Students in MBA and postgraduate diploma courses will soon be taught the success stories of Indian companies such as Infosys, Tata group and Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, according to a new model curriculum for management finalised by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), senior officials familiar with the matter said.
The AICTE, India’s apex advisory body for technical education, had set up committees to revamp the curriculum in order to improve the quality of education in institutes and to make graduates more employable.
“We have classic examples of Indian companies that have done so well and have earned a name globally. Their case studies are also taught in many universities across the country. For instance, we have Infosys, Akshaypatra, ITC’s e-Choupal, among others. We have recommended in the model curriculum that students can be told about their best practices as part of classroom teaching, ” Dr. Bhimaraya Metri, chairman of the committee for the revision of Model Curriculum for Management Program (MBA and PGDM), said.
The model curriculum will be used by the institutes and universities to draft their own syllabuses. There are an estimated 5,000 management institutes across the country. About 200,000 students passed from these institutes in 2016-17 under the AICTE.
The model curriculum for management, a copy of which is with Hindustan Times, points out that syllabuses should have an emphasis on Indian business models. “In the last 20 years, several Indian organisations have made a mark on the global business scene with the innovation of new business models. The quick examples are Infosys, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, Tata Group, the National Stock Exchange, among others. Faculty should appropriately pick up such examples and motivate the students evolving world-class models from India,” the document says.
“The idea is good in principle but it needs a strong implementation plan. This can be carried out by creating case studies on these success as well as failure stories of Indian companies, which bring about the reasons for success or failure coherently. Much is to be learnt from failures as well, so we should have both the stories,” said IIM-Lucknow’s Professor Himanshu Rai.
The revamped curriculum also reduces the credits for the courses from 105 to 96 but students have to undertake mandatory internships or field work.
Citing the reason for the changes, the curriculum points to rapid technology shifts. “The pace at which technology has evolved is unprecedented. The fourth industrial revolution is bringing advanced robotics and autonomous transport, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, advanced materials and biotechnology .... The mobile internet and cloud technology are already impacting the business world to a larger extent. What is certain is that the future managers will need to align their skill sets to keep pace,” the document says.