Dean's message

In the second decade of 21st Century, the world is witnessing a shift in the balance of economic power towards the developing and emerging economies. The BRICS countries along with the rapidly growing economies of Mexico, Malaysia, Indonesia, and others are now driving the global growth. China is predicted to become the largest economy in the world by 2040. India’s economy is racing with China. Brazil is a global leader in commodities, but also a major contributor in many advanced industries. South Africa is becoming an attractive location for trade and development. In the context of such economic growth, business education in these developing and emerging economies will be much in demand. In one study conducted by KPMG, B-Schools increased in the last two decades by 1600 percent. But their number started declining in the wake of economic crisis in the western world and continuing economic crisis in the euro-zone. In 2011, 70 B-Schools in India were closed down. The number of applications for CAT have come down from 2,23,000 in 2003 to 1,85,000 in 2011. The Graduate Management Admission Council conducts a global survey of business Schools each June to track admission trends. In the year 2011, the survey found that there was a drop in the number of applications worldwide (slightly more than 5%). However, Programme selectiveness remains as competitive as ever comparable to previous year. The decline, it was found, was due to uncertainty in the global economy.

But in India, the story is different. Indian economy is not that affected by the western crisis and continuing crisis in the eurozone. As a matter of fact, there is shortage of fresh MBAs and management professionals at the middle and higher levels. Management Professionals form a huge chunk of 347 million skilled labour gap according to National Skills Development Corporation. This would be spread across the verticals like organised retail trade, banking and financial services industry, and infrastructure to mention a few. According to a recent global CEO Survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), about 41 percent of CEOs in India have cancelled or delayed a key strategic initiative because of skills shortage. In China, the figure stood at 31 percent, while it was 24 percent globally. According to one recent study by Cygnus, a business consulting , that in 2012 there will be a requirement of about 2,00,000 fresh MBAs in various sectors. Top 50 b-schools in India provide only 25,000 MBAs. All these strongly suggest that there is great demand for management professionals in India.

The decline in the number of applications for MBA Programmes in India is for different reasons. Important among them are quality of the MBA Programmes, and gap between what corporate world expects and what b-schools supply. Indian b-schools face the test of faith and are at a major cross-road. Corporate world expects critical thinking skills, an improved understanding of risk and market, the development of a global perspective and an awareness of the role and responsibility of business in society. In addition, the corporate world expects MBA students to be equipped with globally integrated mindsets. In order to provide for these with-in MBA curriculum, b-schools face two challenges: how to include these with-in an already loaded curriculum? How to meet these requirements with-in constraints on financial and human resources. Addressing these on an annual basis is a way of academic life in GITAM School of International Business.

GITAM School of International Business proactively responds to the needs of Corporate World in a variety of ways that I shared in my last year’s message. In continuation of that tradition, the School has made major changes in its MBA Programmes. Briefly, they are: the total number of credits has been reduced from 119 to 115; at the same time introduced a number of courses to provide for the above learning such as Business Process Improvement, Enterprise Risk Management, Management of Change and Innovation, Cross-Cultural Management, Campus to Corporate Training, and International Travel. Learning by working on projects throughout the first three trimesters is facilitated in all the three MBA Programmes in an ambiance of excellence. Students admitted definitely would be in a good stead to face the challenges in the Corporate World. I welcome students to experience all these and develop a globally integrated mindset.

The School proudly welcomes you.

Dr V K Kumar
Dean