‘EPSI-MBAUniverse.com Vision 2025 for Indian Management Education’, an approach paper by Mr. Amit Agnihotri, Convener, Indian Management Conclave (IMC) and Dr. H. Chaturvedi, Alternate President, Education Promotion Society of India (EPSI). The Vision 2025 document examines the history, progress and current state of Indian management education, and also provides the much needed recommendations to improve the current state of affairs in next 10 years by taking policy measures which are aligned with the Government of India’s National Vision & Priorities.

Indian MBA education is currently passing through a turbulent period, with the lack of an integrated MBA education policy as one of the most serious challenges to the system. As per available data with AACSB (The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business), India has world’s largest number of management programs. However, Indian management education is in crisis; with India’s top tier B-schools lagging behind not just the Western B-schools, but even late entrants such as China. India’s mid-tier B-schools are too fighting for their survival, with as many as 500 PGDM B-schools having closed down in the last seven years. The bottom tier of management programs too have little direction and relevance. All this has eroded the credibility of management education in India – where MBA is no longer considered a coveted professional program.

The need hence is to bring about a change in the way policy is understood and implemented and the Vision 2025 document aims to do this by aligning with the Government of India’s National Vision & Priorities.

The Vision 2025 framework aims at achieving three key goals for Indian Management Education:

• Significantly improve the global repute of Indian MBA education

• Create robust ‘National B-schools’ that contribute to economy and industry and also to National governance projects and thus form the core of Indian MBA education

• Integrate bottom tier B-schools towards meeting India’s Skills Mission

Key recommendations of Vision 2025 include: 

“We are aware about the challenges Indian MBA education faces today. To meet those challenges we have created the Vision 2025 document which can serve as the foundation stone for building the future roadmap. We are hopeful that the Vision 2025 document shall be reviewed, analyzed and adopted by policy makers and thus, become an instrument of change. We are also hopeful that B-schools will adopt these recommendations and proactively work with the Government bodies to usher in the new change”, says Amit Agnihotri, Convener, Indian Management Conclave & Chairman, MBAUniverse.com.

The need of the hour is to make skill development a top national agenda. The Government of India has introduced National Skills Qualification Framework (NSQF) in December 2013, which is applicable to all educational  institutions, government and private, offering any  kind of education / training. Besides this the Union Budget 2014 has also proposed a national multi-skill programme called Skill India, which is to promote skill among the youth with an emphasis on employability and entrepreneur skills. With ‘Skill Development’ and ‘Job Creation’ being top priorities for the Govt, B-schools too need to play a significant role in achieving this.

“Lack of clarity on policy framework, has led to limited interest amongst foreign players to come to India. However, with Harvard Business School and Chicago University having set up their research centers in India, the trend seems positive. A definitive framework is needed to help the consolidation of management education providers. Vision 2025 recommends a consolidation in number of MBA programs from 3900 to roughly 2500. Put together, these B-schools will produce 5,75,000 skilled MBAs in a year. With the management education evolving globally and market forces working as change agent in business education space, it is the right time for course correction among Indian B-schools” said Dr. H. Chaturvedi, Alternate President, Education Promotion Society of India (EPSI).

The two day conclave beginning today is being organised at the India International Centre in New Delhi with an aim to restore the glory of management education in India. Launched in 2010, IMC has established its presence as India's biggest & most reputed MBA education conference in the last few years, turning out to be a prestigious platform for discussion on the challenges faced by the MBA education in India.

About Indian Management Conclave (IMC)

First held in 2010, the annual Indian Management Conclave (IMC) is widely recognized as India's definitive thought-leadership platform for MBA educators. With the Indian MBA education facing unprecedented challenges, a serious platform to discuss and debate the impact of these significant challenges had to be created. IMC was hence organized by MBAUniverse.com in 2010 to provide a forum to discuss the challenges and showcase the opportunities. The 4 core objectives of IMC Conference & Awards are:  researching the challenges & opportunities facing Indian MBA education; creating a platform for sharing of Innovations and Best Practices; influencing policy on MBA education and bringing together a network of 100 progressive B-schools, and international B-schools, to collaborate and learn from each other. Five years later, IMC is now recognized as India’s biggest and best organized and attended conference on MBA education.

Instituted in 2013, IMC Awards are bestowed upon B-schools which make a difference with innovations in marketing, pedagogy, curriculum and industry-engagement. Representatives from AACSB, EQUIS EFMD, Deans from well-known B-schools from US, Canada, China & Singapore have been attending IMC.

About MBAUniverse.com
MBAUniverse.com is a think-tank and network for Indian MBA community which has been operating since 2007. MBAUniverse.com plays an important role in developing the MBA education ecosystem – by connecting B-schools to its peers (through conferences & online e-portal), and with quality MBA aspirants seeking admissions. Virtually all of the Top 100 Indian B-school & University MBA programs, including IIMs & XLRI utilize MBAUniverse.com services. MBA aspirants rely on the portal to prepare for CAT or GMAT, and utilise the counselling services to choose the ‘best-fit’ B-school.

Apart from hosting Indian Management Conclave (IMC), MBAUniverse.com also co-hosts the bi-annual International MBA Directors’ conference in China, organized by Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai. To help stakeholders take right decisions, MBAUniverse.com conducts various researches and surveys. Its B-school Rankings, chaired by Dr Bakul Dholakia, former director, IIM Ahmedabad, is recognized as the most definitive, transparent and scientific reflection of state of India’s Top 100 B-schools.