Beyond MBAs: Niche and interdisciplinary master’s courses finding more takers

Amith Kaushik Tanneru was not really surprised with his friends’ and family’s reaction when he told them he wanted to quit his job as a software engineer at Infosys, and study public policy. “You know how people look at social sciences in India. They said my future was uncertain,” says the 25-year-old who enrolled at the Jindal School of Government and Public Policy, near New Delhi, last year.

Tanneru is among a new breed of students who are doing their postgraduate studies in areas which a decade ago would have invited puzzled looks from most people in India. Public policy, for instance, as a stream has been a fixture in Western universities for over 50 years, with Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs among the top schools worldwide.

In India, however, it is finding takers only now. Sudarshan Ramaswamy, Dean of the Jindal School, says the reason for that is equating governance with the government. “Public policy is no longer related to just what the government does,” he notes.

When Government is Not All
Talking of the multi-disciplinary nature of public policy, Ramaswamy adds: “It’s good to have journalists who understand, for instance, the Land Acquisition Bill and its implications, and a public policy programme helps in that.” Ishita Trivedi, a first-year student at the school, says the course structure is moulded according to the composition of the batch and what is pertinent then.

“Your idea of what you want to specialize in keeps evolving because you are constantly exposed to different things. I joined the programme wanting to work in the area of food security or maternal health,” says the economics graduate from Delhi’s Miranda House College. The Jindal School, part of OP Jindal Global University, set up by Navin Jindal, has 25 students in its first batch, and 18 in its second. Ramaswamy says the employment options for his students include, besides the government and think tanks, the CSR arms of companies engaged in development-related initiatives.

Tanneru wants to work in e-governance, particularly cash transfers through mobile banking. Besides the Jindal School, Mumbai’s Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) and the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore offer public policy programmes. The Indian School of Business (ISB) is also thinking of introducing a postgraduate programme in public policy at its Bharti Institute of Public Policy, according to the latter’s Executive Director Rajesh Chakrabarti.

The Bharti Institute is located on the B-school’s Mohali campus and teaches public policy to its management students. Similar to the misconception that public policy is only for government servants is the view that public health is only for doctors. “Doctors take care of sick people while public health professionals ensure people don’t fall sick,” says Dileep Mavalankar, director, Indian Institute of Public Health (IIPH), Gandhinagar. There are three other IIPH campuses in Delhi, Hyderabad and Bhubhaneshwar.

Global Appeal
Ziaul Haque, a student of the one-year PG diploma in public health management at IIPH, Delhi, says although he did apply to colleges overseas he is happy that IIPH’s syllabus is not very different from the foreign institutes he was considering. “Moroever, I’m paying just Rs. 250,000 a year, including hostel fees, which is much lower than for colleges abroad,” says Haq, who wants to work on HIV and mother and child health, and who is one of the few non-doctors in his class.

While the institute started with more government officers in its postgraduate diploma in public health management, Mavalankar says now it is equally divided between them and private candidates. “In the government, our students could end up working for the National Rural Health Mission or district public health programmes. In the private sector, companies could hire them for health initiatives as part of their CSR,” he adds.

Other employers include international agencies like the UNDP, WHO and Unicef. The starting salary for a public health professional could be between Rs. 20,000 and Rs. 50,000. Besides postgraduate diplomas, IIPH has just started offering a master’s in public health through Hyderabad University.

It is awaiting the passage of the Universities for Research and Innovation Bill, 2012, in parliament, before it can offer master’s degrees on its own. One of the objectives of the Bill is “each university would focus on one area or problem of significance to India and build an ecosystem of research and teaching around different related disciplines and fields of study.” Other universities offering a master’s in public health include Manipal University and Lucknow University.

If civil services, medicine or engineering was what every other parent wanted their kid to study till the 1990s, the degree of honour has since been a Master of Business Administration, helped in no small measure by the storied success of IIM alumni. But the MBA is fast losing its lustre, with 160 of 4,500 management schools expected to shut down this year and 10-12% of graduates considered employable, according to a January report by Assocham.

These graduates spend Rs. 300,000-500,000 on their MBAs and earn only Rs. 10,000-15,000 a month, the report adds. While the likes of IIMs, ISB and XLRI, Jamshedpur, have retained their cachet, interest in low-ranked B-schools is clearly waning.

Urban Planning 2.0
Educationists have been calling for courses to be made interdisciplinary so students have a better understanding of their specialization and are better equipped for the job market. Urban planning is one such course. Though the School of Planning and Architecture in the capital and Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology (CEPT) in Ahmedabad have had urban planning for a while, it is only recently that academics seem to be waking up to the need to have students from multiple disciplines in urban planning.

The Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS) in Bangalore, which also comes under the Innovation Bill, hopes to have students from different streams in its master’s course. It has had IT professionals and social workers take part in its certificate course on urban planning. “We train 400 planners every year now and most of them go on to work in the real estate sector,” says Aromar Revi, Director, IIHS.

Ajit Kumar, director of infrastructure consultancy Frischmann Prabhu, says till a decade ago urban planners were synonymous with architects. “But now, only 50% of planners are architects. While architects visualize the structure of a building, planners visualize how a city will look and grow and what its needs will be in the future.” He adds that given projects like the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor, which has multiple townships, there will be a huge demand for planners. They command a 25% premium over architects and could start with Rs. 35,000-80,000,” says Kumar.

Adapting to Changing Climate
Interdisciplinary approach has also been key to courses offered by TISS, which has in recent years started offering master’s degrees in areas like climate change and disaster management. “Problem solution here involves inputs from different fields,” says T Jayaraman, who heads the School of Habitat Studies at TISS. The institute received 900 applications for an intake of 35 in disaster management and about 300 applications for an intake of 15 in climate change this year, according to Jayaraman.

While such new offerings are certainly a welcome move, the biggest hurdle to the growth of these courses is limited opportunities for some of their practitioners. “The market for public policy graduates is not so clearly defined as for MBAs. A government job is not very lucrative,” says ISB’s Chakrabarti. For public health graduates, the absence of an equivalent to the US Public Health Service means their options to work for the government are limited, according to Mavalankar of IIPH.

Jayaraman says money is not necessarily an overriding concern for those who study climate change and disaster management at Mumbai’s TISS. Money apart, there are some strong indicators that multidisciplinary courses will soon move away from the fringes of college education if not become the order of the day.
Source: The Economic Times, December 1, 2013

Business schools such as ISB, IIM-A, TISS, Symbiosis line up courses in healthcare management

An increasing demand for doctors with business acumen is prompting business schools and top-ranking educational institutions to offer courses focused on healthcare and management, as more physicians opt for management degrees, post-MBBS.

ISB has recently partnered with Wharton School of Management to start a research centre on healthcare. A significant chunk of the students in this course are doctors aspiring for managerial roles. The course offers electives in healthcare along with a specialised management discipline such as strategy, marketing, finance and product management.

Premier business school – the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) – offers electives in health management and public health policy in its doctoral programme. “There was hardly any interest among students in healthcare management elective at PhD level until a few years ago. But in recent years, about 20 students from each batch of about 350 have been opting for the healthcare elective,” says Prof. Dileep Mavalankar, Director of Indian Institute of Public Health, Gandhinagar and former professor of Health Management at IIM-A.

Among other top institutes that provide specialised courses in healthcare and management are Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai; Symbiosis Institute of Health Sciences, Pune; and Indian Institute of Health Management and Research. Interestingly, ISB has, from this year on, focused 50% of its total scholarships – thus far fully merit-based – on the diversity aspect, wherein people from sectors like healthcare and pharmaceuticals, among others, will be given preference.

“The demand for doctors trained in management far outstrips the supply,” says VK Menon, Senior Director – Careers, Admissions and Financial Aid at ISB. The requirement has grown manifold over the past four to five years, with industries such as pharmaceutical, biotech, medical equipment and healthcare growing rapidly. Domain knowledge in medicine as well as expertise in product management, brand safety, marketing and finance, besides knowledge of people skills, labour laws and strategies is providing an alternate career avenue for medical practitioners who want to branch out into other sectors.

“Companies in pharma, biotech and medical equipment now prefer to have doctors with business expertise. There is also a spurt in demand for this category of people with the rapid expansion of healthcare industry and setting up of hospital chains that are becoming more complex to run,” says Menon. “Today as an industry, we need a unique value proposition. An MBA degree gives a wider perspective and makes a doctor manager aware of the best practices across sectors that can be applied to healthcare apart from enhancing people skills,” says Vishal Beri, Chief Operating Officer, Hinduja Healthcare.

The healthcare sector in India is likely to grow to $100 billion by 2015 from $65 billion now, according to an estimate by rating agency Fitch. “The sector is at an inflection point and is poised for rapid growth in the medium term,” says a KPMG report.

As opportunities open up in the sector, doctors who are not able to do their masters after their MBBS due to limited seats or high capitation fees are seen branching out to managerial roles. The playing field is huge: Family-owned hospitals are becoming more complex, competitive and professionally-run, while pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries are expanding at a fast clip. “Many of the IIM alumni have venture capital funds that are buying into hospitals. And with doctors realising that they need to delegate more management to professionals, there is an obvious spurt in demand for managers,” says Mavalankar.

