Local B-schools catch B-school fancy

The academic landscape of country’s B-schools is set to change shortly. The focus will also be on localisation of the financial models, case studies and curriculum. Currently, these are predominantly based on the experiences of western multinationals.

Charles Dhanraj, associate professor at the Richard Ivey School of Business and visiting faculty at the ISB, said: “Most financial models and case studies are based on western MNC experiences. That should be replaced with Indian examples.’’ Dhanraj was also the coordinator for the conference.

He added the Indian growth story had many case studies that could be given out to the rest of the world. The management schools would also introduce interdisciplinary electives to localise the content.

The thrust will be on experiential learning. The faculty and the students from the Indian management schools will most likely have to spend a semester with mentors in a centre of excellence abroad and vice-versa. The management schools would also introduce interdisciplinary electives to localise the content. Again, each B-school will be free to choose the electives to be offered.

The conference also decided to launch specific programmes for doctoral students of various institutes once every six months. These students will be identified through a special selection channel.

IIM Indore Director N Ravindran suggested that tier I management schools should reach out to those in tier II cities for upgrade of the skills of the faculty . It is not clear yet if the training will involve a revenue sharing model. The training model for B-schools will be drawn up shortly following a need analysis.

It was also felt at the meeting that leading B-schools, including some Indian Institutes of Management and the Indian School of Business, mentor smaller B-schools in tier II cities on teaching methodologies etc.