Planning Commission backs shortened medical degree for rural areas

The controversial three-and-a-half year long medical degree — Bachelor of Rural Medicine and Surgery (BRMS) — has now got the backing of Planning Commission’s all powerful high level expert group on universal health coverage.

The panel has in its report (finalized on Sunday and available with TOI) “endorsed” the all new BRMS cadre and said that as a career progression incentive, they should be promoted to the level of public health officers after 10 years of service.

According to the panel, by 2022, India should actually have BRMS colleges in all districts with populations of over 500,000. The course should focus on “high quality of competence in preventive, promotive and rehabilitative services required for rural populations with focus on primary health care.”

It also recommended that it should be mandated through legislation that a graduate of the BRMS programme is licensed to serve only in specific notified areas in the government health system. The panel however was clear that the BRMS was not a mini-MBBS but rather a unique training programme aimed at the basic health care needs of its target population.

According to the Union health ministry, vulnerable populations in rural, tribal and hilly areas are extremely under-served. In 2006, only 26% of doctors in India resided in rural areas, serving 72% of India’s population. Another study found that the urban density of doctors is nearly four times that in rural areas, and that of nurses is three times higher than rural areas.

As of March 2010, undue delays in recruitments resulted in high vacancies even in available posts at health centres – over 34% for male health workers are not in position, while 38% of radiographer posts, 16% of laboratory technician posts, 31% of specialist posts, 20% of pharmacist posts, 17% of ANM posts and 10% of doctor posts are vacant.

Overall, human resources in health shortfalls range from 63% for specialists to 10% for allopathic doctors. The past few decades have also seen the disappearance of certain cadres – village health guides and traditional birth attendants, first instituted in 1986. “They have now decreased to a point of non-existence,” the report said.

The panel said, “The BRMS degree should be linked to State Health Sciences Universities. BRMS students should be taught in local settings where they live and work and the faculty should be drawn both from existing teaching institutions and retired teachers. The faculty should include non-physician specialists from the fields of public health and social sciences.”

According to the panel, it is expected that full coverage of BRMSs at the sub-centre will be achieved by 2030. In order to support the production of this cadre, the panel recommended the production of 172 BRMS colleges in phase A, 163 BRMS colleges in Phase B and 213 BRMS colleges in Phase C.

“This would enable positioning of rural health practitioners at 114,000 SHCs by the year 2022 and facilitate outreach to underserved rural populations. Similarly, nurse practitioners will be positioned to serve vulnerable urban population,” the panel said.

Source: The Times of India, September 26, 2011

Assam court finds MBBS admission criterion irrational

The Gauhati High Court has found the Medical Council of India (MCI) eligibility criterion for MBBS aspirants from the scheduled castes and tribes “irrational and in violation of Article 14 of the Indian Constitution”, officials said Sunday. According to MCI regulations, MBBS aspirants from these categories must secure at least 40 per cent marks in the combined competitive examinations or joint entrance examinations (JEE). The union health ministry and the MCI had earlier refused to further relax the criterion for north-eastern tribes and scheduled caste students.

A senior Tripura health department official said around 31 MBBS seats were lying vacant in the government-run medical college in Agartala and in the Tripura quota in other states because no student secured the minimum in the JEE this year in the state.

Some students and guardians have filed a writ petition in the Gauhati High Court against the MCI regulations. “The High Court has asked the authorities to admit those students in the MBBS courses within a week against their respective quota of seats,” the official said, quoting the court order passed Friday in Guwahati. “The division bench of the court, comprising I.A. Ansari and C.R. Sarma, said in their ruling that state secondary board examination results were sufficient,” the official said.

“Though the MCI regulations had been upheld by the Supreme Court in its various verdicts, the fact of the matter remains that in the decisions, cited and relied upon, the constitutionality of the regulation have been put to challenge,” the court is reported as saying. “When the issue has not specifically been raised and has not been decided, the constitutionality of the MCI’s regulation remains open for challenge on the ground of its irrationality,” the high court said.

Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, responding to a letter of Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, has communicated the centre’s decision to follow the MCI guidelines. Azad had said: “Though the health ministry agrees in principle that there is need to make enabling conditions to encourage the underprivileged sections of the society, so far as medical education is concerned, it is felt that diluting the qualifying criteria would neither be feasible not desirable.”