Many doctors do not feel motivated enough to remain confined in medical courses and want to branch out into a different sector. “Some of them see parents struggling to manage their hospitals and hence realise the need for specialised managers who have knowledge of labour laws and people management expertise,” adds Mavalankar. There is also the view that management is an additional field doctors can explore. “An MBA gives a physician wider choice. A rapid-fire, one-year MBA helps them understand the nuances of management,” says Dr. Ramesh Padavala, Director – Brand Safety, Novartis.

Traditionally, most CEOs and top managers in the healthcare industry were either from the armed forces or the hospitality industry. However, with more corporates entering healthcare, there is need for a larger number of professionally-qualified managers who are familiar with the industry. Hinduja Healthcare has several doctor managers with management degree from ISB, TISS, Symbiosis – Pune and IIHMR, says Beri, an orthopedic surgeon, who graduated from ISB in 2008. “When I entered a medical school, I had not thought of doing an MBA, but now with increasing demand for medical professionals in managerial roles, there is more awareness among doctors, several of whom are going in for management specialisation after their MBBS,” he says.

Some like Dr Padavala say, “There is a wide gap between management people and doctors. Most times one does not understand the other side.” Only time will tell if a formal training in management will be able to bridge the gap.

Source: The Economic Times, October 12, 2012

DBS ties up with TISS to fund social entrepreneurship graduates

Financial services group, DBS, has signed an agreement with the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai to provide seed funding and incremental funding to its social entrepreneurship graduates. The social sciences institute has been providing a two-year Masters programme in social entrepreneurship since 2007.

DBS said it would fund start-up enterprises of select graduates for at least two years after graduation. Thereafter, based on the scalability of individual enterprises, it would provide additional funding. “We really needed support…DBS has come in at the right time,” Prof. S. Parasuraman, Director of the institute, said.

DBS did not disclose the total outlay for the funding programme, saying that the details are “confidential.” The funding will be a mix of both capital grants and debt funding. DBS Bank, India CEO, Sanjiv Bhasin said, “The interest rate on debt funding will be project specific. Till the venture fund breaks even, the interest rate might be low; thereafter it may rise.” Besides providing financial assistance, the Singapore-based financial group will also assist students with venture plans and ideation.

DBS Bank India, which has applied for four more branch licenses, said it is not averse to 40 per cent priority sector guidelines. The bank has 12 branches in India. “We will abide by the laws of the land. As of now we do not have to worry as there are less than 20 branches,” Bhasin said.

The central bank had said foreign banks with more than 20 branches will have to increase their priority sector lending (PSL) targets to 40 per cent from April 1, 2018. PSL targets now stand at 32 per cent for foreign banks.

Source: The Hindu Business Line, August 15, 2012

To fight Maoist, IIT & IIM passouts to assist local admin

A bunch of 20-somethings are raring to swap the security of bluechip firms for the grave hazards lurking beyond the invisible yet palpable thick red line that marks out Maoist-affected areas across the country. Armed with little more than developmental zeal, these professionals are readying to venture into some of the most dangerous areas in central and eastern India. This is where, for instance, a state government recently agreed to free 27 prisoners to secure the release of an abducted MLA and a foreign national.

The first batch of 156 candidates selected for the Prime Minister’s Rural Development Fellows Scheme will spend the next two years assisting district collectors in implementing welfare programmes across 78 worst-affected Maoist districts. Their deployment, as per the scheme conceptualised by Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh last September, will be part of the governments measures to answer critics who have long maintained that Maoism cannot be contained by force alone.

Even as the government grapples with the security threat that the insurgents pose in these districts, the fellows are not scared. “Security is not a big concern for me,” says Rajendra Kondepati, who did his BTech in Chemical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology-Madras (IIT-M) before going in for a post-graduate degree in public policy from Singapore. “It is perceived to be very dangerous, and possibly is, but there is still the district administration,” says the 28-year-old, focusing on the opportunities more than the threats.

Unlike administrative services that are extremely rigid, the fellowship promises a range of possibilities. Even compared to the private sector, as far as general management experience is concerned, this will equip us with much better skills. District collectors, who handle everything from general administration and finance to security and development, feel that the fellows can help devise better ways to evaluate and monitor welfare schemes.

“Our job is too large and we have limited workforce available to us. These young boys and girls will have better perspectives and they will help us utilise modern technology to make implementation and monitoring of these schemes more efficient,” said a collector who did not wish to be named, adding, “Ensuring the security of these fellows will be our responsibility.”

