Corporate Stalwarts

Army once again is the talk of the town. Thanks to the martyrdom of two soldiers who, were brutally killed by the Pakistani army. Political leaders lined up to meet an old lady, who was fasting and asking for the head of her beheaded son. Emotional outbursts could be heard from every corner of the country. Emotions will die down very soon and the country will sit at peace, watching experts debating on the TV and relaxing with a feeling of having restored peace. 

There will be none to talk about the pain and agony being experienced by the most disciplined soldiers of armed forces on day-to-day basis. The debate on defence budget in the Parliament appears a joke. And here's a CAG Report that states the Army Public Schools, which are serving the cause of the children of Army personnel now for decades, run by the Army Welfare Education Society should be closed; that they cannot be located on defence land as it is the property of Ministry of Defence - which means, the military doesn't belong to or a part of Government of India, Ministry of Defence! 

One brutal raping incident involving a student brought the country to standstill situation. Lacks of youth were on their feet with a candle in their hand seeking justice and demanding tough laws for the protection of women. And where In a country which is literally ruled by women for which there is no parallel not in any part of the world. Sonia Gandhi is the chairperson of the UPA, the leader of the opposition is Sushma Swaraj and the speaker of the Lok Sabha, Meera Kumar. Besides there are distinguished women leaders like Ms Mayawati, Vrinda Karat, Mamta Banerjee, J Jayalalithaa and Sheela Dixhit. All that is required to be done is to request these powerful ladies to sit together and arrive at a solution to serious problems of women. The decline of rape in USA is attributable to the women rights moment who worked with lawmakers, courts and police to treat rape and harassment seriously, all this came about when women began to assume position of power and make their interest known. 

One may ask, if the rule makers- the Parliamentarians, have little or no time to go into these two critical issues, both related to safety and security, how are they going to pay attention to education in general and Management Education in particular and when the budgetary allocations go mainly for primary and secondary education, which is in a pathetic state in the government run school and colleges, how can they dictate terms to the philanthropists who have taken the responsibilities of establishing professional institutions, this question may appear to be irrelevant and uncalled for if the agony is not understood in the right perspective. For example, the task force on faculty shortage setup by the ministry education has estimated the current faculty shortage in the country at 54 per cent. 

The country, at present, is said to be having a shortage of three lakh lecturers, add to this one lakh lecturers additionally every year. This is the state of affair when India's gross enrolment ratio in the 18 to 25 age groups is just 12. 4 per cent and the government wants this to be raised to 30 per cent by 2030. 

The biggest issue, which confronts the field of education, is not quantity alone. It is more about the quality of teachers. We have the fishes of the water- the post-graduates who have spent their lifetime in the industry practicing various fields in management such as marketing, finance, operations, systems, HR and so on. Will it not be in the overall interest of excellence in education if these corporate stalwarts with sound health are given an opportunity to lead or hold critical teaching positions on full time basis in the B-Schools Inviting them for guest lectures or periodic interaction with the students alone cannot meet the needs of holistic development of a fresh graduate, who is a product of not so high standard system, it is not academics alone, it has to be a lot more practicals on the ground which can be taught only by the masters in the business and not just the master degree holders. The basic difference between 'education and training' should be understood clearly. The problems and perspectives are well understood by those who have gone through the grilling and grueling corporate life. 

The realities on the ground in the Indian perspective should be clearly visualised and those who make the decisions should go to rural areas with a mind to help. The ratios can be the cautioning factors and situational decision making should be encouraged. The government should deeply question the system of holidays and the liberties enjoyed by the IIMs and IITs should be available to private unaided institutions also. Obviously, the chairmen of the regulatory bodies, with lesser period of time cannot focus on this massive problem, which the biggest and most populated democracy is facing. They should have long innings to initiate experiments and succeed. At the moment what they can do at best is to do firefighting. 

All said and done, our PGDMs and MBAs have stood the test of time as the industry provided them on-the-job training. If B-Schools become the training centres for the industry, it will be a win-win situation for all. The three Ds: Discipline, Dedication and Determination, if ingrained in the minds of students and faculties the competition will ensure that only the fittest will survive and the fittest will be the one who deliver. The benchmark of the delivery will be how much of their students find berths in the Industry at the end of the course. That will depend on the 'Attitude, Knowledge and Skills', which will have to be installed in the life system of students. The future is bright for right candidates, who will get the right grooming, in the right environment. 

There are so many subjects in every field of management and to brand a marketing professor capable of imparting training in each of the field is too much of an expectation. For example, subjects like Indian financial markets, security analysis and portfolio management, foreign exchange and market, insurance and pension management fixed income security and project finance are a few amongst many of the subjects, meant for the finance specialization and new branches are emerging and new skill sets are demanded by the employers. In fact, the industry wants readymade managers. Can we expect a so-called scholar with a PhD who got a PhD by studying a simple subject like 'Study of the balance sheet of five public sector companies’ now the question which may be raised is, "Who is preventing you from employing such people"

As per norms laid down by the Government of India, even the national head of TATA cannot become a professor or associate professor if he or she is not a PhD and if we don't have the 'numbers' prescribed by the regulator the institute have to face serious consequences despite the government accepting the deficiency position of the faculties in the country. The problem, therefore, is that of economics- No Institute can deploy faculties from the industry and pay them over and above that of the authorised faculties. 

"To tide over the faculty shortage, IITs can appoint NRIs (Non-resident Indians) and PIOs (person of Indian origin) to permanent faculty position. However, foreign nationals (can be) appointed on contract basis for a fixed tenure of not exceeding five years. "The MHRD informed the Parliament. If the NRIs and PIOs (Perhaps with PhDs can be appointed, why not the highly experienced veterans from the industry's leading their retired or semi-retired lives be employed as full time faculties The problem in this country is, the government run and aided institutions, with all their budgetary allocations, cannot be touched despite being trusts. It is the little fish struggling to float around on their own that are facing all the storms and are made the scapegoats.