When we talk of management education, we are basically referring to shaping up the students, aimed towards developing their competency and capability either as a manager fit to join an organization and help it to grow or as entrepreneur, to establish and grow one’s own business. This capability does not come from possessing a management diploma or degree, but also requires developing in the students the will and skill to contribute for self sustenance and nation building. Presently it is seen, that there is a wide gap existing between the type of management education imparted in MBA colleges and what is there in real life management in business organizations. In order to make management education more realistic and useful for the industry, certain key areas need to be identified. These could be:-

• (a)Benchmarking quality management education to create an enduring quality managers and entrepreneurs.

• (b)Bring in professionalism in management education.

• (c)Adequacy of qualified and competent faculty members, proper infrastructure, support facilities and regular updating of curriculum.

Benchmarking Quality Management Education

Benchmarking with the top management colleges inspires an institute to produce quality managers. Management education needs to include knowledge, skills and abilities (KSA) that are needed today and that will be needed tomorrow by the industry. The mission of management education should be to become innovative and creative. The objectives of benchmarking should be to:-

• Make own students employable in industry.

• Moving the institute from academic mode to corporate mode.

To achieve these objectives the agenda should be:-

(a) To identify the industry expectations of the skill sets required of students.

(b) To identify the areas of Total Quality Management (TQM) in management education.

(c) To identify the changes required in teachers imparting management education.

Professionalism in MBA/PGDM Education

There are many reasons for the wide differences in the quality of management education in different institutes in India. The main reason is the absence of a body that can ensure that the standards set are practiced and retained by all management institutes, like AACSB in USA. We do have an apex body – the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), that is responsible for setting the basic framework, guidelines and standards for quality of business education, there are however many problems when it comes implementation of these standard by MBA colleges and institutes and these problems undermine the effectiveness of these standards. In order install quality in management education in India, the AICTE and MBA colleges / universities in the country should focus on the following issues:-

• Quality of faculty.

• Infrastructure development.

• Accountability of management institutes.

• Values and ethics.

• Role of professional bodies (AIMA, ISTD, etc).

Adequacy of Qualified and Competent Faculty members, Infrastructural Facilities and Updating of Curriculum

• The institutes running MBA/ PGDM courses must have core faculty in main areas of management. Faculty must meet at least one of the three criteria requirements, namely – consultancy experience, research experience in management or knowledge of the latest management trends in terms socio-technical systems and managerial techniques in the industry. The other aspects considered are:-

• Infrastructure and facilities: These must include class rooms with multimedia and projection facilities, computers and peripherals and a good library with collection of books on all management subjects.

• Updating of Curriculum: The management courses and programmes being conducted in the institutes must be in line with the current requirements of the corporate world and other organizations.