Source: The Economic Times (Online Edition), September 25, 2011

Immigration fraud by US colleges causing worries once again

It’s that time of the year when hundreds of students from India pack their bags to go and join colleges and universities in the US. And though, like previous years, there has been an increase in the number of Indians going to campuses in the US, two incidents of raids by US immigration authorities on colleges for fraudulent practices, which involved a large number of Indian students, in the past few months are causing concern.

Early this year, in January, US immigration authorities raided Tri-Valley University in California, alleging that the school’s founder and president, Susan Xiao-Ping Su, was issuing US student visas to foreign nationals willing to pay for them. Over 95% of Tri-Valley’s 1,500 students were from India, and the institution listed out the same address for over half of them. Later, in July, the University of Northern Virginia too was raided by the US law enforcement authorities on grounds of alleged visa fraud and here too, hundreds of the students were from India.

These two cases appear to be just the tip of the iceberg, and most immigration lawyers and experts in the US now feel that more and more such dubious colleges and universities will come under the scanner of the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS). And it is well-known that a large number of students in such institutions are from India, particularly from Andhra Pradesh.

More Raids Likely
A recent article in the influential The Chronicle of Higher Education in the US suggests that Tri-Valley is only the beginning and there are many other colleges, most of them unaccredited, which are exploiting byzantine federal regulations, enrolling almost exclusively foreign students and charging them upward of $3,000 for a chance to work in the US.

“They flourish in California and Virginia, where regulations are lax, and many of their practices – for instance, holding some classes on only three weekends per semester – are unconventional, to say the least. These colleges usher in thousands of foreign students and generate millions of dollars in profits because they have the power, bestowed by the US government, to help students get visas,” the Chronicle article said.

During a trip to India last month, Reta Jo Lewis, the special representative for global intergovernmental affairs with the state department, said the DHS had the lead on many more universities in the US, which were guilty of such fraudulent practices.

Misuse of Student Visas
Immigration experts in India and in the US point out that the modus operandi among Indian students who are flouting rules follows a common pattern. In most of the cases, the I-20 form, which is required for a student visa, is issued by a different college, than the one the students finally land up in. The easy transfer norms are made use of by professionals from India who are mostly headed to the US to look for work. In most cases, they are not young students and the sham universities facilitate their illegal stay in the US in exchange for huge amounts of money.

“Genuine students from India, who are aiming to study in the US, should expand their consideration set of potential institutions beyond traditional top institutions as suggested by rankings. However, they should also recognise that there is a wide spectrum of quality of institutions ranging from Harvard University to Tri-Valley University. The key is to make informed choices and treat any short-cuts promised by ‘study abroad’ agents or institutions with caution. Students should make sure that the institution they plan to study in is listed in the US Department of Education’s website and preferably accredited by one of the six regional accrediting agencies,” says Rahul Choudaha, director of development & innovation, World Education Services, New York.

Even as the US embassy in Delhi has recently announced a 20% increase in the number of student visa applications this year in India from a year ago, there have also been warnings against lack of physical attendance at colleges in the US, failure to maintain full course-load and unauthorised employment. Many student visa applicants felt that there were more questions asked at interviews at the embassy and consulates this year and the process of getting an F1 student visa took longer than previous years.

Source: The Economic Times (Online Edition), September 25, 2011

IIM-Calcutta to tap corporates for funds

The Indian Institute of Management-Calcutta (IIM-C) is planning to tap Indian corporates for funds to complete some of its infrastructural projects following increased intake of students over the last three years. “The student intake has gone up. This year the total intake is around 450 students. Earlier, the intake was around 260 students,” IIM-C Director Shekhar Chaudhuri said.

“We are building around 530,000 sq. ft. of new facility. Half of the project is over. We have built 14 classrooms out of 19 planned. Two new hostels are under construction. The total project outlay is around Rs. 195 crore (Rs. 1.95 billion),” he added. He said the institute has decided to approach corporates for Rs. 50 crore (Rs. 500 million) to complete the infrastructural projects.

Dean and strategic management professor Sougata Ray said: “We have spent from our internal accruals and our corpus. We would like to have some balance in our corpus built over the years and hence the decision to tap the corporates.” Asked about the response of Indian corporates, Chaudhuri said: “We have not approached any corporate till now to gauge their response.”

Institute officials said corporate philanthropy for higher education in India is not popular though some Indian groups have made donations to foreign universities. “Making donations to foreign business schools by Indian groups may also be a brand building strategy,” an official said.

