Beyond Business by Smita Polite

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BUSINESS PROSPERITY= PEOPLE+ PLANET+ PROFIT, SAYS DIPAK JAIN, THE INCOMING DEAN AT INSEAD ACADEMICS

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO STUDY LANGUAGES ? P34

PROFILE

NAJEEB JUNG “EVERYONE’S ALLOWED TO DISAGREE” P54

TECHNOLOGY

MOBILE APPS THE WAY TO THE FUTURE FOR VARSITIES P38

FOREWORD What They Don’t Teach You At B-school

“THE CURRENT CROP OF MBAS ARE A FOCUSED LOT— THEY FOCUS ON BOOKS, EXAMINATIONS AND PERCENTILES. SOMEWHERE, SOMETHING GOES AMISS”

remember taking a newbie for her first client meet. It was serious business: a presentation to the CEO of the client company. As we waited for the senior man in question to walk into the conference room, our new hire promptly went ahead and sat at the head of the table. Though book smart, unfortunately our recruit—a topper from a prestigious Indian B-school—wasn’t ready for the boardroom, yet. Admittedly, the current crop of MBAs are a focused lot—they focus on books, examinations and percentiles. Somewhere, something goes amiss. In this edition, EDU started with this question—what exactly is the missing ingredient? It turns out, a little more than just inadequate understanding of protocol – it’s more about the “bigger picture” of business and management: it lies beyond the purview of the example I just used. However, I keep my example to show where we stand today. I have admitted to my sad ignorance of the humanities before—I stopped studying history in Class X. The newbie I spoke of couldn’t have had a very different education from mine. It’s only when they take up their first job that management professionals confront the “real world” with its real people and problems. What does this imply for the Indian B-schools and programmes? Can they help the intelligent Indian youth to be the complete human being – with solid IQ and EQ? Read all about it in this issue. Our highlight is an interview with Dipak Jain, who should know where business education is headed. Dipak was the first Indian to head a prominent global management institution—he served as the Dean of Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, for nearly 10 years. He is now on his way to Fountainebleau in France where takes over as the Dean of INSEAD. Here’s wishing him a great stint at INSEAD, and wishing all you readers a great 2011!

Dr Pramath Raj Sinha pramath@edu-leaders.com

December 2010 EDUTECH

CONTENTS EDU

“social inclusion is what the future is going to Be aBout. maThai and that is what “ravi suggesTed iim a’s we should work breaking Ties wiTh harvard towards” because we were an “We need to The more you base your curriculum around people and broaden iT, The more innovaTive you would become

DECEMBER

2010

UPDATES

india’s inherent sensibility of self-governance led the founders of the iims to stay rooted in that sensibility and evolve their oWn style and method.

07 COLLABORATION REVIEW 08 TRANSFER START 09 PLANNED PROGRAMME

VIEWPOINTS

10 RAHUL CHOUDAHA Seven education trends for 2011 13 DHEERAJ SANGHI How to hire quality faculty

EDUTECH December 2010

The concepT of

managemenT sTudies may “innovation isn’t simply a potion that be a wesTern one in The you pour into a mix. an institution sense ThaT The “scienTific meThod” or The has to start with a philosophy, “scienTific managemenT” which emBraces and promotes true meThod was evolved by yash gupta dean carey business federick winslow Taylor innovation” school johns hopkins as a response To wesTern socieTy’s need for indusTrial reconsTrucTion

The carey bUSIneSS School’S global mba programme IS drIven by The moTTo: “Where bUSIneSS IS TaUghT WITh hUmanITy In mInd”

dipak jain, incoming dean insead

innovators to predict the future

GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE

Everyone’s allowed to disagree”

TECHNOLOGY

someday, all B-schools will come to Be called ‘schools of leadership’

By Smita Polite

ACADEMICS

38 MOBILE APPLICATIONS How institutions can use mobile applications to their advantage By Urvee Modwel

insTiTuTe of managemenT and noT jusT business managemenT”

Businesses have had a consideraBle effect on the planet. B-schools are now realising that they have to sensitise future Business leaders to understand concepts such as “carBon footprint”

54 NAJEEB JUNG Frank and precise —that’s our first impression of the VC of Jamia Millia Islamia By Smita Polite & R. Banerjee

42 INDUSTRY INSTITUTE LINKAGES Research can benefit from industry academia linkages

IT IS The “arT”, and noT The “ScIence”, ThaT make InnovaTIonS poSSIble. and ThaT IS Where b-SchoolS ShoUld FocUS

“Business schools “Businesses can’t 17 ART OF MANAGEMENT have to think succeed in a failed Where is management education society” Beyond Business” headed? We ask a few leaders and

PROFILE

STRATEGY

anil gupta professor iim a

COVER STORY

15 RISHIKESHA T. KRISHNAN Time for IIMs to do a bit of soul searching

34 LANGUAGE STUDIES What makes study of foreign languages indispensable By Rohini Banerjee

add more from nonbusiness courses. for instance, We should have a course on jain incoming shakespeare” dipak dean insead

by becoming outWard focus innovators, business people Will not only create profits for themselves, but also a profit society

Learn more about what’s currently happening in institutions around the world. The Chronicle of Higher Education shares its perspectives with EDU 56 IN QATAR, EDUCATORS FROM AROUND THE WORLD TALK ABOUT CHANGE By Ursula Lindsey

us le ts for fit

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62 BOOKS Asian Women In Higher Education: Shared Communities Does God Make A Difference?

DESIGN SR CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Jayan K Narayanan ART DIRECTOR: Binesh Sreedharan ASSOCIATE ART DIRECTOR: Anil VK SR VISUALISERS: PC Anoop SR GRAPHIC DESIGNER: Suresh Kumar SR DESIGNERS: Prasanth TR, Anil T Anoop Verma & Joffy Jose DESIGNER: Sristi Maurya CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER: Subhojit Paul PHOTOGRAPHER: Jiten Gandhi

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MANAGING DIRECTOR: Pramath Raj Sinha PUBLISHING DIRECTOR: Vikas Gupta GROUP EDITOR: R Giridhar CONSULTING EDITOR: Aman Singh ASSISTANT EDITOR: Smita Polite EDITORIAL ADVISOR: Dr RK Suri INTERNATIONAL CONTRIBUTOR: Vinita Belani ASSISTANT FEATURES EDITOR: Rohini Banerjee SUB-EDITOR: Ruhi Ahuja

DIALOGUES 22 26 29 31

DIPAK JAIN YASH GUPTA ANIL GUPTA RAJEEV SHOREY

63 PRODUCTS Google Nexus S Cr-48: Google Chrome Notebook

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51 BHARAT PARMAR AND ABHINAV I. Why India needs a scholarship aggregator

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BUSINESS PROSPERITY= PEOPLE+ PLANET+ PROFIT, SAYS DIPAK JAIN, THE INCOMING DEAN AT INSEAD ACADEMICS

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO STUDY LANGUAGES ? P34

PROFILE

NAJEEB JUNG “EVERYONE’S ALLOWED TO DISAGREE” P54

TECHNOLOGY

MOBILE APPS THE WAY TO THE FUTURE FOR VARSITIES P38

Cover Art: DESIGN: SRISTI MAURYA PHOTO: COURTESY INSEAD

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December 2010 EDUTECH

D -LINK ADVERTORIAL

Facilitating Flawless Connectivity

hile taking a decision to peruse an Engineering profession, one can find a number of colleges with top rankings and opinions about how all colleges fare against each other. However, there are a few things which these rankings often miss, which can be vital for a particular individuals overall development. While looking for a good Engineering Institute, one should focus on an institute, which not only provides good education, but also takes care of all other needs of a student - key being good hostel facility, advanced technical expertise and good infrastructure faculties. Sri Ramakrishna Engineering College of Coimbatore is one such great example of a best-inclass Engineering Institute that is not only famous for its worldclass education but also for providing all requirements of a student residing at the campus. Sri Ramakrishna Engineering College came into existence in the year 1994. Today, it has 14 institutions in the Coimbatore region alone. It is affiliated to Anna University of Technology, Coimbatore and is approved by

EDUTECH December 2010

All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), New Delhi and Government of Tamil Nadu. The college has a vision to develop into a leading world-class Technological University, consisting of Schools of Excellence in various disciplines. It also has a co-existent Centre for Engineering Solutions Development to cater to the worldwide clientele. The mission of the college is to provide all necessary facilities to the students for them to grow into world’s famous knowledge engineers and scientists.

Key Requirements Today no one can deny the advantage of Internet for education institutes; and the ever rising need for students/faculty to stay connected. Understanding the importance of the same; Sri Ramakrishna Engineering College has connected all its 14 institutions across Coimbatore with the help of BSNL’s 20Mbps connectivity. As per Harihara Gopalan, Campus Network InCharge of Sri Ramakrishna Engineering College, “The need for students as well as the faculty

members to stay connected on the go and through a single network is very crucial. We planned to locate data centre at Sri Ramakrishna Hospital and with the help of BSNL 20Mbps connectivity, we wanted to connect all our 14 institutes through one common network. In this regard D-Link in connection with the BSNL, who offered us a private network through its managed switches offering private internal connectivity to all our 14 institutions across Coimbatore as four different sites. D-Link switches

D -LINK ADVERTORIAL

even provided us with benefits like inter connection between institutions, covering an area of 15Km with optical fibre connectivity (OFC).” D-Link provided the right set of solutions for Sri Ramakrishna Engineering College and its trust institutions that addressed all requirements as stated. The price performance ratio offered by D-Link with the BSNL was much better than what other competitors were quoting. The strong pre sale and post sale support as well as the advantages of local presence provided a good deal for SNR Sons Trust Institutions. All requirements of Sri Ramakrishna Engineering College and its allied institutions within the trust were very complex in nature. The institute required 8Mbps Internet connectivity on 1:1 sharing basis from the data centre of 20Mbps through Ethernet interface. In addition, the institutes also wanted inter connection between groups with the 20Mbps bandwidth for easy sharing of Internet. This required fibre connectivity around a 15KM stretch for Sri Ramakrishna Engineering College and similarly that all the other 14 institutions can be linked as a group and all can access Internet simultaneously. Another major requirement set by the college for D-Link was to provide them with inter connectivity of the existing Local Area Network (LAN) between the institutions, which are less than 100m far from the group. The demand for simultaneous Internet sharing became a behemoth task for D-Link to achieve. To achieve the task, BSNL provided 20Mbps Internet leased line to the datacentre at group “A” with Ethernet end interface. BSNL also provided 8Mbps-leased

