According to the latest India Skill Report, having an MBA degree is no more the key to land jobs in India. Despite being ranked as the second most employable course, only less than half of students (46.59 percent) with an MBA degree have enough skills to be hired. Several experts blame the mushrooming of MBA courses and colleges for a drop in quality and thereby, employability. Most of them recommend an overall overhaul of the curriculum as a solution.
Varun Mayya, founder, CEO, Avalon Meta, a digital university, claims that the MBA degree in its traditional form is no longer relevant. “The MBAs were once useful for the network they provided to a student, but that is now available on the internet. However, the IIMs are still high quality in the sense that you can still find a great network there. Other MBAs are fizzling out because alumni networks are predicated on the brand of the institution. If there isn’t a great brand, the college would not attract great students. If there are not great students in your university, then you have lost the most critical part of the MBA experience,” he said.
Dr. Girdhari Lal Tayal, dean, academics, Indian School of Business and Finance (ISBF) believes that for MBA, it’s all about timing. “Timing an MBA is highly essential, with or without pandemic or economic slump. One should do it once one has developed the business and emotional maturity needed to lead teams,” he said.
ISBF — which is affiliated with the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), University of London highlighted that India also deals with deeper issues, including “outdated curriculum which is not revised Mof. ten enough, teaching methods are outmoded and there is little to no emphasis on pedagogical training and development at Indian institutions both completely out of line with what the world’s best or highest-ranked institutions do”.