Speaking of finances, Chaudhuri said the institute is self-sufficient in funds generation and has not received any funds from the government since 2003 for day-to-day activities. “Our revenue is around Rs. 100 crore (Rs. 1 billion). We are earning good revenue – around Rs. 30 crore (Rs. 300 million) – from our long duration corporate training program,” Chaudhuri said.

According to Ray, all the IIMs are planning to join hands to bring out a high quality management magazine on the lines of Harvard Business Review. “It may take around a year to come out. The magazine’s name is yet to be finalised. It could be Indian Management Review,” Ray said.

Citing various business school ranking surveys, Ray said IIM-C has moved upwards one slot and is now number two among management institutes in the country. Chaudhuri said the institute has decided focus on research work as a major strategic initiative. “We have increased funding for research and also the stipend for post doctoral students. In the faculty promotion, weightage for research work will be given,” he said.

Meanwhile, like the Chennai Chapter of IIM-C Alumni Association that conducts marketing workshop for the students, the Bangalore chapter of IIM-C Alumni Association has decided to hold an entrepreneur workshop mainly focusing on social entrepreneurs. The first workshop is slated next month and it will be an annual event. There are many IIM-C alumni who have turned social entrepreneurs, Ray said.

Sources: The Hindu, September 24, 2011 & http://www.ndtv.com

IIT-Bombay students defer protest

Students of the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, (IIT-B) have planned a series of non-violent protests against the IIT Council’s new admission proposal. A boycott of classes, initially planned for September 23, has now been postponed to October 14.

A group called iitians.org on social networking site Facebook is spearheading the protests. “We are requesting not just the IITs, but also students of classes 11 and 12 from other colleges, professors and teachers to join our protest,” said an IIT student associated with the group. The group’s main concern is that the quality of IITs would be affected by the new proposal and lead to an untested selection process.

Other IITs have not been actively involved in the movement due to the fact that their examinations are on and their placement season is approaching. “I have supported the cause on Facebook, but cannot go beyond that due to the ongoing examinations,” said an IIT Kharagpur student. Though IIT Delhi has not registered any official protest, scrapping of IIT-JEE is the talk across the campus. “We will boycott classes. We may also resort to wearing black shirts and not having mess food as a part of our non-violent protests. The protests will continue until the necessary changes are made. We want to send a strong message to the IIT Council,” said an IIT-Bombay student who did not wish to be named.

The much-debated proposals of the IIT Council chaired by Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal, which include scrapping of the IIT-JEE examination, having a common entrance test and giving equal weight to Class XII board examination results, will be implemented from 2013-14. An IIT Bombay student said: “The move that has been introduced is definitely not the best one. There are very few people who are interested in engineering. A special aptitude is clearly required for getting into an IIT, which cannot be achieved merely by scoring good marks in Class XII. The new system is also not free of problems.”

The alumni, too, have been involved in the protests. “Examinations are going on in several IITs and that is why it was pushed out to October 14. The call is for boycotting classrooms in spirit; the classes can still be held in ground, labs, people can give exams, study for exams, study outside class room. We and the students will be writing mails to all professors, MP, MLAs, seniors, government and any email/address we can get hold of,” said an ex-IIT Kharagpur student associated with the protests.

The sentiment shared by most of the students is that as IIT JEE is an application based exam in synchronization with engineering requirement, giving 75 per cent weightage to XII exam which is more of a rote learning will impact the kind of student intake. The inclusion of social science subjects like history, geography etc in the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) is a move that is detested by students.

One student said, “It is totally non sense to include social sciences in IIT entrance. For engineering, logical and analytical brains are required. Those interested in social sciences can pursue it separately.” He also added that rather than providing poor brilliant students with free IIT coaching so that they can also clear it, Sibal is destroying the already institutionalized pattern of exam doing away with even the elite brilliant students.

Source: Business Standar, September 24, 2011

IIMs call more companies for summer internship

The Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) have decided to enhance the pool of recruiters to hedge the risks from the worsening global economic situation. While some of the IIMs have increased the batch size, which called for more number of recruiters, others have a diversified set of students who have different preferences due to which the prestigious institutes have approached more number of companies for the summer internship process in November.

IIM-Calcutta, one of the oldest IIMs, though is concerned with the macroeconomic environment, is hedging on public sector units with whom it has a long-term view for a corporate relationship. “The internship is an eight-week training and the response from companies is no reason for alarm. The macroeconomic indicators are worrisome and students are always apprehensive till they have a job in hand,” said Prof. Amit Dhiman, Placements Chairman at IIM-C.