"D-Link switches provided us with benefits like inter connection between institutions, covering an area of 15Km with optical fibre connectivity (OFC).” HARIHARA GOPALAN, CAMPUS NETWORK IN-CHARGE, SRI RAMAKRISHNA ENGINEERING COLLEGE

line from Group “A” to other three groups with Ethernet end interface. Furthermore, the fibre connectivity between the institutes within Group C was also provided by BSNL with Ethernet end interface. Solution Deployed and Benefits Since the Internet bandwidth by BSNL was at 20Mbps transfer speed and inter connectivity was at 8Mbps, D-Link proposed a switch based solution for Sri Ramakrishna Engineering College as switches process more data speeds than a router. Also, since the college already had a LAN connectivity and BSNL was providing Ethernet end interface, D-link installed an end point Layer 3 (DGS 3627) switch at Sri Ramakrishna Engineering College to provide routing between all 14 branches. The end point Layer 3 DGS 3627 is a 24-port layer 3-gigabit stackable switch with optional 10-gigabit uplinks. It delivers performance, flexibility, security, multi-layer QoS and redundant power option for SMB and enterprises. As the switch features high Gigabit port densities, SFP support as well as 10-Gigabit uplink options with advanced software functions, they can act as departmental access layer device or core switches to form a multi-level network struc-

tured with high-speed backbone and centralized servers. Also, 3 xStack DES-3828 24-port Managed Layer 3 switch were installed at Group B, C and D. The DES 3828 is a feature rich switch capable of uplinking to backbone switches and is designed to meet the needs of all departmental and enterprise connectivity applications. The xStack DES-3828 Switch is a fully managed Layer 3 switch that provides 24 10/100Mbps Fast Ethernet ports and 2 Combo SFP/1000BASE-T Gigabit Ethernet ports. In addition, 2 fixed 1000BASE-T ports in the back-panel can provide a dedicated trunk connection between devices or core switches. It also provides virtual stacking functionality via D-Link Single IP Management (SIM) technology allowing up to 32 units to be managed via a single IP address. With support for Q-in-Q Double VLAN tagging, IPv6 awareness, Dynamic Layer 3 Routing, IEEE 802.1s, and bandwidth control; the switch incorporates advanced features suitable for the MSP as well as the SMB and Enterprise size network. In addition, security was a key concern for Sri Ramakrishna Engineering College. DKeeping security issues in mind, D-link installed a firewall DFL – 1660

at the datacentre. The UTM firewalls provided a powerful security solution to protect business networks from a wide variety of threats. The 1660 Firewalls offers a comprehensive defence against virus attacks, unauthorized intrusions, and harmful content, successfully enhancing fundamental capabilities for managing, monitoring, and maintaining a healthy network. To maintain an effective defence against various threats originating from the Internet, all three databases used by the UTM Firewalls have to be kept up-to-date. In order to provide a robust defence, D-Link offered NetDefend Firewall UTM Service subscriptions, which include updates for each aspect of defence: Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS), Antivirus and Web Content Filtering (WCF). NetDefend UTM Subscriptions ensure that each of the firewall's service databases is complete and effective. The DFL-1660 also has a built in 80 PLUS internal power supply that provides a reduced cost of ownership through longer equipment life. The solution was set up to cater to a maximum of 1500 concurrent users, thus effectively providing enhanced security as well as simultaneous high speed Internet connectivity across the institution.

December 2010 EDUTECH

at a glance 07 COLLABORATION 07 REVIEW 08 TRANSFER 08 START 09 PLANNED 09 PROGRAMME & MORE

The French President addresses the gathering at IISc Bangalore

Association

Sarkozy Offers To Expand Ties The French President invites Indian students to study in France; seeks an expansion of ties with Indian universities

“F

rance wants to host more Indian students. We can educate and train young Indians in cutting-edge research,” Sarkozy said at a function within hours of arriving in Bengaluru on a four-day official visit to the Subcontinent. Noting that Indian youth were eager to seek higher education, and that millions of young Indians were studying abroad, especially in the English-speaking countries, Sarkozy said his government has established a specific system to accommodate foreign students in France. “I hope that by 2012, we will have tripled the number of Indian students, compared with 2007. We are also providing special support to the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) at Jodhpur in Rajasthan,” Sarkozy told the 500-strong gathering of top scientists, business executives and students. Referring to the Field Medal awarded to French scientists for their outstanding discoveries in mathematics by the International Mathematics Union at its congress in Hyderabad in August, the French president said university reform and the research he had commissioned were bearing fruit and Indian students should also benefit from them. “I would like to see young French people expand their numbers at Indian universities.”

EDUTECH December 2010

PATIL INAUGURATES TAPMI’S NEW CAMPUS TA Pai Management Institute’s (TAPMI) new 42-acre campus was inaugurated by President Pratibha Patil (see picture right) in Manipal recently. The campus has state-of-the-art facilities and houses an academic building with 10 air-conditioned classrooms, a Knowledge Centre, and residential facility for over 600 students and faculty. The campus will be used for the university’s AICTE-approved PGDM programmes in management and healthcare management and e-Governance Program for Executives (e-GPX).

FREE EDUCATION FOR CWG SPORTSPERSONS The Centre is mulling plans to provide free education to sportspersons, who won medals in the recently-concluded Commonwealth Games, 2010, under the “Free Education for Commonwealth Games Medal Winners” scheme. The expenditure will be borne by the Central Board of Secondary Education and University Grants Commission, respectively. CBSE is also offering Chacha Nehru Sports Awards worth Rs 6,000 to outstanding sports people, who set new records, in 15 disciplines, during Annual National CBSE Sports & Games.

TRIBAL UNIVERSITY SET UP IN AMARKANTAK The Indira Gandhi National Tribal University, Amarkantak, opened its doors in December over 370 acres presented to it by the Madhya Pradesh government. The university runs 22 courses and programmes at the undergraduate level and has 769 students: 392 Scheduled Tribe, 80 Scheduled Caste and 255 girl students among them. It also has a regional campus at Manipur and has been approached by Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Kerala and Gujarat governments to open regional campuses in these states.

UPDATES Collaboration

ISB Inks Agreement With TUFTS University MoU is signed with The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, USA, is to set up a Bharti Institute of Public Policy at the proposed ISB campus at Mohali in Punjab

he Indian School of Business (ISB) signed an MoU with The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, USA, to support the Bharti Institute of Public Policy at the upcoming ISB campus at Mohali in Punjab. The MoU was signed by Ajit Rangnekar, Dean of ISB, and Stephen W. Bosworth, Dean of The Fletcher School, in the presence of Kapil Sibal, Union Minister of Human Resource Development, Rakesh Bharti Mittal, Vice Chairman and MD, Bharti Enterprises, and Savita Mahajan, Chief Executive of the Mohali Campus and the Deputy Dean of ISB. Speaking at the occasion, Dean Rangnekar said, “We are delighted to be associated with The Fletcher School. We will benefit from their vast expertise—not

A global tie-up

just in the area of public policy, but also in critically-important spaces such as food and water security. I am sure this partnership will generate innovative ideas for both policy formulation and implementation. It will create a critical mass of thinkers who would guide and

contribute to national initiatives.” Dean Bosworth said, “This day marks the beginning of a mutually beneficial relationship that will link two distinguished graduate institutions. The Fletcher School and ISB are dedicated to providing forwardthinking, groundbreaking research and teaching. This partnership will provide opportunities for cross-collaboration between the two schools.” The collaboration is envisaged to cover faculty exchange opportunities, curriculum development, research and teaching support, besides joint research projects and joint executive education programmes. Rakesh Bharti Mittal, applauded the programme and said that “India needs to create more such centres of excellence” for quality research.

Foreign Review

Lord Browne’s Report Receives Parliament Nod

BRITAIN’S PLANS to almost triple its tuition fee cap to £9,000 passed through its Parliament, after being backed by the House of Lords. The Labour Party’s last-minute attempt to derail the proposals failed after peers voted down two amendments tabled by the party. It means universities look set to be able to charge much higher fees from 2012-13, though they will be required to sign agreements on widening access for poor students, if they charge more than £6,000 a year. Speakers included Lord Browne of Madingley, whose controversial report paved the way for the UK government’s plans. He said he “strongly supported” the measures–despite differences from those proposed by his review. Among those voicing concerns was Liberal Democrat education specialist Baroness Sharp of Guildford, who said she had “substantial reservations” about the proposals. Peers voted by a majority of 68 against Labour’s amendment. Thousands of students protested outside the Parliament as MPs voted through the plans.

GLOBAL UPDATE

£ 9,000

and more, can be charged by the British government for varsity education

in the House of Lords went in 68 votes favour of the report submitted by Lord Browne of Madingley December 2010 EDUTECH

UPDATES transfer

Azim Premji Varsity Gets Rs 88.4 Billion Aid

The university will be operational in 2011. The endowment will be used for social, not-for-profit initiatives and for the Azim Premji University

zim Premji, Chairman of the Azim Premji Foundation, has announced the transfer of 213 million equity shares of Wipro to an irrevocable trust, which will utilise the endowment to fund social and not-forprofit initiatives. Azim Premji said that the endowment will help his foundation grow and serve its purpose of catering the society and aiding its development. The Karnataka government recently approved the formation of the Azim Premji University under a special legislative act, which aims at the development of education sector and train professionals to work towards social causes in disadvantaged communities. The endowment will also be used for the university. The current market price of the equity shares stands at Rs 8,846 crore or Rs 88.4 billion. “Our efforts, including the university that we are setting up, are focused on the underprivileged and disadvantaged sec-

Ready: Azim Premji

tions. Our experience of the past 10 years has motivated us to significantly scale up our initiatives, across multiple relevant dimensions,” he said. Located in Bengaluru, the university expects to commence its operations in 2011 and will be multidisciplinary in its approach. It will offer programmes and conduct research in the fields of education, closely related to development.

start

INSEAD Programme For Executives Scheduled to begin from August 2011, the programme will run in association with Eruditus INSEAD, ONE OF THE LEADING international grad B-schools, is launching a specially-designed, yearlong leadership programme in India—“INSEAD Leadership Programme for Senior Indian Executives” or the ILPSIE. It will start from the next academic year (August 2011). ILPSIE will be conducted at INSEAD’s global campuses in France and Singapore, along with

EDUTECH December 2010

seamless immersions in India. It will offer alumni status to participants. INSEAD has thus, become the first top-rated global business school to offer such a programme for Indian executives. Professor Paddy Padmanabhan, the John H Loudon Professor of International Management at INSEAD, and co-programme director for ILPSIE, said, “The launch demonstrates our commitment to

The foundation will also “significantly” increase the number of its field-level programmes and establish a number of state and district resource centres in order to implement them. The foundation believes that real social change can only be achieved by multiple constituents of the society working together. Therefore, besides its existing programmes, it will also continue to partner with state governments, institutions, NGOs and individuals in its work. Since its inception in 2001, Azim P r e m j i Fo u n d a t i o n h a s w o r k e d immensely in rural India, often in close partnership with a number of state governments in order to help improve the quality of education in the country. Its programmes have touched over 25,000 schools and more than 2.5 million children over the years. To drive this project further, Azim Premji had also recently announced the appointment of Dileep Ranjekar and Anurag Behar as co-CEOs of the foundation.

work with India’s future business leaders. With unmatched international experience, the programme will enhance leadership skills of senior executives and help them face challenges created by the huge business opportunities in India.” Under the supervision of 18 faculty members, led by directors Padmanabhan and professor Bala Vissa, the programme will also leverage work done by INSEAD’s “Global Leadership Centre”. Components such as a 360 degree feedback, individual and group coaching, a capstone business simulation and ongoing project work will help participants realize their true leadership potential.

