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What students should look out for in a B-School? 

- Views expressed by Dr. R Venkataraman, Professor, Presidency College, Bangalore  

Swami Vivekananda says “Education is manifestation of perfection already in man”. In today’s fast changing scenario, every manager and technical personnel need to learn to acquire peripheral vision. Students need to become familiar with a bunch of new ideas and techniques. The students should look out for key aspects such as academics, placements, knowledge series, college culture etc.

i) Academics: The students need to interact with the senior students of the B-School regarding the quality of academics offered by the B-School.

ii) Soft skills training: Training on soft skills is essential because we do not have it in our academic curriculum. The students need to check whether the institution offers training, so that the students are able to present themselves better.

iii) Knowledge series: Guest lectures are a practical and feasible solution. Inviting guest lecturers in to the classroom offers a great opportunity for students to learn viewpoints within a discipline.

iv) College culture: The students should find out the college culture. It is the combination of values, behavior, language and outlook.

v) Library: The students should find out whether the library provides relevant authoritative and up-to-date information.

vi) Augmentation courses: The next step is to determine whether the institution offers certificate program on i) Financial accounting ii) Human resources management iii) Supply chain management iv) Entrepreneurship v) Leadership and team effectiveness.

vii) Placement: The students should get offers in diverse functions across sectors. They need to interact with the placement department and check the offer letters of the previous batch.

vii) Other facilities: Apart from the above facilities, students should also check for finance club, marketing club, advertising club, mentoring facility, career guidance cell and outbound training facility offered by the institution.

 What makes a Best B-School?

The biggest USP for management schools/colleges over the last many years has been "placement". While the going was good, the colleges were able to place the students which was more of a pull than push. But the reality was experienced by almost all the colleges ever since the global meltdown witnessed in 2008 which perhaps brought the education industry on to their knees. There is no more "the carrot & the stick" method of admitting students with the assurance of placements which is evidently not happening anywhere. So, what makes a successful B-School? Is it 100% placements? Or is it making the students 100% employable? There has to be comprehensive integration with the requirement of the industry only then a school/college can be termed successful. There has to be a synchronization between the number of students being admitted into PG courses that meets with the requirement of the industry. Successful B-Schools are not about huge buildings or infrastructure or how much fees is being collected. It is about this integration and students being employable across all available opportunities.

- Views expressed by Mr. Balaji Rao, Visiting Professor, Jain College, Bangalore 

In today’s competitive environment anything and everything is becoming a commodity where academics is not an exception. For any B-School challenge is now how to compete and create a niche where big will survive because they are big but schools with average merit will have to give a thought for their survival. Only point can make a difference and that is quality of teaching as a result students will be ready for industry which is a challenging task for industry also as they look for industry ready candidates. Once B-school is having quality teaching definitely other things will follow like up to date curriculum along with rigorous training for students which can make their mental model. What ever may be the rank of the B-Schools they only can produce management trainees for industry so quality teaching through quality faculty pool can create a difference. Though easy to write but quite tough to attain so. 

- Views expressed by Prof. Shantanu Chakravarty, Associate Professor,

Dr. J. K. Patel Institute Of Management. Parul Group Of Institutes, Baroda, Gujarat, India  

 MBA is an integrated course where managers and entrepreneurs are fine tuned and also created. A manager has to be jack of all. A best B- School need to concentrate more on concept-application based learning rather than examination based learning. The management school need to be very cautious in utilizing their faculty resources. Faculties need to move from teaching to research. The best B-school should have more of research and consulting activity compared to teaching. Both teachers and students need to participate in research and consulting. The institution must continuously mentor government and business sector with their analytical and intellectual capability. " Intelligent discussions and research without AGENDA" should be the motto of the institution. 

- Views expressed by Ms. Vidya Suresh,  Asst. Professor, Thiagarajar School of Management, Madurai, Tamilnadu, India  

 Case Study Method of Teaching and Learning  

Case study method of teaching and learning, as we have adopted from Harvard Business School through IIMs and now even available with majority of the business schools which includes schools under university affiliation also. Business Management per se is an unique curriculum and will remain so because of its heterogeneous composition of student population where case study method of teaching and learning play an important role. Case study method is originated from medical science so we can compare even both the field where medical college can not operate without indoor and outdoor patient while business school can not operate without integration with industry as well as case study method of teaching. Years together case study method of teaching and learning is proving to be highly effective where learners even enjoy the entire learning system so can be termed as the best method even. However, case study method of teaching and learning needs a real expertise as dealing with a case is not easy for faculty as coordinator or facilitator of same. Lack of experience and exposure of faculty in case study method of teaching may prove to be fatal even where business schools with highest level of academic credibility is utilizing same with maximum benefits for the learners as their faculty members themselves write good cases with industry collaboration. To take optimum advantage of case study method of teaching business schools must train their entire faculty pool in case study method of teaching and learning as an effective model of teaching in business school. 

- Views expressed by Shantanu Chakravarty, Associate Professor, Parul Institute Of Management & Research, Formerly known as Dr.J.K.Patel Institute Of Management, Waghodia, Baroda, Gujarat, India. 

The term “case study method” refers to an interactive approach to the teaching and learning of a profession. Business schools use this educational approach to give students insight into the real world of Corporate and to guide them acquire skills of analysis, application, communicative, social, self-analysis and decision-making based on actual situations that require their reaction and interaction. The cases covering varied topics from marketing, finance, quality, strategic, human resource, accounting and ethics provide that opportunity. To qualify as a case study, a document must have undergone the following steps: conception in response to a pedagogical objective, definition of pedagogical choices, processing of the data gathered within a company or from external sources, planning of the presentation, choice of medium, refinement and production of the teaching notes accompanying the case. For most of the management problems, readymade answers perhaps cannot exist. Case studies allows ‘learning by doing’ to occur. The major essence of case analysis is to become skilled in the process of designing action plans through evaluation. Case study method is a significant tool in inculcating managerial skills and it is essentially required for a management career. 

- Views expressed by Dr. R Venkataraman, Professor, Presidency College, Bangalore