Education challenges in India. Why Corporate India has reduced recruitment from B Schools.
There was an article in the Times of India today (click here) which quotes a study by ASSOCHAM on recruitment patterns across MBA institutes in the country.
While I am sure about the fact that Corporates have reduced their uptake of fresh MBAs through campus recruitments, I am not so sure I agree with the point that it is because of the slowdown alone.
Agreed, the slowdown has caused corporates to rethink about taking on hordes of resources.
But the ‘falling out of love’ with the concept of PG Institute educated recruits has been a gradual process that has started quite some time ago. The number of MBA institutes that have shut shop or are in the process of doing so is ample proof of that.
As the study states, most of the top institutes do not face a problem with getting placements on campus for their students. But move beyond these into the 2nd and 3rd rung institutes, and a large number of them are struggling to find their students jobs, struggling to find students interested in taking courses with them and struggling to exist.
It is a two pronged problem for most institutes.
Recruiters see low value
Across the board, a large number of corporates and recruiters I have spoken with share the same point of view… “They just don’t make them like they used to”
Corporates & recruiters do not want to take on students who are not worth the salaries they demand.
Many corporates need to train fresh MBA graduates from scratch, as they come with their own preconceived notions and prejudices about how an organization should be run. The process of unlearning before relearning is a waste of productive time (the one commodity that is most valuable to a business)
In the long run, this is not tenable and makes no business sense to organizations.
Gradually, a lot of corporates are now recruiting fresh graduates and providing them with training on the job. Their argument is that it is easier to mould a fresh mind, than one which is filled with theoretical knowledge that has no link to the real world.
Students see low value
Potential students do not want to spend large amounts of money on getting an education that will either not guarantee them employment or will at the most provide them with jobs that pay much less than the EMI they need to shell out to afford the education.
As a result they see no value in the post graduate education being provided by the institute.
The way out:
If MBA institutes want to improve the situation, there will need to be a focus on providing meaningful education.
Learning that students can actually use in their jobs, so that they can hit the ground running. Learning that will make them valuable to companies that recruit them.
Which means better teachers, better training facilities and a revamp of the curriculum to suit industry needs.
A company that sees value in the person being recruited, immediately after taking them on, will be back to recruit from the same institute again.
This is the only way to start a positive spiral.
The article in the Times of India, quotes:
Assocham has advised B-schools to improve their infrastructure, train their faculty, work on industry linkages, spend money on research and knowledge creation, and pay their faculty well in order to attract good teachers – and wait for better times
The report seems to corroborate this very same point. Though for very different reasons.
photo credit: bbcworldservice via photopin cc
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