UPDATES planned

India Set For Sole ‘Health Tech’ Hub

Union health ministry gives its nod to country’s first National Institute of Healthcare Engineering and Architecture

he Union Health Ministry has decided to set up the country’s first National Institute of Healthcare Engineering and Architecture in Chandigarh. Speaking at the meeting, the Director Principal of the Government Medical College and Hospital, Dr Raj Bahadur, put forth the suggestion. He assured the meeting that the college has adequate infrastructure to run the institute successfully. “We will need a dedicated and separate faculty for the institute. The

recruitment will be done accordingly. Also, we will get the courses recognised from Punjab University. We are expecting full support from the Centre in making this institute a great success,” said Dr Bahadur. “Setting up a healthcare institute was a recommendation made by the MK Ganguly Committee. Now, its going to see the light of the day,” said he. The institute will offer postgraduate in Healthcare Facility Planning and Designing, and Healthcare Engineering and Management.

programme

Punjab Allows Tech Class At Schools

VOICES I WOULD LIKE TO REITERATE FRANCE’S WISH TO EXPAND TIES WITH INDIAN UNIVERSITIES, we are providing special support to the Indian Institute of Technology Rajasthan, in Jodhpur. France also wants to host more Indian students. It can educate and train young Indians in cutting-edge research —NICOLAS SARKOZY, President, France

THE NEXT BIG CHALLENGE IS DEVELOPING desired skill-sets for the 21st century. Despite having a population of a billion people today, our education system has not been able to produce enough qualified people in any discipline —SAM PITRODA Chairperson National Innovation Council, India

Complaints of inadequate staff and poor infrastructure in state schools prompts government to take step

t’s like killing two birds with a single stone. To lessen the problem of inadequate faculty in senior secondary schools and to create a pool of talented engineering students, the Punjab government has decided to set up six multi-disciplinary academies at a cost of Rs 800 million. Interestingly, these academies will admit students who have completed their Matriculation, either diploma or engineering degrees in any discipline. “Two engineering colleges in Gurdaspur and Ferozepure, i.e. Beant Engineering College of Engineering and Technology and SBS College of Engineering and Technology, respectively, are being provided with additional infrastructure to house one polytechnic college each. Both have begun admitting students, who can opt for degree or diploma courses,” said the director of the technical education and industrial training department, S.K. Sharma. “We plan to solve complaints of inadequate staff and poor infrastructure in government schools with this initiative,” added Sharma. More faculty and infrastructure are being provided to these polytechnics to run Classes XI and XII, effectively. Sultanpur Lodhi Academy coming up in Kapurthala, at a cost of Rs 350 million, will offer technical courses to students. The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development is providing the loan for the six academies.

YOU ARE THE UPPER-CLASS INDIAN LIVING IN THE LOWER CLASS DEVELOPMENT. So you need the justice. Justice for development with respects to other, supports for development of robust education system. India is also lagging behind in holding respect for teacher. Changing the attitude will automatically grow the respects. India has to attract foreign faculty members. That’s very important and will only be achieved by the good collaboration among the global universities. —ROALD HOFFMANN Professor, Cornell University Nobel Laureate (Chemistry)

December 2010 EDUTECH

VIEWPOINT

Rahul Choudaha

Seven Education Trends for 2011

he year 2010 was a landmark year for the Indian higher education. It gained significant attention from policymakers, investors, practitioners and media. It was filled with enthusiasm at one level, and anxiety at another. For example, Foreign Universities Bill created interest among universities in India and abroad. However, it also resulted in confusion and disappointment about certain aspects of the Bill. It was also a year of announcements: both at policy and institutional levels. This included the introduction of several bills in the Parliament related to higher education reforms and announcements by corporate leaders including Shiv Nadar and Mukesh Ambani to start worldclass universities in India. The year 2011, is expected to be a year of action. Implementation of some of these announcements, will shape the future of Indian higher education. Given below are the top seven trends to watch out for in 2011.

impact in the immediate term. Universities would still attempt to craft collaborations by working around the stipulations of the bill and engage in low-risk and non-degree partnerships.

2 Global accreditation will become the gold standard Pursuit of global accreditations will gain momentum among private universities seeking worldclass partnerships and status. Global accreditation is a resource intensive process, which indicates institutional commitment for integrating quality in their academic offering and also communicates confidence among potential foreign partners. Some of the early adopters of global accreditation include, SP Jain and MDI, whose management programmes are accredited by AMBA and VIT University with engineering programmes accredited by ABET.

1 Internationalisation will become a dominant theme

3 New-age universities will change the expectations of quality

Internationalisation, as a strategy to build reputation, will gain prominence. This would include foreign student recruitment, international collaborations for student or faculty exchanges, research projects and joint degrees. The recent announcement by Indiana University and OP Jindal Global University is one such example of comprehensive partnerships. International collaborations will not be limited to the US. European universities, led by the UK, will be more open to innovative and intensive forms of collaborations. Foreign Universities Bill is expected to clear in 2011. However, it will have a limited

Though most of the growth in engineering and management programmes was driven by private institutions, it came at the expense of quality. New-age private universities (NIIT, Shiv Nadar and Azim Premji) supported by philanthropy and professional management will create new standards of quality. These universities are expected to be strongly driven by their missions

EDU TECHâ&#x20AC;&#x192; December 2010

VIEWPOINT

Rahul Choudaha

to offer quality education. Likewise, among the public universities, the concept of 14 “innovation universities” proposed by the Indian government will start taking some shape and help in advancing the quality movement.

4 Realisation about the characteristics of higher education More universities will realise that higher education has some very unique characteristics. This includes inherent high experience qualities, which makes it difficult to judge the “worth” of education until purchased. So, students seek other measures to reduce the risk of their decisions and look for measures of prestige like rankings, international collaborations and placement salaries. Also, given the sociopolitical connection of higher education, it will become evident that principles and practices of institution building in higher education are highly contextual. This realisation will influence institutional practices and professionalisation of higher education.

6 Quality gap between universities will widen Many private institutions and their promoters are engaged in pseudo not-for-profit activities, which enable them to siphon off surpluses through financial engineering. Given the lack of an effective regulatory mechanism and resource constraints faced by many public and private institutions, the majority compromise with quality and try to find short-cuts instead of investing in the long-term. In contrast, a handful of private universities with abundant resources will leap ahead in quality and most other institutions will struggle to keep pace with the competition.

7 Policy landscape will become tougher Inadequacies in the regulatory framework have been at the heart of the current challenges of quality in the Indian higher education system. Increasingly, the government is realising that expanding systems without proper quality mechanisms will result in huge wastage of resources.

rohibition of Unfair Practices Bill, to be introduced in 2010, will create new expectations of transparency from institutions

5 Demand of higher education professionals will increase As the competition intensifies and aspirations to build “world-class” institutions grow, there will be a demand for professional talent who can understand the characteristics of higher education and deliver results. Currently, the availability of higher education professionals—administrative and academic—is seriously lacking both in terms of quantity and quality. More institutions, which are aiming for high quality offerings, would adopt and recognise that building world-class institutions requires world-class talent. For example, more institutions would realise that internationalisation is a resource-intensive, concept selling process which requires specialist professional skills, network and credentials to execute successfully.

EDU TECH December 2010

There are several proposals expected in the direction of transparency and stricter norms. For example, among the proposed bills, Prohibition of Unfair Practices Bill, 2010 will create new expectations of transparency from institutions. However, given the highly political angle of higher education reforms, implementation of several proposed policies will lag behind the fast-changing needs of the sector. The year 2011 will be an exciting year not only for some bold ideas, radical reforms and disruptive innovations but more so for enabling their implementation. Higher education institutions which can sense, prepare and act on these future trends will create a long-term competitive advantage for themselves. Subscribe to a daily electronic newsletter from EDU at http://edu-leaders.com/content/newsletters

Rahul Choudaha A higher education specialist based out of New York, Dr Choudaha specialises in strategic management of higher education, institution building, academic leadership, collaborations and market development. He has a PhD in higher education from the University of Denver, MBA from NITIE, Mumbai, and BE from Jabalpur University. He can be reached at rahul.choudaha@eduleaders.com

Dheeraj Sanghi

VIEWPOINT

Attracting Faculty

ere are contradictory, but related, facts for you, the reader—Indian technical education hubs have been growing in the past two decades, despite a faculty scarcity. So, how does an institute ensure quality, or that it recruits “right”?

Types Of Tech Hubs When I say institutions, I mean three types of schools: elites (IITs or IIScs) that offer a decent salary and excellent research support. These attract quality faculty, though I believe they can do better. Then there are government-regulated institutions. These insist that their tuition is “so low” that they cannot think of recruiting quality faculty. A majority (indeed most) of our state and central institutions fall under this category. But, my focus is on the middle group—private technical hubs that enjoy a degree of flexibility as far as tuition, salaries and recruitment processes are concerned. For an institution falling in this group, it’s possible to attract quality faculty in sufficient number—if its leadership has focus. However, in most of them, focus is on admission or placement. (Why? Because, placement boosts admission, which generates revenue.) In between, four years of coursework and faculty get sidelined. I believe that it’s possible for administrative staff to handle admission and placement, along with the question of faculty. Provided they concentrate on certain questions: How does an institute reach out to potential candidates? What should the recruitment process be? What type of package should be provided to those selected? What about short-

term or part-time engagements: as even such candidates can turn out to be “assets”.

