Education Counselling – The Next Big Thing

On of my cousins met me recently to discuss the education plan of her child. She wanted me to give advice as to what stream she should ask her kids to pick up after 10th standard. She has started thinking about it now as her child has just entered class 10 and she was confused on this subject.

My initial response to her was to tell me what she thought were the options. The answer was medical / non-medical (other sciences) / Commerce in that order. Then I asked her what was her son interested in. The response was that she were not very sure but he got good marks in science. To be honest even the child did not know what he wanted to do.

Take my own example. This was year 1995. I had thought of doing engineering and thus was standing in a queue of students who were getting enrolled for the engineering stream because it was the most talked about stream in the school and though I was not good in science as a subject, I wanted to opt for it. Side by side this queue was the queue for enrolling in commerce stream. I glanced at the commerce steam and saw that most of my friends from class 10th were standing in that queue. I dont know what came to my mind, I decided to change my queue and went on to enrol myself in the commerce stream. Now in hindsight i see it as such a stupid way of taking a career decision.

But was I at fault? No. I dont think so. My school where I did my 10th and 12th std was the best in my city. Even then they did not have any session with their class 10th students where they explained the pros and cons and career options for students enrolling in various streams. It was left upon students themselves to decide their career options with whatever limited access to such knowledge they had and fend for themselves. This has made me think for long that there is a definite need for a service which helps parents and students decide what they would like to pursue as a career and thus decide the education stream they would want to enrol for. This service can be provided by schools or by professionals (in partnership with schools) who are passionate about helping youngsters take conscious calls on their career, help them and their families take informed decision about their careers.

To my mind this is a huge business opportunity and if researched well and executed well, this can turn out to be a huge success. Today parents are willing to spend any amount of money for their child’s education even if they have to take loans. Such has become the mindset of parents which to my mind is a good thing because good education has not been given its due importance in smaller cities for a long time. A small amount for a service which could change the course of a stundent’s life is something no one would be unwilling to part with.

Employability of a Fresh MBA

A good MBA program should add value to the knowledge base of the students, develop their managerial skill set, develop their personality further and also broaden his general outlook towards life.

An organization hires those students from an institute who they feel will add value to the organization based on their assumption that the MBA program would have imparted the above mentioned to its students.

An average student in India decides to pursue management education hoping for value addition in the areas mentioned above and thus secure “A WELL PAYING JOB” with a good organization.

So it is imperative that the MBA institute a student chooses, needs to be able to provide him what he hopes for.

We see advertisements from MBA institutes everyday attracting students into their MBA program portraying themselves as people who will truly transform the lives of their students. Many students join these institutes by paying huge amount of fees, many a times beyond their budget. The fee of a MBA program ranges from 1.5L to 4.5L per year depending upon how successful the institute is able to market itself and project itself as THE destination for the student to be. Post Induction, the institutes try to ensure that there is no “cognitive dissonance” amongst the students. All of this raises the expectations of the candidate from the institute’s program. (S)he has already paid a high fees, and is being reassured by its institute of good placements.

Cut to the placement season. Companies visit campuses. They hire some, they reject some and this goes on for good 3-6 months depending upon the quality of the product of the institutes. Students realise that there is a huge disconnect between their expectations (because of promises made) and market reality. Guess what will happen to a student (and the parents) who have spent 8 lacs on a MBA program and finally land up in a Job paying a mere 2 – 4 lac per annum. There are MBA institutes whose students get 1.5Lacs per annum and even less. Where does the problem lie?

Being in the recruitment business and having to interact with fresh MBAs and their institutes gives me a fair idea as to what is being touted as quality management education is nothing more than a money spinning venture. “Secluded”is how I would loosely describe most of Fresh MBA pass-outs from Cat B and Cat C MBA Institutes. Far away from reality, having very little knowledge of what they are going to face once they pass-out.

The problem lies in the poor quality of education being imparted in these institutes and the expectations of the students not being managed by the institutes. The pedagogy is predominantly lecture based giving little opportunity for students to think and apply themselves, thus not developing thinking and problem solving skills.Such a pedagogy only provides theoretical knowledge that too in a mono-logical fashion. The summer training period is not utilised by students as well as institutes who focus more on getting a summer placement for everyone than the quality of corporate exposure these students get.

The institutes also never try to bridge the reality and expectations gap by reducing the expectations. All they hope is that the companies would raise the pay bracket for their institute every year. The institutes fight with companies and do not allow them to hire from their campus if they offer anything below the minimum level they have set for their students. Many a times, because of the crunch in the availability of people, companies are forced to offer high packages than they think the students of that campus deserve.

Job Content awareness is another important aspect which a MBA program today needs to focus on. The institutes should have dedicated programs which takes them through the realities of the corporate life. They should be told that though they are taught marketing in the campus and not sales, they would end up selling products for most pat of their initial 8-10 years and not make consumer based marketing strategies sitting in a plush air-conditioned office somewhere in a metro. Students should be told clearly that though they are being taught theories on motivation and how to use them in leading teams, they would have to first work as an independent one-man-team and prove themselves for a few years to reach a position of authority and lead a team and apply those Organization Behaviour theories. Students should also be told that though they are being taught Strategy, it will be a long time before they apply the GE-Mckinsey Matrix and the BCG Matrix in their corporate careers.

This can be done by bringing in people specially alumni who should share their experiences with the students. The companies should mandatorily make Pre Placement Talks taking students through the Job profile and the career path within their company in order to ensure that there is a complete fit between both parties.

A external trainer could focus on all major industries giving exposure to students about various industries, typical job roles available to fresh MBAs, career paths for each job role, salary expectations from each industry, growth prospects, time-lines for growth, so on and so forth.

It is this change which needs to be brought about in the MBA programs which will actually help the students prepare for a tough corporate life. This suggestion is completely contradictory to what the typical practice at MBA institutes is nowadays.

 

This is my first piece on Education focusing on MBA programs. Look out for more on the same. Signing off.