IIM-Ahmedabad is still waiting for the placement season to begin but maintains that it has approached new companies to recruit from campus and contacting firms who have previously not recruited from IIM-A. “We usually have 120-130 companies participating in the summer placement process. The number of companies we interact with before the process is larger than this. Our batch size is increasing — the current PGP batch has 380 students — as such, we will have more companies visit our campus. Also, there are companies from new areas and verticals that are keen on hiring MBA students that come in every year,” corroboarted Sapna Agarwal, head of career development services at IIM-Bangalore.

At IIM-Indore, more than 150 firms have been approached for the summer internship process and the institute is looking at over 25% increase in the pool of new recruiters. As per the media committee of the institute, the number of new recruiters approached is larger but that is largely due to the increased batch size.

IIM-Kozhikode has observed 2% of the companies being uncertain of recruitment activities as a result of the economic environment. “Even in companies that have expressed concern, it is primarily due to internal re-organisation of the functions as a response to the changing economic scenario. However, such companies continue to be involved in live projects and other such activities,” said a student from the institute’s placement team.

Same is the case with the new IIM at Rohtak which has touched base with 108 companies to introduce the institute to the respective organisations and also initiate a long-term relationship with them. “We have contacted more companies this year as compared to last year since our batch size has expanded from 48 to 124 students,” explained Pritam Agrawal, member of the public relations cell at the new IIM in Rohtak.

Students’ fears may also get reflected in the type of profiles they expect from the placement process. More a function of the growing diversity of student profiles on campus than the economic scenario, newer profiles are expected to be up for grabs this time at IIM-Lucknow with a greater representation of chartered accountants, doctors, lawyers in addition to engineering and commerce graduates. Hence, the institutes expect more roles in sales and marketing, finance, operations, IT, health management and human relations to open up.

IIM-L is also expecting a turnout of more than 150 recruiters for the summer process compared with the placements for the 2012 batch where 163 firms recruited from the institute with a total of 456 offers being made to a batch of 414. “It is our constant endeavor to increase corporate presence on campus for which we are also approaching new recruiters. The overall response has been positive, especially considering the current macroeconomic scenario. The companies have actually shown more interest in our campus,” said a student from the recruitment cell of IIM-L.

Both finance and marketing are the two most preferred verticals for summers and that trend is likely to continue at IIM-I. Once the first-year students get selected for summer internships, the final placements for the second year students will begin in 4-5 months. “We are cautious and concerned and have our fingers crossed for the final placements which may not reflect the slowdown,” Dhiman concluded.

Source: The Financial Express, September 23, 2011

IIM-Shillong to roll out executive MBA with China edge

IIM-Shillong (IIM-S) will roll out a one-year post-graduate executive MBA course with a six-month stay in China, with the aim of attracting foreign students. The course will focus on how to do business in and with China. China is one of the biggest trading partners of India as well as the European Union. IIM-S has tied up with Ocean University of China for the course.

“The course will give students exposure to both the countries as it requires a six-month stay in China and the remaining six months in Shillong,” says IIM-Shillong Director Ashoke Dutta. “We are targeting global students, especially from Europe and the US with this course, which will be rolled out by the year-end,” he adds. The student intake will be around 30.

The course will give students an insight into China’s business environment and culture, besides case studies of businesses that are flourishing there and performance of various corporations. There will also be field visits. The students will stay in the Ocean University campus in Qingdao. “I’m sure this programme will get an overwhelming response. We have not decided the fee structure yet but it should be around Rs. 1.5 million per student,” adds Dutta.

IIM-S will also initiate a seven-day advanced management programme on China for senior management executives and bureaucrats. The course is likely to start from November this year, and the student intake is likely to be around 25. IIM-S plans to approach the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region for supporting this programme. It had earlier introduced a two-week certificate course on Chinese for students, as the second language in the curriculum. “The success of the Chinese language programme has encouraged us to introduce China-specific courses. Multinational companies prefer to employ students who know foreign languages,” Dutta adds.

Source: The Economic Times, September 23, 2011

Australia eases visa rules for students

The Australian government on Thursday said it would streamline the visa processing arrangements for students, including those from India, enrolling for universities in the country. The changes follow a review of the student visa programme led by former New South Wales Labour government minister Michael Knight.

The new visa rules announced on Thursday will be applicable from the second semester of 2012. Under the streamlined arrangements, international students enrolled in courses at the level of bachelor degree or higher will be treated as lower risk applicants regardless of their country of origin. The rules announced are expected to help entrench Australia as a preferred destination for international students.