ABC of Recruitment When it comes to private schools, there are small and big questions that need to be covered: smaller ones later, let’s tackle the bigger ones first! First consider what is the simplest route to fresh recruitment? Typically, it could be hiring graduates of reputed institutions. In that case, it’s best to start with a list of institutions that have strong graduate programmes. Once that list is ready, go make a presentation, just like companies do their pre-placement talk, in those schools. Or, invite faculty from top institutes (to your school) to present a seminar. If they are satisfied with the quality you offer, then he or she will advertise on your behalf to his students. While hosting a conference, consider inviting graduates from your list of institutions. Make sure that your school’s web page articulates why anyone should consider a career with you. For these strategies to work, points need to be kept in mind. One: plans take time and money. If you depend solely on newspaper advertisements, there is a possibility that you won’t reach the ‘right’ candidates. Graduates belonging to reputed institutions don’t prefer to find jobs through newspapers. Point 2: selection should be quick. A candidate feels wanted when he receives a quick December 2010 EDU TECH

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Dheeraj Sanghi

response. Also, while running a private school your competitors are government institutes— slow to take decisions. This is particularly true while recruiting PhDs. In most schools, PhDs are treated unfairly. It’s common for supervisors to not write a “letter of recommendation” till the thesis has been completed. Once a thesis is submitted, stipends stop. In such a situation, candidates have limited time to get a job. Decide fast— and get the best!

Long-Term Investment Recruiting faculty is a long-term investment. A bad recruit can damage an institution’s environment. Termination of services, while necessary, does send out a negative signal. Because of this: check credentials thoroughly, including a candidate’s aptitude and attitude. Seek a detailed CV. Ask for copies of research publications. Make experts evaluate them. Look for letters of reference. Make the candidate spend a day at your institute. Ask her to present a seminar. Make her check out the infrastructure, meet faculty mem-

such relevant details. “Special rules” must be pointed out! Believe me, honesty is the best policy during recruitment. From the point of view of the potential candidate, three aspects are precious. Academic atmosphere (especially research support); teaching and administrative workload; and compensation package. The third is the easiest thing to handle. As far as faculty recruitment is concerned, private schools compete with national institutes of technologies—thus, we don’t expect a “tight budget” from either. Perks are small ways of making faculty feel welcome and wanted. A small research budget helps a candidate settle in his research faster. And it gives a lecturer the confidence that small expenses toward professional development will be approved.

Short-Term Investment Short-term assignments are of two sorts: visiting faculty, who spend a whole semester as full-time consultants. Or, part-time faculty who visit institutes two days a week to teach specific courses. For most institutes, short-term faculty is hired

t’s best to start with a list of institutions that have strong graduate programmes. Once that is ready, go make a presentation there

bers and see if the school has the “right environment” for her. Such interactions also allow existing faculty and senior administrators to judge their compatibility with the new candidate, while the seminar helps assess teaching skills.

Be Polite, Be Honest Make a candidate feel welcome. Ideally, the director or the principal should meet a candidate for a few minutes to explain the school’s vision. It helps. If a senior faculty member (read: HoD) joins the candidate for lunch, it also helps. If train reservations are not available, or when a candidate travels a distance to get to you, then allow him to take a flight. It tells him that his time, and yours, too, is precious. Be clear about the department’s research profile. Be precise about the facilities that will be provided to him, policies for conferences, consultancy, industry interaction, leave rules and

EDU TECH December 2010

only when there is a shortage of teachers, or when there is a need to reduce costs. Most institutions don’t see it as a “way to improving quality” at the institute. A quality-conscious institute, however, can use short-term assignments to rope in world-class faculty. Or, experts who, after spending years in the industry, long for a “teaching experience”. Not all of these candidates, fortunately, care for corporate salaries. But, they do seek flexible schedules. Also, inviting faculty from rival institutes allows an exchange of ideas. Some alumni, too, love to visit parent institutions to keep in touch with graduates and projects. The bottomline: the question of quality is as cardinal for short-term assignments as it is for the long-term. Strategies mentioned here will not solve the national problem of teacher shortage. But, they will enable institutes with a genuine focus on quality to recruit ahead of others.

Dheeraj Sanghi Dr Sanghi is the director of Laxmi Narayan Mittal Institute of Information Technology, Jaipur. He is currently on leave from IIT Kanpur, where he is a professor of computer science. He has a BTech in computer science from IIT Kanpur and an MS and a PhD from University of Maryland, USA . He can be reached at dheeraj.sanghi@ edu-leaders.com

Rishikesha T. Krishnan

VIEWPOINT

IIMs: Celebrations and Soul Searching

wo of our most prestigious institutions—Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) at Kolkata and Ahmedabad—are celebrating their golden jubilees in 2010. As we salute them, this is an opportune moment to ask: what have they done really well? What could they have done better? What should they be doing next? (An important disclosure: I am an IIM, Ahmedabad, alumnus) Though IIM, Calcutta, and IIM, Ahmedabad, were not the first management institutes to offer MBA programmes, it’s fair to say that their contribution has been to establish the importance of management education in India. In early years, there was skepticism about “management”, both in the government and industry. IIM Ahmedabad tackled this in a novel way—focusing on a three-tier (3TP) executive programme for working managers. The 3TP not only established the utility of trained managerial talent, but also created a cadre of managers, who were capable. In other words—3TP created a “conducive environment” for IIMs’ MBAs to work in. From its early days, IIM Calcutta had a strong contingent of economists, statisticians and mathematicians among its faculty. It quickly established itself for its rigorous quantitative approaches to economic and managerial problems. Its faculty worked closely with the government on projects. This approach naturally became an important feature of their programmes. IIM Calcutta’s positioning was supported by academic col-

laborations it enjoyed with Massachusetts Institute of Technology from its early days. In contrast, IIM Ahmedabad’s association with Harvard Business School led it to become the veritable “Mecca” for general management education. Use of “Socratic Case Method” became a distinctive part of its education experience. Soon, they began writing a number of Indian cases. The professors went beyond disciplinary boundaries to work in cross-functional teams to offer executive courses. IIM Ahmedabad earned the reputation of turning out smart managers, with the confidence to take on problems. Both are known today for their distinctive capabilities that they developed in the first two decades of their existence. What have they done since then?

Could They Have Done It Better? Criticism of these two pioneering IIMs usually centres upon questions related to scale, innovation, “thought leadership” and contributions to the broader “management education ecosystem”. Until the Centre forced their hand through the OBC reservation issue, both IIMs were reluctant to expand the intake to core MBA programmes. It’s only in the past few years that their intakes have increased to around 400, after being stuck in the 180 to 240 range for years. When IIM AhmedDecember 2010 EDU TECH

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Rishikesha T. Krishnan

abad launched its yearlong postgraduate programme for managers with seven to 15 years of experience (PGPX), some five years ago, this was its first new degree-equivalent programme in four decades! IIM Calcutta was marginally better. It launched an IT-intensive version of its postgraduate programme—PGDCM—in the Nineties. Absence of demonstrated thought leadership has been their Achilles Heel. While IIM Ahmedabad can take some satisfaction from the fact that several Indian management “thought-leaders” (say C.K. Prahalad and Vijay Govindarajan) were associated with it, we can’t say the same for IIM Calcutta. An exception: Anil Gupta’s pioneering work on innovation at the grassroots. No one knows the exact number of business schools that have mushroomed across the country. But, there is a consensus: their quality is not very good, once you go beyond the first 20. This raises a legitimate question: couldn’t the IIMs (Calcutta and Ahmedabad in particular), have done more to create appropriate study material and train teachers to raise the quality of the management education ecosystem?

new B-schools with strong resource endowments can establish themselves quite rapidly in the market. Against this backdrop, what should IIMs do? IIM Calcutta has put a foot forward on the research track. In the past two convocations, Chairman Ajit Balakrishnan has devoted his address to the research contributions of faculty and students, thereby underlining the primacy of research to IIM Calcutta’s future. Internal promotion processes are laying emphasis on research output. The B-school has been taking a lead in hosting workshops. IIM Ahmedabad’s focus is not as clear. One of its golden jubilee initiatives was to launch a series of books targeted at a general managerial audience: suggesting that practice orientation will be sustained. Its Director, Samir Barua, recently wrote to all alumni seeking resources for research and case-writing. Perhaps, a distinctive direction will emerge from the ongoing deliberations. Both have distinctive strengths—brand and powerful alumni networks. The challenge is to retain these. And add on critical competencies

bsence of demonstrated thought leadership has been IIMs’ Achilles Heel. Both have strengths — brand and alumni network

In all fairness, the fact that these two have reached the 50-year mark, in reasonably good shape and with reputations intact, is an achievement. The Indian environment tests the best organisations, especially government-founded and funded ones, as they struggle to retain autonomy. Fortunately, IIMs are in a position where they can move forward with confidence.

Future Agenda Demand for management education continues to be strong in India. This demand will persist as long as India continues on the path to economic growth. Indian companies have ambitious plans, i.e., enhancing their talent base through recruitment and training. Foreign universities are knocking on India’s doors. Many will use management education as a key part of entry strategy. Among these, there are some Ivy League names known for their research. Growth of Indian School of Business in just a decade shows that

EDU TECH December 2010

such as thought leadership. Fortunately, India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world. Indian organisations—for-profit or nonprofit—are pioneering new business models and managerial practices. Indian B-scholars have the advantage of being present in this environment and observing these changes firsthand. The biggest challenge will be leadership and governance. A failure of leadership— across government, board, director and faculty—was the reason for the two IIMs failing to meet expectations of stakeholders in the past. Cutting across all these levels has been an aspiration deficit— lack of an ambition and the dream to create a really world-class institution. Hopefully, the soul-searching and celebrations surrounding their golden jubilees will help the IIMs build such an aspiration for the future. Subscribe to a daily electronic newsletter from EDU at http://edu-leaders.com/content/newsletters

Rishikesha T. Krishnan Dr Krishnan is a professor of corporate strategy at IIM Bangalore. He has an MSc in Physics from IIT Kanpur, MS in engineeringeconomic systems from Stanford University, and a PhD from IIM Ahmedabad. He can be reached at rishikesha.krishnan@eduleaders.com

“SOCIAL INCLUSION IS WHAT THE FUTURE IS GOING TO BE ABOUT. MATTHAI AND THAT IS WHAT “RAVI SUGGESTED IIM A’S WE SHOULD WORK BREAKING TIES WITH HARVARD TOWARDS” BECAUSE WE WERE AN

THE MORE YOU BASE YOUR CURRICULUM AROUND PEOPLE AND BROADEN IT, THE MORE INNOVATIVE YOU WOULD BECOME

BY BECOMING OUTWARD FOCUS INNOVATORS, BUSINESS PEOPLE WILL NOT ONLY CREATE PROFITS FOR THEMSELVES, BUT ALSO A PROFIT SOCIETY

ANIL GUPTA PROFESSOR IIM A

“WE NEED TO ADD MORE FROM NONBUSINESS COURSES. FOR INSTANCE, WE SHOULD HAVE A COURSE ON SHAKESPEARE”

IT IS THE “ART”, AND NOT THE “SCIENCE”, THAT MAKE INNOVATIONS POSSIBLE. AND THAT IS WHERE B-SCHOOLS SHOULD FOCUS

INDIA’S INHERENT SENSIBILITY OF SELF-GOVERNANCE LED THE FOUNDERS OF THE IIMS TO STAY ROOTED IN THAT SENSIBILITY AND EVOLVE THEIR OWN STYLE AND METHOD.

