Curriculum Development at Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad : An Appraisal

Academic Associates– IIM Ahmedabad

KALPESHKUMAR GUPTABAIJUL PARIKH

Curriculum Development at Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad : An Appraisal

Ahmedabad University Conference on Management(AUCOM)February 6-7, 2015 1

Outline of the presentation

1. Introduction2. Literature Review3. Research Methodology4. IIM Ahmedabad-A Profile5. Curriculum Development at

IIM Ahmedabad6. Concluding Remarks7. Q&A

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It has been more than sixty years for Management Education in India.

Different types of institutions offering management education can be broadly classified into:

• University Departments/Colleges• AICTE approved standalone management

institutions• Indian Institute of Managements• Department of Management in Indian Institute

of Technology• Department of Management in National

Institute of Technology• Open Universities• Other Non affiliated private institutions

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Introduction :-

Growth of AICTE approved technical institutes and intake in last few Years

Source: AICTE Approval Process handbook 2013-2014

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YearManagement

InstitutionsIntake

2006-07 1132 94704

2007-08 1149 121867

2008-09 1523 149555

2009-10 1940 179561

2010-11 2262 277811

2011-12 2385 352571

2012-13 2450 385008

Literatures divided inthree parts

1. Quality Management

Education

2. Stakeholder Approach

3. Guardian of Management

Institutions

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1/3 Quality Management Education

• Shukla Shubhendu (2013) recommends courses should beneed based and syllabi should be changed periodically.Lack of specialization specific to industry, is one to theproblems of our MBA program.

• The materials available are not yet-specific or relevant toIndian context.

• Afza Noor (----) mentions that areas like publicgovernance, sustainable development, agriculture andrural management, environmental and natural resourcesmanagement, functions of municipality and local bodiesand cooperatives and public sector management need tobe given importance in the schools that globalizesuccessfully.

• Dayal Iswar (2002) states that the very best IndianBusiness Schools need to be more research oriented inthe context of India.

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2/3 Stakeholder Approach :-

• Havaldar Krishna (2012) is of the opinion thatinstead of following the pedagogy of the US systemin totality, India should change its curriculum tomeet the needs of its society.

• Stakeholders’ involvement in curriculum redesign isabysmally low.

• John Beena & Panchanatham N. (2011) in theirstudy they found 3 important aspects for curriculumdevelopment which are

1. Institute-industry linkage2. Less emphasis on theoretical aspects3. Evaluation system.

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2/3 Stakeholder Approach :-

• Report of the Working Group on ManagementEducation formed by National KnowledgeCommission (2005) states,

Although India produces a large number of managementgraduates, perhaps next only to the U.S., scholarlydebate on curriculum, pedagogy, and innovation isnegligible.

Most institutions depend on curricula and materialsdeveloped elsewhere and have not developed anintrinsic capacity to respond and evolve to the changingneeds of various sectors of industry and services,student interests, Non-Government Organizations, orthe economy and society.

Many are unable to fulfill the mandatory changesimposed on them, such as upgrading of the curriculumby the Universities or the Board of Management Studies.

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3/3 Guardian of Management Institutions :-(National Knowledge Commission Report, 2005)

• India needs a large number of excellent institutions.The possibility of leveraging the better-ratedinstitutions to develop the promising Mgt. Edu.Entities (MEEs) needs to be explored.

• The better rated institutes should each adopt 3 or 4aspirant MEEs in the region to assist them inimproving levels of quality and ratings. Suchassistance can be in the following processes:

Curriculum development and delivery; Case study and teaching note exchange; Student exchange; Sharing of experiences in pedagogy; Placements of students for both summer training

and full time jobs; Faculty development.

11Cont…

• The concerned MEEs and the better-ratedinstitutions may arrive at mutually acceptablearrangements for funding such assistance.

• Sharma Lalit & Saxena Vikas (2010) are of theopinion that it should be the responsibility ofleading management institutions to guide theaverage Business Schools to cope with thechallenges of corporate world and ensuringsustainability.

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Cont…

3/3 Guardian of Management Institutions :-(National Knowledge Commission Report, 2005)

• Authors have taken IIM-A as a part of their casestudy as being closely associated with the academicactivities in various programmes.

• IIM-A runs following programmes

Post Graduate Programme in Management (PGP, 2

years)

Post Graduate Programme in Agribusiness

Management (PGP-ABM, 2 years)

Fellow Programme in Management (FPM)

One year Post Graduate Programme in

Management for Executives (PGPX)

Faculty Development Programme (FDP, 4 months)

Armed Forces Programme (AFP, 6 months)

Research Methodology :-

Cont…14

• PGP, PGP-ABM & PGPX as a part of case study

• There are total 771, 94 and 85 students in the PGP,PGP-ABM & PGPX progamme respectively.