Australian overseas students’ enrolments have been sliding down in the backdrop of high Australian Dollar value, tighter immigration rules and post Indian student attack issues. “The reforms will assist in ensuring Australia remains an attractive study option and will offer practical support for international education providers that have been under pressure as a result of the high Australian dollar,” Senator Chris Evans, Minister for Tertiary education, skills, job and workplace relations said.

Under the new rules, the financial requirements for student visas will be eased and applicants will need about 36,000 dollars less in their bank account than they do now. “This reduction in the assessment level (AL) financial requirements will particularly assist a significant number of Vocational Education and Training and private education providers,” Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Chris Bowen said. A two- to four-year post-study work visa will also be available for university graduates depending on the level of study completed.

Other work visa options, such as the Temporary Skilled 457 visa and the Skilled Graduate Visa, continue to be available to graduates and to employers looking to meet genuine skills needs. However, the student visa criteria will be tightened slightly so applicants will have to prove they are genuine students and genuine about returning home.

In December 2010, the Government commissioned the Knight to review the Student Visa program to enhance the quality, integrity and competitiveness of Australia’s international education sector. Knight consulted with almost 300 stakeholders in Australia, India, China and Malaysia, and considered more than 200 submissions.

The government has accepted all 41 recommendations in the Knight Review, with the majority proposed to be implemented through 2012-13 so that key recommendations can come into effect before second semester 2012.

Source: Business Standard, September 23, 2011

Australian universities reach out to India

As the dust settles on the furore surrounding attacks on Indian students, which has strained bilateral relations and threatened Australia’s multi-billion dollar education export sector, Australian universities are going all out to engage with Indian educational institutions.

This isn’t all that surprising considering that the number of offshore applicants from India fell from 18,514 in the 2009-10 financial year to just 6,875 in 2010-11, a drop of 63 per cent. From setting up joint academic and research collaborations to offering scholarships and exchanges, universities are keen to re-build Australia’s reputation as a convivial and safe study destination.

“As countries, we have so much to offer each other when it comes to education and knowledge partnerships. The University of New South Wales (UNSW) like many Australian universities is investing human and capital resources in deepening, strengthening and broadening our engagement with a cross-section of universities in India”, says UNSW’s Pro-ViceChancellor (International), Jennie Lang, who is in Delhi with the UNSW Vice-Chancellor Frederick Hilmer, to discuss long-term engagement strategies for partnerships.

UNSW has recently announced a joint Master’s degree in Optometry with the LV Prasad Eye Institute in Hyderabad, and set up a Nehru Chair in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Earlier, the Australasian Legal Information Institute, a joint facility of UNSW and the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) Faculties of Law, helped develop the Legal Information Institute of India.

“Academic engagement is an important stepping stone towards rebuilding trust and creating a stronger relationship between the two countries,” says the University of Sydney’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor International, Professor John Hearn. Between 2007 and 2010, the University of Sydney’s International Programme Development Fund has allocated AU$ 98,788 to initiate research collaboration with Indian institutions in the fields of agriculture, medicine, science, engineering and Information Technology.

Macquarie University in Sydney on the other hand has initiated a number of cooperative partnerships with some of the top Indian business universities including the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) and Calcutta (IIM-C), Xavier Labour Relations Institute (XLRI), NarseeMonjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS), and the SP Jain Institute of Management and Research.

Karthik Kesavan, who hails from Chennai, arrived at Melbourne’s LaTrobe University when the students’ attacks issue was at its peak two years ago but has experienced little of the upheavals that were reported at the time. “I find generally people are warm and friendly. I have not experienced any of kind racism. Although, when I speak to friends back home, a vast majority still feel Australia is not a safe place”, says Kesavan, who is in the final semester of a Bachelor’s degree in Animal and Veterinary Bio-sciences.

He has been working as a Livestock supervisor in a Poultry Farm to pay for the nearly AU$ 60,000 three-year course fee and he would like to stay on in Australia. “There are plenty of jobs available in my field of study here, but tougher immigration rules pose a challenge”, adds Kesavan. Changes to the Australian skilled migration programme, tightening of student visa rules and financial stability requirements, closure of dodgy private colleges and a surging Australian dollar have all contributed to low enrolments from India.

There are 61,549 overseas Indian students enrolled in Australian educational institutions as at year-to-date July 2011 out of a total of 487,704 international students from nearly 200 countries. Education is Australia’s third largest export after iron ore and coal and the largest services export worth AU$ 18.3 billion.