DIPAK JAIN, INCOMING DEAN, INSEAD

INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT AND NOT JUST BUSINESS MANAGEMENT”

SOMEDAY, ALL B-SCHOOLS WILL COME TO BE CALLED ‘SCHOOLS OF LEADERSHIP’

THE CAREY BUSINESS SCHOOL’S GLOBAL MBA PROGRAMME IS DRIVEN BY THE MOTTO: “WHERE BUSINESS IS TAUGHT WITH HUMANITY IN MIND”

“BUSINESSES CAN’T SUCCEED IN A FAILED “INNOVATION ISN’T SIMPLY A POTION THAT SOCIETY” YOU POUR INTO A MIX. AN INSTITUTION HAS TO START WITH A PHILOSOPHY, WHICH EMBRACES AND PROMOTES TRUE INNOVATION”

“BUSINESS SCHOOLS HAVE TO THINK BEYOND BUSINESS” DIPAK JAIN, INCOMING DEAN, INSEAD

YASH GUPTA, DEAN, CAREY BUSINESS SCHOOL, JOHNS HOPKINS

THE CONCEPT OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES MAY BE A WESTERN ONE IN THE SENSE THAT THE “SCIENTIFIC METHOD” OR THE “SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT” METHOD WAS EVOLVED BY FEDERICK WINSLOW TAYLOR AS A RESPONSE TO WESTERN SOCIETY’S NEED FOR INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION

COVER STORY

Academics

hen Mrinalini Sarabhai, the chief guest at the golden jubilee celebration of Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad, was invited to speak at the institute that her husband, late Vikram Sarabhai, had helped found, she chose a subject that is of the least concern to most management students today. “When Vikram founded this institute, he envisioned that students of IIM Ahmedabad would look at the poverty in the country. I am not sure if that is happening right now,” she said.

to the development of the society at large, and its graduates will contribute in all areas of economic and social progress.” The concept of management studies may be a western one in the sense that the “scientific method” or the “scientific management” method was evolved by Federick Winslow Taylor as a response to western society’s need for industrial reconstruction. However, India’s inherent sensibility of self-governance led the founders of the IIMs to stay rooted in that sensibility and evolve their own style and method. “If that was not the case then Ravi Matthai would not have suggested breaking IIM Ahmedabad’s ties with Harvard, five years after it was forged. He believed that we are an institute of management and not just business management,” says Anil Gupta, the celebrated professor of innovation at IIM Ahmedabad and the Executive Vice Chairman of the National Innovation Foundation. (Interview on page 29.) She wasn’t too far from the truth. ManTo make his point, he directs our attention agement education is “the ticket” to earn to the school of agricultural management, big bucks for students in India today. Catchfor example, which doesn’t exist at Harvard. ing on to this sentiment, a new manageNeither do concepts of public system manment institute springs up every few months. agement, health management or educational Today, there are around 2,000 management management. “So, the concept of manageinstitutions (a recent Business Standard surment, as it evolved in India and particularly OF MANAGEMENT EXIST IN INDIA TODAY. NOT ALL, vey report states). Only a few of these in the Indian Institutes of Management, was HOWEVER ARE OF THE choose to keep social issues as a part of a much broader one, even when it (manageSAME QUALITY their curriculum. Most involve themselves ment education) began. At the same time, it only with the question of profit and loss— is true that in the past two decades, we have that is what they pass on to their students, moved, some people would say too much, who cannot look beyond. towards corporatisation, which may have had an alienating But, was it always this way? No. affect. That may have led some segments of society to believe In India, the first slew of management-related courses were that their interests were not being looked at as ‘intensely’ as introduced in Sir Dorabji Tata School of Social Work, now they deserved,” admits Anil Gupta. known as TISS, Mumbai, in 1936. However, it wasn’t just the IIMs that were changing. In 2003, In 1949, Xavier’s Labour Relations Institute was established a diploma in social welfare that was being offered at IISWBM in Jamshedpur. The first institute in management is supposwas discontinued because the demand for the course plumedly the Indian Institute of Social Welfare and Business Manmeted. Interestingly, around the same time, a study conducted agement established in 1953 in affiliation with Calcutta Univerin leading international business schools by Aspen Institute sity. Interestingly, all these had social welfare as their goal with found that the focus of business students was shifting towards people as their focus. creating “value” for customers, and towards ethical conduct. Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad was established During the survey, students of Columbia Business School, Yale with the vision that “management, as a stream, will contribute School of Management, The Wharton School at the University of

2,000

INSTITUTIONS

EDUTECH December 2010

“FROM ‘SOCIAL’ RESPONSIBILITY, B-SCHOOLS WILL HAVE TO MOVE TOWARDS ‘INDIVIDUAL’ RESPONSIBILITY

IN THE TOP CATEGORY, 85 PERCENT OF THE FACULTY MEMBERS ARE PHDS; IN THE BOTTOM CATEGORY, THEY FORM JUST 23 PERCENT OF THE FACULTY —THE DIFFERENCE IS DISMAL

THE CONCEPT OF MANAGEMENT, AS IT EVOLVED IN INDIA AND PARTICULARLY IN THE INDIAN INSTITUTES OF (Interview on page 26), Dean of Johns Hopkins Carey Business MANAGEMENT, WAS A School, whose new global MBA course (innovation for humanMUCH BROADER ONE ity) was listed as one of the 10 most innovative programmes of Pennsylvania and London Business School said that “meeting customer needs” was the first priority of a company. In fact, 73.9 percent of respondents put customer satisfaction before creating shareholder value, which around 70.6 percent of respondents admitted to being their priority. A couple of years earlier (2001), a similar study conducted by the Aspen Institute had found that B-school students considered maximising shareholder value (75 percent of respondents) to be the top priority, ahead of meeting consumer needs (which 71.1 percent thought to be a priority). But somewhere around the end of 2001, the September 11 attacks on the Twin Towers happened. Then there were the major scandals: Enron, Tyco and WorldCom. Old beliefs were all shook up. The western world, especially woke up to the idea that simply maximising profits could not be the basis of longterm business. Business schools realised that it was time to move “beyond business”. In this new world order, says Dipak Jain (Interview on page 23), the incoming Dean of INSEAD, “Business schools have to widen their scope and students will have to think, or be forced to think, beyond market economics and making profits.” So, how do the leaders in business education propose to innovate and move beyond business?

Social Inclusion One of the top new movements is developing courses with a focus on society. “It’s just good sense to recognise that your business will be a lot healthier if your customers, and the society they live in, are healthy, too. Businesses can’t succeed in a failed society,” points out Yash Gupta

2010 by Forbes. The Carey Business School’s global MBA programme is driven by the motto: “where business is taught with humanity in mind”. The programme is the school’s “prescription for a world in crisis”. Students start with an orientation programme, which aims at broadening their world view. For the programme, participants have to travel to India, Kenya, Rwanda and Peru, for three weeks to understand the complexities of the modern world. Like Carey, several other business schools have started including the society in their curriculum. Closer home, SP Jain institute of Management and Research recently came up with a project called “Abhyudaya”, which means “welfare and development for all”. In this project, MBA students get to mentor school children under the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). Conceptualised by SP Jain’s Dean Dr M.L. Shrikant, the aim of this pedagogical innovation is to sensitise management students towards the needs of society. And, help the less privileged communities to realise their potential. The project, which is spread over eight to nine years, ultimately hopes to get some of these students to study at the school. According to Dipak Jain, any factor that affects common people and society, should be a part of the curriculum at a business school. He explains this by taking the example of India’s demographic trend and the fact that humans have a better mortality rate now. What does that mean? It means that people would need better health and wealth care and that retirement ages will have to be redefined. How does one look at retirement problems? How does one look at financial security? How does one look for better health management for the elderly? These are not just problems for health schools or health management programmes, these are problems for management schools—because, chief executive December 2010 EDUTECH

DAMAGE CAUSED BY ENVIRONMENTAL IRRESPONSIBILITY IS RISING

IN THE NEXT THREE YEARS, THERE WILL BE SPECIAL PROGRAMMES FOR TRADE UNIONS

BUSINESS INSTITUTIONS WILL MOVE FROM MERELY CATERING TO PEOPLE IN THE ‘BUSINESS OF MAKING MONEY’, TO PEOPLE IN THE ‘BUSINESS OF MANAGING ISSUES AND CONCERNS OF THE SOCIETY’

officers (CEOs) will have to think about new retirement policies. How do you define retirement benefits and contributions? How do you get the work force re-engaged after they retire? A future management professional will have to figure these details out. Anil Gupta says, “There is a great deal that the nation expects from the management institutes. Many young people joining B-schools today are interested in changing the world. Social inclusion is what the future is going to be about. And that is what management education should work towards.” According to Forbes, almost half of all MBA programmes now have a course in corporate social responsibility. However, Jain believes that from “social” responsibility, the B-schools will have to move towards “individual” responsibility. Today, business students concentrate on their personal success and focus on getting a job in consulting or investment banking. Soon, the focus will have to change and personal progress will be defined by an individual’s contribution to society.

Environment Consciousness The other big ticket to staying relevant is the focus on environment. Businesses have had a considerable effect on the planet. B-schools are now realising that they have to sensitise future business leaders to concepts such as “carbon footprint”. MIT Sloan School of Management and Harvard Business School have increased their focus on environment sustainability. “Diseases caused by pollution and expenditure on medications being used to deal with infections caused by pollution have been on the rise. So, the damage caused by environmental irresponsibility is rising,” believes Anil Gupta. He has an idea: institutions, in order to make students environmentally-conscious, should highlight concepts such as water recycling right from the campus. Even 10 percent of rainwater conserved is a step towards a greener future. “Indian educational institutions should become the model for environmental, social and ethical care. I am afraid, if concern does not happen by per-

EDUTECH December 2010

INSTITUTIONS, IN ORDER TO MAKE STUDENTS ENVIRONMENTALLYCONSCIOUS, SHOULD HIGHLIGHT CONCEPTS SUCH AS WATER RECYCLING RIGHT FROM THE CAMPUS

suasion, it should be coerced—by which I mean that the government should make it mandatory. It should be required by every Indian educational institution to provide water and energy balance. Their deal of accountability is due. And, it will happen in the coming years,” emphasises Anil Gupta.