Like Kondepati, most of the other fellows hail from premier institutions such as the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Indian Institute of Management (IIM) and the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS). They have given up jobs with companies such as Infosys, Wipro and Patni to be a part of this one-of-a-kind programme in the country. The ministry received a whopping 8,560 applications in the introductory year for the fellowship scheme that will provide a monthly remuneration of Rs. 65,000.

“The aim was to get professional, out-of-the-box thinkers into the Naxal-affected districts so as to make development initiatives work,” Ramesh told ET. “In one sentence, these people will act as sherpas for the collectors,” the minister said, adding, “This is also the first large-scale entry of professionals into government activity.”

The fellowship awards will be officially announced and conferred by Ramesh and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia in Hyderabad on April 7. The fellows will undergo training for two months before being posted in districts covered under the Integrated Action Plan — a joint project of the Planning Commission and Ministry of Home Affairs — introduced in 2009 to intensify development work in the 78 worst-affected Maoist districts such as Dantewada, Bastar, Koraput and Palamu.

Source: The Economic Times, April 6, 2012

TISS to recruit faculty on contractual basis

Performance indicators and pink slips are no longer the domain of grueling corporate jobs. Something fundamental is changing in public universities of India that have always provided their teachers job security and the comfort of fixed work hours.

The government funded Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) plans to recruit faculty on their Hyderabad campus on a contractual basis. It is only after a regular annual assessment, which includes students’ evaluation, will their term be extended.

The new campus which saw initial financial support from the Azim Premji Foundation, will conduct several interdisciplinary courses, essentially requiring more than just teaching from a text. The decision on recruitment rules was taken as it was felt faculty sign up with a lot of enthusiasm but, as years roll by, the “promise of pension” turn many to deadwood, said sources.

“We are looking for the best teachers who can liven up our classroom. We are keen on appointing individuals who bring strong inter-disciplinary research experience and also are good teachers. We want individuals who will join a new institute and grow with it,” said Lakshmi Lingam, deputy director of the Hyderabad campus. But what about senior academics who may look the other way, discouraged by the recruitment policy and not make the switch?

To attract marquee names, the institute will also have some permanent positions, the ones that will be supported by the University Grants Commission (UGC). “Also, if we find a good track record of a contractual faculty, they will find their way on the permanent rolls,” added Lingam. Mindful of the fact that emoluments need to be competitive, TISS has decided to not differentiate between the contractual and the permanent teachers on campus would be offered the Sixth Pay Commission salary scale.

Source: The Economic Times (Online Edition), July 11, 2011

>Premji Foundation to set up institute

>The Azim Premji Foundation, the eponymous non-profit education arm run by the chairman of Wipro Ltd., has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Mumbai-based Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), to set up the Azim Premji School of Education (APSE) in Hyderabad. The school will offer degrees and conduct research in education. The Foundation will make an investment of Rs. 40 crore (Rs. 400 million) over the next five years in the school.

“The Tata Institute of Social Sciences will bring a deeper understanding of social sciences and the developmental sector, while we bring our on-field understanding of education and our relationships with the state governments,” said Dileep Ranjekar, Chief Executive of the Azim Premji Foundation, in a phone interview. The Foundation and TISS will jointly develop the curriculum, and share faculty and student services. Ranjekar also said that the APSE will help TISS take on more students at the Hyderabad campus and offer financial assistance to those who wish to pursue education or research. “In principle, APSE will be very similar to the Azim Premji university, although initially it may have a more academic orientation, while the university has a field orientation,” he said.

APSE will be headed by Lakshmi Lingam who is currently Dean, Research and Development, at TISS in Mumbai. The school will begin its programmes in August this year with about 150 students. The hiring of faculty is complete with some of them shifting from the TISS Mumbai campus. It will operate on the campus of a state government educational institution this year but will later be shifted to the TISS campus in Hyderabad which is currently being set up.

The decade-old Azim Premji Foundation, which received a grant of Wipro shares worth Rs. 8,846 crore (Rs. 88.46 billion) from Premji in December last year, works primarily to improve the quality of education in India. Premji had transferred 213 million of his shares in Wipro, equivalent to an 8.7% stake, to fund the development activities of the Foundation.

The Foundation collaborates with various state governments and has an outreach of over 20,000 schools and 2.5 million children. Last year, the Foundation established the Azim Premji University (APU) in Karnataka, which will launch masters programmes in education, development and teacher education in July this year. It will start with about 200 students, and aims to reach about 3,500 by 2016.

Source: Mint, April 8, 2011