• Authors also conducted a survey on curriculumdevelopment aspects at IIM-A among the studentsby circulating google spreadsheet and receivedresponses from them on.

• Total 120 students responded on the survey (PGP79%, PGP-ABM 13%, PGPX 8%).

• Authors also took brief interview of Professorsfrom different areas on curriculum developmentprocess/aspects at IIM-A.

Cont…

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IIM Ahmedabad’s Profile

IIM Ahmedabad was the second in IIM family.

It was established on December 11, 1961 after the IIMCalcutta which established in November 1961.

Vision

IIM-A’s vision is to become an Institute that isglobally recognized and respected as a thought leaderin management.

Mission

To transform India and other countries throughgenerating and propagating new ideas of globalsignificance based on research and creation of risk-taking leader-managers who change managerial andadministrative practices to enhance performance oforganizations.

Cont..


Case Study Method Teaching

IIM-A follows case study method of teaching. Thismethod helps students, participants of variousprogrammes to learn skill of decision making andleading.

Students are required to study case study inadvance and they have to discuss the case in theclass and instructor act like a facilitator in the class.

IIM-A uses cases written by foreign institutions,IIM-A faculties, other institutions in India.

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Cont..

Cont..


International Ranking

National Ranking

Rankings 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010

Business World 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st

Business India - 1st 1st 1st 1st

Business Today 1st 1st 1st 3rd 1st

Outlook 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st

Rankings 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010

Financial Times Master in Management

Rankings

16th 18th 10th 7th 8th

Financial Times Global MBA Rankings 30th 26th 11th 11th -

The Economist full time MBA Rankings 48th 39th 56th 78th 85th

Eduniversal Best Master’s Ranking in

Agribusiness/Food Industry Management

2nd 1st 1st 1st -

19Cont..

Cont..


Academic Areas

Business Policy

Communication

Economics

Finance & Accounting

Information Systems

Marketing

Organizational Behaviour

Personnel & Industrial Relations

Production and Quantitative Methods

Public System Group

Cont…20

Cont..


Research Centres

• Centre for e-Governance (CEG)• Centre for Gender Equity, Diversity and Inclusivity

(GEDI)• Centre for Infrastructure Policy and Regulation

(CIPR)• Centre for Innovation, Incubation &

Entrepreneurship (CIIE)• Centre for Management in Agriculture (CMA)• Centre for Management of Health Services (CMHS)• Centre for Retailing (CFR)• IIMA-Idea Telecom Centre for Excellence (IITCoE)• R J Mathai Centre For Educational Innovation

(RJMCEI)

Cont…

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Curriculum Development Process at IIM-A

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Faculties of different areas at IIM-A striving forupdating curriculum for different programmes asper the demand and need of the present market.

Compulsory & Electives courses are updatedkeeping pace with the industry/marketrequirement.

Faculties from different areas develop newelective courses and are offered in particular slotof the academic calendar.

Some courses are very popular and get hugeresponses from students whereas some coursesfail to attract students because of students’profile, other existing popular courses, newappealing electives, limit of credits etc.

Professor’s Interview :-

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• Authors carried out a survey on CurriculumDevelopment among the students of IIM-A. Total120 responses received from the students (PGP79%, ABM 13%, and PGPX 8%).

• Followings are the results of the survey.

Courses Sufficient Insufficient

Compulsory 93 7

Electives 52 48

Quality of Courses

All the numbers are in %

Students’ Survey Results :-

No. of Courses

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- Too many compulsory courses, they should bemore flexibility as people with a background ina particular area waste time and energy byattending classes .

- Include more modern content.

- Courses should focus on theory as well ascases and not just cases.

- Reduce number of courses. Could have beenmore effective if lesser course will be taught inthe same time frame.

Students’ suggestions on CompulsoryCourses :-

26Cont…

- Eliminate exams. Have more assignments andindependent field pursuits to practically seeimplications and applications.

- Many courses do not add value and highlytheoretical. Even with cases one cannot relateto what is actually happening. Courses in whichactivities are done add more value.

- Over reliance of cases needs to be shunned.

- Too fast paced.

- Course load should be reduced and shifted tosecond year.


27Cont…

Cont…

- Should be taken by more than one faculty.

- Should be more outcome oriented.

- Increased emphasis on Indian Cases vis a visHarvard Cases. We can relate better to the former.

- Will be good to add negotiation skills workshop based courses in multiple semester – it is the most useful skill once we graduate.


28Cont…

Cont…

- Should be more rigorous.

- Bidding system to be done away. If a student isinterested in the course the institute shouldmake it available to the student.

- Visiting Faculties sessions should be spread out.More number of classes to be taken byVisiting/Guest faculties as they are more intouch with real life.

- Clashes between courses needs to be taken careof effectively.

Students’ suggestions on ElectiveCourses :-

29Cont…

• Link curriculum to the placement requirement.

• Reduce the number of cases but makingstudents do a thorough analysis of the cases.