New Stakeholders As soon as business schools start working on increasing their scope—by including “people” and “planet”—several new stakeholders and clients will join the bandwagon believe experts. They also believe that business institutions will move from merely catering to people in the “business of making money”, to people in the “business of managing the issues and concerns of society”. People in public sector management and government will become important stakeholders or clients of B-schools. “When I was the Dean of Kellogg Graduate School of Management, one of our largest clients, in terms of revenue, was the Federal Bureau of Investigation, USA. The bureau used to send people for leadership training to the school. We also had special programmes for the Central Intelligence Agency, USA,” says Dipak Jain. The unorganised sector is another segment that will look for business education, or would be provided that education for free. “I hope that in the next three years, there will be special programmes for trade unions, workers in the informal sector, hawkers and vendors—people who have been neglected for long. If that does not happen, then regulations should be imposed on all public institutions just as was done in the hospitals when resources were provided to poor people. If people don’t do it voluntarily, they will have to do it compulsorily,” says Anil Gupta. Another group that B-schools will focus on, are students specialising in science, technology, engineering and medicine. Dipak Jain points out that in the late 90s the tech boom started with people with a business background setting up companies. The next wave would come from people who are in science, technology, engineering and medicine. They

would not just become scientists but also become the driving force of businesses. “Now they study science and then specialise with an executive MBA. I feel they would and should start learning management along with science,” says Jain. One of the programmes that Jain pushed at Northwestern and other schools was a course where students doing PhD in science engineering and medicine went on a yearlong sabbatical to business schools. Once they completed their PhD, they could straightaway get into business: because they would also have learnt the fundamentals of trade and commerce by then. Jain believes that society will witness many more such programmes in the coming years with schools specialising in science, engineering, technology or medicine, tying up with world-class management institutions—or starting management courses of their own.

From Management To Leadership

“hard techniques” of the “science of business”. There hasn’t been enough attention paid to qualities that form the “art” of business: such as critical thinking, intellectual flexibility, creativity and, most importantly, empathy. According to Gupta, its the “art”, and not the “science”, that make innovations possible. For starters, B-schools should start focusing on broadening their curriculum with a focus on people— rather than the product. Jain suggests compulsorily including a foreign language. If a B-school wishes to become a global learning hub, the study of a foreign language will help students understand the people who speak that language better. “We need to add more from non-business courses. For instance, we should have a course on Shakespeare. Though Shakespeare wrote his plays more than 500 years ago, each of them depicts a part of human behaviour, which can become an important source for human resource management. We should also be teaching history and anthropology: courses that make our understanding of people clearer. Business is all about people. Products are secondary. The more you base your curriculum around people and broaden it, the more innovative you could become,” says Jain.

With the change in scope of the issues they address, and change in the definition of stakeholders, management education will take on a whole new meaning. It will no longer be limited to business management—it will be associated with leadership. “Hopefully someday, all B-schools will come to be called ‘schools of leadership’. Today, Kellogg is called a school of management. Soon, it will be referred to as a school of management and leadership,” emphasises Jain. The new ISB Mohali that Jain is associated SPECIALISING IN But is “real India” interested in innovating? with, has taken steps in this direction. It is MANAGEMENT In the next 10 to 15 years, it is projected introducing courses in public sector, infraEDUCATION WILL BE that the demand for management professtructure and healthcare management. Not REQUIRED IN INDIA sionals in India will grow to 300,000 graduthat these concepts are new for India. India ates. As demand grows, quality will drop— already has reputed schools such as the Instiespecially if institutions carry on teaching the way they are tute of Rural Management, Anand, which Matthai helped his doing right now, believe the experts. There are just a few institucousin, Verghese Kurien, to set up. tions at the top. According to a Business Standard survey, the gap But, such schools are few. And, they are regarded as the “second between those at the top and those at the bottom is dismal. choice” for the so-called “brilliant students”. While 85 percent of the faculty at the top are PhDs, at the botSomewhere, India lost track of the ideals that the country’s tom-rung just 23 percent faculty hold the degree. The studentwelfare leaders had begun with. Their institutions began particifaculty ratio at the top is 6:1. At the bottom it’s 11:1. pating in glorifying the “profit goal” making investment banking Most low-rung institutions struggle to equip their students more coveted and high-profile than rural management. with soft skills such as communication and behaviour. To ask them to “innovate” and “transform” into institutions that proSo how can institutions perform the miracle that the leaders duce “leaders”, is tough! had hoped to achieve? How do you innovate and transform? However, a beginning has to be made somewhere. “Innovation isn’t simply a potion that you pour into a mix. An “A country that had the concept of a ‘citizen charter’, and had institution has to start with a philosophy, which embraces and developed the concept of a system of governance directed promotes true innovation. Then, it has to build programmes to towards people some 2,000 years ago, during Ashoka’s rule, can match and reflect that philosophy. One should start by asking surely dig a bit deeper to get back to its roots,” believes Anil simple questions: what are the main problems of my society? Gupta. Perhaps the leading institutions in India have a role to What do I need to do and what do I need to learn, in order to play. If they get the drift of this new wave right, if they stop find solutions to these? How would Indian researchers develop churning out just managers and start moulding new-age leada role in addressing poverty, hunger, pollution and wealth disers trained in the “art of management”, perhaps Vikram Sarabparity—all the big problems?” advises Yash Gupta. hai’s dream of producing students who think about society first, Gupta believes that the B-schools have focused too long on will finally be fulfilled.

300,000 GRADUATES

Reality Check

How To Innovate And Transform

December 2010 EDUTECH

COURTESY INSEAD

COVER STORY Academics

EDUTECH December 2010

Academics COVER STORY

“TO BE WE MUST FOCUS ON PEOPLE” Business is about people. The more you learn about people, the better you will become, says Dipak Jain, incoming Dean, INSEAD

It’s been more than a century since business education began as a discipline. Where does it stand today? Where do you think it is headed? I believe that management education is going to become more important than what it is today. If you look at the past 100 years, management institutions have been working with (broadly) three visions: i) Knowledge creation or research. ii)Knowledge dissemination, which means teaching programmes. iii) Knowledge Certification, which means awarding MBAs, BBAs or PhD degrees. In the coming decades, there will be a fourth vision—knowledge monetisation. Right now, management education deals more with entrepreneurs, but in the future it will deal with institutions as its demand will grow. In India, we will

witness an emphasis on ‘knowledge dissemination’, with new MBA programmes being set up. Knowledge creation will also become a big deal, especially in the west, because the west wishes to know how to do business in emerging markets. So, new research will emerge. While in India we will be doing more work on knowledge dissemination and creation, in the western world— where these two areas are at an advanced stage—people will be talking about how we can look at converting this knowledge into streams of business opportunities. This means a large part of management education will involve experiential learning—applying things that have been learnt to practice. Just like in medical schools where a student goes into medical residency after receiving his or her degree, then spends three years spe-

cialising, B-schools, too, will focus on ‘business residencies’. Students will have to do ‘real projects’ with companies or involve themselves in actual business opportunities. Today, we have progressed in areas of science and technology—a lot of students, thereby, are attracted to these fields. However, not every student joins the academia after graduation. Some join biotech firms, others work for venture capitalist or private equity companies. Which means that in addition to the knowledge of life sciences, science students will need to have a grasp of business fundamentals.

What will be the major trends in management education as far as you see them? According to me, the first trend will be that students at prestigious universities December 2010 EDUTECH

ONE OF OUR LARGEST A PROGRAMME WE AT CLIENTS IN TERMS OF PUSHED WAS A REVENUE AT KELLOGG NORTHWESTERN COURSE WHERE PURSUING WAS THE FBI. WE STUDENTS PHDS IN SCIENCE ENGINEERING AND HAD SPECIAL MEDICINE WENT ON A SABBATICAL TO LEADERSHIP YEARLONG BUSINESS SCHOOLS TRAINING PROGRAMMES FOR THE CIA MANAGEMENT EDUCATION WILL SOON BE REGARDED AS FUNDAMENTAL AND CORE TO EDUCATION AS THE BASIC PRINCIPLES OF SCIENCE AND MANAGEMENT

UNIVERSITIES LIKE CALTECH AND JOHNS HOPKINS WOULD ALSO REQUIRE MANAGEMENT EDUCATION. SOON THEY WOULD SEND STUDENTS TO STUDY THE BASICS OF BUSINESS

(read: Caltech and Johns Hopkins) will also require an additional degree in management education. Most students will be sent to B-schools to study business basics. Science, technology and medicinal universities will tie-up with world-class management institutions or start their own schools. We will also be seeing new clients, such as officials from the government, join B-schools. The biggest trend will be that business schools will go ‘beyond business’. The focus will change from merely success to ‘significance’. Today, business students concentrate on their own success and on getting a job. However, as time passes, every individual, especially those pursuing business education, will have to involve themselves in ‘social responsibility’. Just like we think of corporate social responsibility today, the next wave of business will see us looking at ‘individual’ social responsibility. Till date, business school curriculum involved questions related to share-holders’ value, upon how to improve a company’s responsibility and increase shareholders’ value and profits. That is what I call ‘Standard Capitalism’. But now, Bill Gates has arrived on the scene with his concept of ‘Created Capitalism’. He has started talking about why we should not only think about our profits, but also about the welfare of others—he is not talking of money, but social recognition. I believe more than social recognition, we should think of social responsibility.

EDUTECH December 2010

As far as I am concerned, the next wave will be about developing an attitude of environment protection and preservation of the planet: Prosperity =Profit + People+Planet. If we don’t worry about our planet, then we make our lives miserable. That brings me to my next point: focus on the environment. And since we will be widening our scope in terms of issues that we address and the clients we bring in, B-schools will soon be called ‘schools of management and leadership’. The importance of management education will continue to grow. It will be regarded as a ‘fundamental’ discipline. It will be treated as ‘core’ and basic as science.

Since your days as the Dean of Kellogg you have been a proponent of business graduates acting as agents of social change. Why do you think that is important? Simple equation: you cannot be happy if the people around you aren’t. Inequality is not a sign of a healthy society. It’s our individual responsibility to change the quality of life, especially of those who have not benefitted from the socalled economic growth. Otherwise, we fail as individuals. Second, as the gap between classes widens, the possibility of social unrest

rises. Our Prime Minister Manmohan Singh used the term inclusive growth. I don’t know to what extent growth may be economically inclusive, but it has to be inclusive as far as social wellbeing is concerned.

