Qualitative Initiatives for Value-Based Education- Part 2

This article largely deals with ground realities concerning the quality of education prevalent in some Management Institutes. It addresses critical issues and initiatives to be adopted which would lead to value-based education. This is the second part of this article that outlines ten more crucial performance areas in the field of higher management education which need thorough streamlining and revamping. 

The suggestions outlined here may help the management institutions, reeling under great stress, to receive accreditation in ‘Compliance Crisis' in line with NBA's rigorous norms of objective and outcome-based quality education. 

Let me continue henceforth.

11. CORPORATE AND COMMUNITY RELATIONSHIP
Sadly enough, many Faculty members, despite their Doctoral Degrees, are not competent enough to guide the students in solving critical issues of Corporate and Community relationships. This is because they have no industry exposure, nor have they upskilled and updated themselves about contemporary issues. 

Faculty members and students must jointly undertake live projects from the corporate sector to address critical, contemporary and burning issues on consultancy basis, in addition to conducting Management Development Programs for their employees. 

Such interventions enhance the image of the Institutions, culminating in the students getting better and assured placement opportunities from the employers. 

12. CASE-LET ANALYSIS vs A CASE -STUDY ANALYSIS
Case Study analysis, a very effective method for developing analytical, application and communication skills, provide valuable supplementary tools for enhancing the learning experience of the students. It must be made compulsory for all the subjects. 

Elaborate, contemporary industry-oriented live Cases, with extensive Data and complex and burning problems, must be studied and analyzed. 

13. VISITING FACULTY
Some visiting faculty members accept assignments in several  institutions, visit multiple colleges in a day, hurriedly come to the class, write a problem and a solution on whiteboard, and dictate notes prepared many years ago.  

While it is beneficial to have a Faculty with Industry-exposure, their experience and competence have Zero value, if deliverables do not yield results.

Institutions must set prescribed norms and parameters for employing Visiting  Faculty and define detailed Terms and Conditions about their deliverables,  duties, responsibilities, with specific performance evaluation tools.  Management must also undertake due diligence for their background checkup before assigning them any subject. Inviting visiting faculty members of international repute enhances the value and quality of inputs. 

14. TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT OF IN-HOUSE FACULTY  
It is essential that the Faculty members, including PhD holders with no industry experience, get exposure to the practices and processes of the Corporate sector,  which enable them to relate to concepts and their applications.  They must be deputed to a suitable organization for job training, for short term, say at least for 6 months. 

Similarly, those who do not have previous teaching experience must be deputed to a need-based Teachers Training program conducted by international-standard agencies for upskilling and updating advanced technologies in the learning and teaching process.

15. CURRICULUM UPDATING 
Despite the occasional revision of the syllabus,it is not industry-oriented. The curriculum must be prepared jointly by an excellent academician and a dynamic industry practitioner ensuring a fair blend of both. Proper feedback must be obtained from the Campus-visiting experts to incorporate necessary inputs in the syllabus. 

We need to benchmark the Syllabus to some Ivy League Global  Management Institutes to attain international standards. 

16. PRACTICAL AND OUTCOME BASED ASSIGNMENTS 
Most of the assignments set by the faculty members intend to examine the mere understandings of core concepts and obsolete theories. Many  colleges do not have preset evaluation parameters or standard Rubrics. 

Every assignment needs to be vetted by the internal domain expert, and it should be linked to the outcomes mentioned in the syllabus and Session Plan, with specific Rubrics and weights. 

17. VALIDATING PhD THESIS 
The PhD thesis which the Faculty members prepared decades ago, has no relevance and validity to the present-day dynamic and disruptive corporate environment.  

The Faculty must revise, review and update their own obsolete thesis periodically by understanding the contemporary needs of the corporate establishment and keeping themselves abreast with the latest advancements in technology and application skills. Revised articles must be published in international journals to get maximum citations.

18. NBA ACCREDITATION 
Many institutions are rushing for accreditation by NBA, which is based on the  Self-Assessment Report (SAR).  

Once the Colleges get accreditation, they become complacent, resulting in a drop in quality of education in the absence of continuous inspection and monitoring by the NBA. 

Colleges must strictly implement quality enhancement measures throughout the five years of accreditation. 

Faculty members are still not familiar with PEO, CO and related Blooms’ Taxonomy, its usage for the outcome-based education system. They need to be trained thoroughly instead of hiring external Consultants for preparing  Session Plans. 

19. CREATING INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY 
It is vital that every Management Institution must set I P Policies,  allocate required resources for conducting research by the Faculty and developing entrepreneurship amongst the students. Many an Institute abroad have commercialized their I P Assets, which have substantially contributed to their corpus. This is a less focused area in many of the Indian Management Institutions. 

20. CAMPUS PLACEMENTS 
A 100% placement record, either legacy or brand-driven, is not a barometer to measure the quality of education imparted to the students. They are just placed, not employable, though. 

A few students get better placements, based on their inherent attributes, skills, upbringing, family culture, educational background. 

The best among the worst are selected by companies that visit the campus. They look elsewhere for students with better skill-sets. 

It is high time that our Institutes switched over from the knowledge dissemination process to the skill and attitudinal development process.