• Need to focus on teaching fundamentals muchbetter, and then doing more problems solvingin the class and reduce the number of cases.After a while, cases get boring since themarginal utility reduces.

• Electives could be made available for firstyears as well. Also some of the compulsorycourses can be made optional.

Students’ suggestions on overall curriculum development:-

30Cont…

• Exam taking should be made moreexperiential rather than paper-pen based.

• A student should be allowed the space andtime to explore his interests during education.Compromise on the "rigour".

• Include more guest lectures, live projects.

• Courses should be upgraded to include morecurrent skills required.

Students’ suggestions on overall curriculum development:-

31Cont…

Cont…

Recently review committees were set up at IIM-A to review the programme of PGP & PGP-ABM.

Review Committee also invited people fromindustry, academia and other stakeholderalongwith alumni of the institute to share theirviews on the programme specially curriculumpart.

They shared their views/opinions on what kindsof talents are needed. They emphasized onemployability of the candidate with rightcombination of talent, expertise, analytical skills,soft skill etc.

Conclusions

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• Less number of cases.

• More Elective courses to offer based onindustry/market requirement.

• Lesser burden in first year of programme.

• Improved faculty and student ratio.

• IIM-A is in process of hiring Professors ofManagement Practice. This position is open tomanagers in industry who would like to takesome time off (1-3 years) and become fulltime teachers on a contractual basis.

• Increased visiting faculty from industry whoare offering full time courses.

Latest Developments at IIM-A

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• More number of cases on Indian Industries,organizations.

• Case Study competition.

• Industries should approach for case writing.

• Participants of Faculty DevelopmentProgramme should be encouraged to writefew case studies.

• Shorter cases to be developed and discussed.

• Interdisciplinary area of teaching andresearch.

• Theory building sessions in the beginning.

• Initiate for National Case Depositories of India(NCDI)

Recommendations :-

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Model of National Case Depositories of India

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References :-

Afza Noor (----), “Higher education and mushrooming of management institutions – issues and challenges”, Abhinav, Vol. 1, Issue 11

Bradley, L. H. (1993). “Total quality management for schools”, Lancaster, PA: Technomic.

Datar, M. Srikant, Garvin, A. David & Cullen, G. Patrick. (2010), “Rethinking the MBA: Business Education a Crossroads”, Boston: Harvard Business Press.

Dayal Iswhar (2002), “Developing Management Education in India”, Journal of Management Education in India, Vol. 2, No. 2, August 2002

Havaldar Krishna (2012), “Management Education in India : The Present Status and Future Direction”, SSRN

John Beena & Panchanatham N (2011), “Management Education in India – Trends, Issues and Challenges”, AMET Journal of Management, July-Dec 2011

Kaul Natashaa (2011), “Management Education in India – A Case Study”, Asian Journal of Management Research, Vol. 2, Issue 1, 2011

Longanecker, D. (1995). “High performance higher education: The federal role”, Thought & Action: The NEA Higher Education Journal, XI, 105-110.

Manimala Mathew (2006), “Management Education in India: A Perspective on Quality Improvement”, Journal of Management and Entrepreneurship, 1(3), September 2006

Mathew George (2014), “Quality of Management Education: Customer Trust Perspective”, SCMS Journal of Indian Management, April-June 2014

Cont…39

Pandit Virendra (2014), “IIM-A gets Rs. 20 crore from corporates to create academic Chairs”, Business Line, December 10, 2014

Rana Saba (2009), “Quality Management in Higher Education – A Perspective”, Proceedings 2nd CBRC, Lahore, Pakistan

Shukla Shubhendu (2013), “Management Education in India : Issues and Concerns”, International Journal of Education & Learning, Vol. 2, No. 2 (2013), pp 15-26

Soni, R. G., Chaubey, M. D., & Ryan, J. C. (2000), “Implementing TQM in higher education institutions: A strategic management approach”, Academy of Educational Leadership Journal, 4, 99-107.

Shweta & Kumar Manoj (2011), “Management Education in India : Issues & Challenges”, Journal of Management & Public Policy, Vol. 3, No. 1, July-December 2011, pp. 5-14

Sharma Lalit & Saxena Vikas (2010), “Integration of Industry and Management Education : Future of India”, Pranjana, Vol. 13, No. 2, Jul-Dec 2010

Report of the working group on management education formed by National Knowledge Commission (2005)

IIMA Alumnus, Volume 46, No. 3, October 2014

IIM Raipur, http://www.iimraipur.ac.in/gsmc

IIM Ahmedabad, http://www.iimahd.ernet.in/

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References :-

Cont…

http://www.iimraipur.ac.in/gsmc

http://www.iimahd.ernet.in/

Kalpeshkumar Gupta [email protected]

Baijul [email protected]

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Curriculum Development at Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad : An Appraisal

Education

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