Still, a range of initiatives are being taken to foster higher education links between the two countries. For example, the Australia-India University Shadowing Pilot, funded by the Australian Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR), will provide full support for up to five Australian and up to five Indian university executives in a particular administrative or academic discipline to undertake acapacity building shadowing exchange in 2012. In July, the India Australia Vice Chancellors’ and Senior University Executives’ Workshop held in Delhi agreed to promote greater institutional collaboration, credit transfer, student and staff mobility, and joint research.

Flinders University has exchange and research links amongst others with Madras Christian College, Manipal University, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bangalore, and Indian Institute of Horticulture, Bangalore. The University of Adelaide has research partnerships with Indian institutions on wheat and rice breeding, weed management in rice, and evaluation of genetically modified cereal crops.

Top scientists have benefited from the Australia-India Strategic Research Fund (AISFR), a joint initiative of the Australian and Indian governments. Until June 2011, more than 90 joint research projects and workshops, valued at over AU$ 30 million, have been awarded AISFR grants.

The deepening engagement with Indian researchers is in part facilitated by the Australia India Institute (AII) at the University of Melbourne, with founding partners UNSW and LaTrobe University where a Masters level International Relations course is jointly taught by the three universities to all students, including the ones in Delhi.

Starting in 2012, 10 top scholars from India will be awarded AUD$ 90,000 each to do a PhD at one of Victoria’s nine universities under the new Victoria India Doctoral Scholarships Program launched by the State Government of Victoria and the AII. The State Government has also sponsored a Chair in Contemporary Indian Studies at the University of Melbourne for three years.

Source: Business Standard, September 23, 2011

CAT 2011 is far more structured

With several changes introduced in the pattern of conducting the CAT 2011, students across India are wondering whether the examination would get easier or tougher. In an interview with Vinit Koneru, Vice Chairman & Co-founder of CL Educate Ltd. (formerly Career Launcher) Gautam Puri says what students could expect. Edited excerpts:

What should candidates expect this year?
As compared to the challenge of an examination in an undefined environment, CAT 2011 will be relatively easy. CAT in its earlier versions had a number of unpredictables, including the number of questions and undefined sectional time limits. Now, the paper is far more structured, and hence, easier. While preparing for CAT 2011 keep these essentials in mind: Firstly, cover all topics and prepare across the length and breadth of subjects.

With just 60 questions you will not have much to choose from. Secondly, focus on accuracy, when in doubt leave the question; resist the temptation to attempt when you are unsure. With just 60 questions, every incorrect answer is criminal. Also, go back to the papers of the early 1990s as the questions today are very similar to what we had seen in them. There is merit in going through them and practicing on those papers.

With the new IIMs, has the competition increased?
The new IIMs add to the number of quality MBA seats available to aspiring candidates. Thus it’s good news for students sitting for the exam. The competition is as tough as the aspirant sitting next to you, so a student must remember to put his best foot forward.

Given the current global slowdown, do you expect the number of applicants to rise or fall?
With around 180,000 applicants writing the CAT in 2010, the number is expected to remain the same or go up marginally. This is a result of the fact that this year the JMET and FMS entrance have been scrapped and are now aligned with the CAT. Thus, students wanting to join FMS or the management courses at the IITs would be required to compulsorily sit for the CAT. While there is a global slowdown, India and China are coming to the forefront and are least affected by the same. With the focus of the world on these economies, job opportunities and demand for MBA are expected to increase in India.

How can India’s management education be compared to that of foreign universities?
At the top end of management, Indian institutes are as good or even better. However, the real difference kicks in as we move down the ladder. In India we see a steep drop in quality of management education as we move down below the top 50 or 60 institutes or at best top 100 institutes. This steep drop in quality is not seen internationally. Among the top universities, Indian institutes differ from international institutes on three aspects: Reflection of batch diversity where most Indian institutes have primarily male population and a dominant presence of engineering graduates. While internationally, the gender mix is far better and MBA students come from a variety of academic fields. Institutes in India have 99.9 per cent Indian students, while internationally in an MBA programme you would find people from diverse backgrounds and nationalities thus lending an added international flavor to the programme.

Is the current structure of management institutions good for the country and the students?
The structure of management institutes in India has produced corporate leaders of note, who have achieved recognition internationally. Today the IIM alumni are spread across the globe leading the world’s largest organisations across a multitude of sectors. Thus, without doubt these institutions serve the country well.we need to see a significant change in the remaining institutes.

Source: Business Standard, September 22, 2011