How can business education be made socially relevant? B-schools should be making social consciousness a part of the curriculum. The syllabi should not be just about courses in finance. We need to teach students the impact of decisions and projects on our environment. Second, business schools have to promote responsible consumption. We need to focus more on long-term results than just us and our immediate surroundings. New age business curriculum will see new pedagogical innovations. Today, we take a global tour to show how business is done in countries. The next big change will be taking a tour to the Antarctic or the Amazon, to see the impact of our activity on those environments.

B-schools have begun to take stock of their role in present society. A year ago, Harvard launched a debate on how to fix such courses. Do you think B-schools need fixing? I don’t think anything is broken per se, so the term ‘fixing’ is probably not the right one. Things are not worse, but yes, we have to go beyond the normal conventional boundaries of education.

Academics COVER STORY The point about B-schools is that they teach business concepts, but forget to inform students about risk assessment or risk associated with these concepts. Management education needs to be more holistic and balanced. Till now, all the focus has been on knowledge. Knowledge comes from analysis. But, wisdom comes from synthesis, which is basically connecting the dots. There’s a saying that learned people can see the picture that you and I cannot see.

How should business schools structure themselves to keep innovating constantly? The most important thing is to maintain an entrepreneurial culture. You should have the flexibility to perform tasks. If you have a bureaucratic structure, while it may not stop innovation, it will ensure that innovation takes time to happen. Institutions should involve stakeholders (read: alumni, students, faculty, corporate partners and the government) and align them with the school’s vision.

Many US-based B-schools have revamped their curricula, the most recent being Wharton. How often should Indian schools revise and

review their curriculum? Curriculum design should be a continuous process. It’s time for a review or an update whenever there is enough body of knowledge and whenever complexity rises. A school should keep on looking for feedback, and modification should be an ongoing process.

If someone wanted to set up a world-class business school in India today, what would your advice be? Look at the model adopted by the Indian School of Business. We have a living example of how a successful business school can be set up. Look at what it has become in 10 years. If a business school was to be set-up today, its social responsibility has to be greater. For instance, at the upcoming ISB, Mohali, we have made additions such as public sector, infrastructure and healthcare management, to the curriculum. New programmes have come up in the past 10 years: especially in sectors where we believe a social need exists. ISB Mohali has entered into interesting tie-ups with other top business schools—such as the one in public policy with Fletcher School and the one in

urban infrastructure with MIT. ISB also offers a unique course in public health management. For someone mulling to set up a new institution, there are a lot of interesting evolutions that are happening. Keep a lookout!

How can teaching in business schools be made more innovative? When it comes to teaching, I believe that it needs to be prioritised, just as India did with research. Neither can be secondary. Whenever I hire any faculty member, I always tell them that they have to be excellent in one, and good in another. One can be a good teacher, or an excellent researcher, or vice versa. If one is excellent in both, then it’s fabulous! Teaching has to get a very high pedestal. We have to think of innovative pedagogical tools. Experiential learning or lab oratory learning where students get to solve real problems or play real life roles in real-time thanks to simulations are just some of the ways. Classroom lectures are passé. Students today have access to all information, so a download does not help. The case study method is also growing old, because realities are changing and we don’t have enough new cases. Contemporary issues should be treated as ‘cases’. A professor should discuss the two most important news items in the paper. He or she should ask—if this happened in the market today, what does it signify for the country? Business schools ought to mull plans to include foreign languages as a mandatory subjects. If a school plans to go global, language studies is compulsory. It makes a student culturally savvy. And, there is a need for non-business courses—ask me, and I’ll probably say that teach Shakespeare. His plays remains relevant today. The Bard’s characters are an important window into the human behaviour. B-schools should teach history and anthropology—after all business is about people. The more you learn about people, the better you become. Products are secondary. If we wish to broaden the B-school horizon, one has to broaden its course content. December 2010 EDUTECH

COVER STORY Academics

“PAY TO THE PROBLEMS OF YOUR SOCIETY” Yash Gupta, Dean, Carey Business School at Johns Hopkins, talks about why ‘big’ innovations happen when people focus on ‘big’ problems

Forbes listed Carey Business School’s MBA programme—innovation for humanity—as one of the 10 most innovative B-school courses for 2010. According to you, how did Carey make it happen? I believe that one has to start with a ‘philosophy’. One that underpins all programmes. At the Carey Business School, our philosophy is built on the vision that ‘innovation is crucial’, especially to solving the bigger problems of this world. Our world is in a bad shape these days. It is wrestling with problems such as poverty, hunger, pollution and disease. The bigger the problem, the bigger the innovation is needed. These solutions, I believe, will be found in the research labs and classrooms. In the case of the ‘innovation for humanity’ course, we have extended our laboratory and classroom to encompass communities within four nations— India, Kenya, Rwanda and Peru. Our global MBA students will be working in these places for three weeks from January 2011. You see, the best innovations are created by entrepreneurial minds. The best entrepreneurs understand the kind of ambiguity and complexity that’s so prevalent in our increasingly complex and interconnected world. So, by placing our students in settings that are

EDUTECH December 2010

foreign to them, and filled with ambiguity and complexity, we hope they will have the opportunity to ask questions, develop insights and opinions and to test what they know so far—in short, enhance their knowledge. The point is not to be daunted by challenges. But, to treat challenges as opportunities to innovate and succeed.

As the Dean of the University of Southern California’s Marshall Business school you were known to have designed an innovationfocused curriculum. What inspired you? Well, consider what was happening around that time (six or seven years ago). The world had emerged from the dot-com bubble. Yes, the bubble had burst. But, there remained this tremendous engine of internet-driven commerce and

COURTESY CAREY BUSINESS SCHOOL

Academics COVER STORY

December 2010 EDUTECH

INDIAN PROBLEMS ARE SO BIG, AND OUR BUSINESS SCHOOLS HAVEN’T COME CLOSE TO TOUCHING THEM

“NOT ENOUGH ATTENTION HAS BEEN PAID TO QUALITIES FROM THE ‘ART’ OF BUSINESS; SUCH AS CRITICAL THINKING, INTELLECTUAL FLEXIBILITY, CREATIVITY, EMPATHY. THE ‘ART’ AND NOT THE ‘SCIENCE’, IS THE AREA WHERE INNOVATIONS ARE CREATED

communication. It has changed the world radically. While this explosion was happening, it was becoming clearer that America was losing its lead in innovation. At the US-based B-schools, the focus had been—and to some extent, still is—on ‘hard techniques’, derived from the ‘science’. Not enough attention was paid to qualities that comprised the ‘art’ of business, such as critical thinking, intellectual flexibility, creativity, empathy. However, its the ‘art’ and not the ‘science’, which is an area where innovations are created. Take Johns Hopkins for example, there is a great emphasis on innovation in this university. After all, this is the oldest research university in the United States. It has served as a model for modern higher education to several new schools. A key element of our global MBA programme was the ‘discovery to market’ course. It is in lieu of the Hopkins’ tradition of innovation and service to humanity. It’s like a tech-transfer, commercialisation course. However, as far as I am concerned, commercialisation is not the most important aspect of business education. Discovery is. Discovery is that part, which asks a student to understand how scientific research and development work is conducted. Or, how it may lead to an invention that can find a market and benefit humanity at the same time.

What would your advice be to other institutions, especially those in India that wish to integrate innovation into their curriculum? Innovation isn’t a potion that you pour into a mix. An institution has to start with a philosophy that embraces and promotes true innovation, and then build programmes to match and reflect that philosophy. You start by asking questions: what are the problems of my society? What do I need to do or learn to find solutions to these problems? How would Indian researchers develop a role in addressing poverty, hunger, pollution and wealth disparity—which are the main problems?

EDUTECH December 2010

You have openly said that the present curricular model in business education is fundamentally flawed. What made you say so? What do you think needs to be done to correct it? We’ve gone too far in focusing on techniques, disciplines and financial tools, neglecting vital skills such as intellectual flexibility, creativity, empathy and global awareness. Our problems are so big, and our business schools haven’t come close to touching them. It’s because the focus has been too much on teaching financial skills. They’ve worried more about how to make a killing on the Wall Street rather than how to heal the world. I sincerely believe businesses can be a great engine of positive transformation all over the world. That’s the outlook that we have here at Carey Business School.

What further innovations can we expect at Carey? I think you’ll see that the Carey model has had a broad impact, with our core philosophy permeating all sorts of organisations, as more of our students graduate and enter the job market all over the world. At our school, the model will be extended into the new executive MBA programme that we’re launching next spring. And we will be starting a new doctorate programme. Also, we’ll see more participation within our programme by people from other great divisions at Johns Hopkins—professors from humanities, engineering, public health, medicine, nursing, and liberal arts backgrounds. The aim will be to provide each student with a broad knowledge-based skill set.

What do you think is going to be the dominant trend in management education? Well, this goes back to your original question. If the most important thing in real estate is location, then the most important thing in business education has to be innovation. By becoming outwardfocused innovators, business people will not only create profits for themselves, but also a profit society. We’ve lived too long by a business approach that puts shareholder value above all else, and where has that gotten us? It’s time to recognise that business can wed these concepts of making money and serving the needs of other people. It’s just good sense to recognise that your business will be a lot healthier if your customers and the society they live in are healthy, too. Business can’t succeed in a failed society.

SUBHOJIT PAUL

Academics COVER STORY

“WORK FOR

INCLUSION”

Anil Gupta, Executive Vice Chairman, National Innovation Foundation, on why we can’t ignore society December 2010 EDUTECH

COVER STORY Academics What are the challenges in management education today? Management education at the moment has to face several realities. The first is that there is a large part of the country that is uncovered by the current system of administration. I am referring to the 80 or 100 districts that the home minister defines as having a law and order problem—it is also a developmental problem. And the fact that institutes of management and governance are not affected by these problems should cause concern to us. So, one of the major challenges of inclusive development is the challenge of understanding the areas where development or growth impulses have not reached. The second challenge is that even regions that have progressed do not necessarily have a sense of well-being. It is true that Gujarat is developed economically but it still lags behind in basics like school education, health, nutrition and environmental care—the social indicators of development. The third major challenge is how we imbue our students with a sense of ethical responsibility so that when they manage large organisations, they do not keep quiet when they should speak. All the major scams that have taken place in the last 20-30 years involve investment and financial agencies in one way or the other. To assume that the business graduates did not know what was happening when they were ruling those banks, which were crumbling, shows that there were serious issues with their understanding of ethics. So we will have to think of ways in which an ethical fulcrum becomes central to our case discussions. The fourth challenge is the theory that now we have to evolve in a way that includes engagement with society. Today there is no company that does not talk about innovation. So there is a realisation that creativity is inevitable for the competitive

strength that a company should have. In the future, every organisation in our country will have a database of the innovations they make—and many of those will include a social component. Democratisation is at the heart of innovation, but we are becoming more centralised.

