B-schools redesigning syllabus to cope with recession blues

In the backdrop of the global slowdown, some business schools in the country are redesigning their syllabus to groom students to cope up with a withering employment market and help in rebuilding the economy.        

"Our curriculum structure is built in a way that the students would be better equipped to face the ground realities of the market, thereby being of true value in rebuilding the economy," B K Murty, Dean International Academy of Management & Entrepreneurship (IAME) Bangalore, told PTI. 

The institute claims to have adopted a syllabus conducive to the Indian environment instead of "blindly copying American system".

"India being the emerging economic powerhouse, adapting management principles known to the Indian scenario and to develop our own systems would be more effective in helping India to better cope with the recession as well as ensure growth," Dr Murty said.

 

Similarly, Goa's premier business school, Goa Institute of Management has also fine-tuned its syllabus in the wake of global downturn to increase the future managers resilience towards it.

The impact of recession on the managerial job market in India was discussed and taken into account while updating the syllabus this year, its director PFX D'Lima said.

Management institutes, knowing well that the future managers will have to face turbulent times, have adopted initiatives, under personal leadership segment, to prepare students to manage stressful situation, Rai added.     

Goa Institute of Management (GIM), ranked among top 20 Indian B-schools, has prepared its syllabus taking into account recent global trends.     

"Our syllabus is updated every year. This year, during the update the impact of recession on managerial job market in India was discussed and taken into consideration," P F X D'Lima, Director, GIM, said.  

"We should realise that India needs to be managed the Indian way, not the western way. The futility of the western way has been exposed by the sub prime crisis (in the US) as well as the Satyam fiasco. Japan and China grew because of their own management systems rather than being clones of the west," Murty observed. 

The need of the hour is to convert India into a value- based economy rather than cost-based. Our IT juggernaut has been rolling primarily due to costs being low rather than value being high, he noted.Rai said, "In India its a slowdown and not a recession technically."     

Corporates are handling the situation well. Carmaker Maruti has posted growth in sales, Tata Nano has been received well and infrastructure projects are on track, he said.     

The Finance Minister's growth plan will show results in about a year's time. The way the government has managed Satyam fraud and arrested fiscal uncertainty, it has created optimism, he added.