The future of management education

A student life is supposed to be filled with dedication and vigor towards achieving the goals. It has been induced with the ability to master skills and knowledge for a better future. Management education is that strata of higher education that impels within an individual to imbibe relevant business skills.

Even though the business world has changed drastically in this VUCA environment, the significance of running a business is still intact. Today we see more dynamic models of doing business than ever before. Reaching out to customers, building and working in teams, narrowing the span of control and boundaryless organizations have led to innovate the systems of managing anything. However, even if businesses are changing, the demand for management education still exists but with a different outlook.

MBA is considered to provide the best return on investment as compared to any other course. The amount that a student spends in two years, is sometimes the annual package that he gets after doing the course.

Hence, for someone who is a risk-taker and wants to advance in life, management education provides all the returns, some of which are listed here:

l Holistic programme: MBA degree is the one-stop centre of versatile disciplines ranging from organisational behaviour to operations research. It empowers a student to be well-trained in different areas and also be specialized in two domains to give a head start to their careers. The applicability of knowledge is so huge, that an MBA student can work in different organisations as well as in varied situations.

l Technology enabled: MBA is the only course which keeps itself abreast with the latest advancements in corporate and technology. It updates its curriculum more proactively than any other discipline as it is tied-up directly with many latest technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning. The pervasiveness of this course permits any technical or domain to co-exist with management.

l Increase in entrepreneurial streak: Management courses do not cater to only organizational structures and objectives, but also paves the way for ownership of business in the form of start-up ventures. Most of the courses these days cover setting-up entrepreneurial business models which can work equally well as compared to organic businesses.

l Versatile approaches towards learning: Management education is not isolated to classroom teaching only and hence acts as a stimulus to apply various learning approaches like problem-based learning, project-based learning etc. Flipped classroom which is a novel method of making students learn by practicing. The case-study method used in most of the b-schools allows students to learn through experience and virtual reality can create a live experience for their concepts.

l Mentoring sessions: The learners of management education today not only get a teacher who transfers knowledge but also receive mentoring sessions from these gurus who go beyond teaching and play an enriched role of a coach.

l Global exposure: Today's management education can provide impetus for a global skillset framework and a multi-faceted outlook for critical thinking skills. This transformative curriculum helps students in enhancing their research and analytical competencies.

Such pathways can definitely lead one to an international and robust business acumen that will uniquely position these young minds as great employees.

(The author is working as a Professor and Director at Jaipuria Institute of Management, Ghaziabad)