Have the business schools really been able to harness the potential at the bottom of the pyramid? In the years to come, they will realise that one of the qualities that an employer would look for would be whether a person can deal with the creative force of the informal sector. So compulsions will force business schools to change track. In three years, you will notice that social inclusion will be an important part of the curriculum, because society will not be able to hold together without that. Skills like behaviour, perception, social relationships, etc. should not be ignored. Therefore, the admission policy needs to be reviewed—if the coaching institutions are successful at getting hoards of people in, that means IIMs are a failure.

How can management institutions innovate and ensure that they do not stagnate? One, they must encourage and seek challenges in real life problems that are difficult to solve, and have defied easy methodological and philosophical solutions. The more difficult the problem we engage with, the more entrepreneurial we become. Rather than doing replications of a formula that works, a person should look for more and more challenges in more difficult areas. We should see that the jobs in this country are provided by small and medium enterprises that can’t afford our fees. We should conceptualise a system where every management institute should have a fund and invest our training as equity in a small enterprise. And if the enterprise becomes bigger, our equity grows. We will be able to prove in the market place that our training is adding value. We build your capacity and we build your equity and do not charge you any fees. We should earn revenues by proving our worth to the client.

WE TALK ABOUT INNOVATIONS, BUT WE ARE NOT DEMOCRATISING OUR COMPANIES, WE ARE BECOMING MORE CENTRALISED THE ETHICAL CHALLENGE: HOW —WE NEED TO REACH DO WE IMBUE AMONG OUR OUT DOWN THE STUDENTS, A SENSE OF ETHICAL SUPPLY CHAIN FOR RESPONSIBILITY, SO THAT WHEN INNOVATIVE IDEAS THEY MANAGE LARGE ORGANISATIONS, THEY DO NOT KEEP QUIET IN CASE OF INJUSTICE

MANY REGIONS HAVE GROWN, BUT THESE AREAS ALSO HAVE SEVERE MALNUTRITION, EDUCATION, HEALTHCARE AND OTHER PROBLEMS. SO, ONE SHOULD NOT ASSUME THAT BY GROWTH, BETTER WELLBEING CAN BE ACHIEVED.

EDUTECH December 2010

Is management education in India thriving and will it continue to grow? Management education in India is growing but it can be much better. We have to address the challenges in society. For instance, business schools should come up with solutions in infrastructure management. The scams that we heard of during the Commonwealth Games and several other scams are avoidable. India has the right to demand that from every major expenditure. Management institutions have a role to play in society. Social inclusion is what the future is going to be all about, and that is what management education should aim for.

Academics COVER STORY

“CONNECT WITH THE

WORLD” Rajeev Shorey, President NIIT University, talks about what to consider when introducing innovations What role does management education play today?

What innovations have you introduced in your institution?

Management education plays an essential role in today’s dynamic business environment. The rapid trend of globalisation and technological changes have made it difficult for organisations to survive in the competitive world. As a result the importance of management education has increased many fold. The recent developments in the world economy have had a major influence on the trends in management education. The focus is now heavily on key areas including Business Ethics, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporate Governance, and Sustainable Development. Some of the new areas that have emerged include: Management of business during recession or slowdown; Management of risks arising out of national and international relations; Entrepreneurship; Micro-Enterprise and Micro-Finance; Micro-Insurance; and Social Entrepreneurship.

This new age NIIT University MBA program aims to equip students with the new age skill sets required to seamlessly navigate through the challenges and contradictions faced by today’s business leaders, and also expose them to the vibrant Asian and African economies that are poised to become pivotal economies of the future. Drawing upon the core principle of industry-linkage, NU MBA Program has introduced the concept of Industry Mentorship, wherein each MBA student will be guided and mentored by an eminent corporate leader.

What according to you are the prerequisites for new concepts in management education to succeed? At present there is a gap between the type of management education imparted in business schools and in real life management. Hence any new concept in management education needs to be

more realistic and useful to the industry. The focus should be on: 1) Moving the institute from academic mode to corporate mode: 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. 2) Serve locally but train globally: There is a need to train the next generation of managers and make them ready to take up global assignments in the burgeoning knowledge economy. It will not be enough to focus on educating Indians for India. Business schools in India need to build globally distributed educational programs and deep partnerships around the world. Industry endorsed programs: India’s corporations must become true partners in building management education programmes by supplying ideas, knowledge, capital, financial investment, and on-site experience for students, enabling them to learn in real-world situations. December 2010 EDUTECH

COVER STORY Academics

COMMUNITY Readers of EDU share their innovations in management education

Peer interaction must for management learning

A lift for technical education

Dr. Saji Gopinath’s article on the innovations in post-graduate education in management highlights the major requirements of a post-graduate programme and shows how learning can be made effective. It also tells how the diversity of audience, multiple learning requirements by various courses and the rich experience of participants make management education different from other post-graduate courses. Dr. Gopinath is the director at T.A. Pai Management Institute, Manipal (TAPMI). TAPMI’s learning pedagogy, Brandscan, imparts an indirect and detailed learning on innovation and ethical practices to students through their funfair market research. According to him, true learning comes only with the application of concepts and tools involuntarily in practical context. And for this, the subjects should affect the VABE – values, assumptions, beliefs and expectations of the learner and also the role that the educator plays and the pedagogical tools he uses to facilitate the same. Substantial learning comes through peer interactions in a management class, he says. (Read the article online at www.eduleaders.com)

Padma Shree Chandra Mohan, Chairman of the governing council of Gian Jyoti School of TQM & Entrepreneurship, explains how a special 10-day Sandwich Programme and Total Quality Management (TQM) proved to be highly lucrative to various industries. Annual Northwest Qualtech Awards were also added help quality culture catch pace. At the PEC University of Technology he introduced programmes to enhance technical education. These included incentives to faculty to take-up industrial consultancy, 6 months compulsory industrial training in the fifth semester, student participation in national and international competitions, re-establishment of alumni contact, new inter-disciplinary schools in partnership with industry and establishment of a centre for consultancy in engineering. Aimed at adding new dimensions to technical education, these measures are expected to go a long way in enhancing the quality of technical and management education in the country. (Read the article online at www.edu-leaders. com)

EDUTECH December 2010

Academics COVER STORY

India not in for the ‘worst of times’ In his article on “Success Mantra for Educational Entrepreneurs”, Dr J K Goyal, Director of Jagan Institute of Management Studies, New Delhi, says that the best of times for India, were when the higher education industry had plenty of room for everyone. On the other hand, today we see the worst of times when our country does not have even 900 universities against a demand for 1,500 to achieve a gross enrolment ratio (GER) of 20 percent. He also talks about the need to develop the quality of education provided by the various institutions and universities in the country as none of them finds its name in the list of world’s top 200 universities. He suggests a private institution to follow a five-point agenda: Have patience: Be a long-term player, state recognition is not sufficient to ensure success, devise innovative advertising strategy, check your intake: act accordingly, and retain competent faculty. (Read the article online at www.edu-leaders.com)

MODERNITY, INNOVATION–

MANAGEMENT EDUCATION’S NEW MANTRA

THE FEATURE ON “INNOVATIONS IN MANAGEMENT EDUCATION” BY SAURABH JAIN, THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF VIDYA KNOWLEDGE PARK, MEERUT, TALKS ABOUT THE NEEDS OF THE INDUSTRY AND HOW MANAGEMENT EDUCATION SHOULD TRAIN PEOPLE SO THAT THEY BECOME REAL “GO-GETTERS” IN THE ERA OF GLOBALIZATION.

HE ALSO SAYS THAT B-SCHOOLS SHOULD ALSO COMBINE TRADITION WITH MODERNITY AND INNOVATION IN AN EFFECTIVE MANNER. THE TRADITIONAL METHODS HERE ARE THE WRITTEN ENTRANCE EXAMS FOLLOWED BY GROUP DISCUSSIONS AND PERSONAL INTERVIEWS. BUT, B-SCHOOLS SHOULD ALSO JUDGE A STUDENT’S TRUE OUTLOOK FOR PURSUING MANAGEMENT EDUCATION THROUGH INNOVATIVE AND PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS.

Pedagogical innovations boost management education In his article - Pedagogical Innovation in Management Education @ NITIE, Dr. T. Prasad, an associate professor at the National Institute of Industrial Engineering, Mumbai, talks about the application of innovative pedagogies to enhance the quality of output and to achieve the goals of educational planning— expansion, inclusion and excellence. But, he says, the problem lies in the rarity of these innovations and secondly, in the absence of their application by educational institutions. About NITIE, he says that the innovative pedagogies that have been incorporated are designed on the Gandhian principles of learning by practice, self-supportive education and complete involvement of learners in the process of learning. The benefits with innovative pedagogies are that they are unique, easy to implement, cost-effective and tremendously impact end results. Other advantages include high involvement with real life challenges, high level and collaborative learning, creation of IP and enrichment of faculty competences. High quality learning outcome for students follows. (Read the article online at www.edu-leaders.com)

AIMIT adds innovation to its curriculum In order to add innovations in the curriculum of the Aloysius Institute of Management and Information Technology (AIMIT), Mangalore, all students, both junior and senior MBA, have a new add-on course in “Creativity and Innovation Management”. The major content of this course is systems’ thinking that is applied to management. Besides covering the laws and archetypes of systems’ thinking, the course introduces the students to systematically identify, define, formulate and resolve four sets of tiered problems: a)simple problems with known formulation and solutions; b)complex problems with known formulation but with unknown and competing solutions; c)unstructured problems with unknown problem formulation but with experimented solutions; and d) “wicked problems” (bribery, terrorism, financial crisis and global poverty) with unknown problem formulations and unknown random resolutions.The rest of the course seeks systematic, creative and innovative solutions to simple, complex, unstructured and wicked problems in various areas of management such as marketing, finance, accounting, human resource and sustainability management. December 2010 EDUTECH

ACADEMICS

Language Studies

Breaking the Tower of Babel: mandatory study of foreign and national languages in curricula BY ROHINI BANERJEE

EDU TECHâ&#x20AC;&#x192; December 2010

Language Studies

ACADEMICS

s language really a ‘soft skill’ ? To understand the global economy, India has to learn to speak and understand what the rest of the world is saying. An EDU report... There is universal consensus that we live in a “flat world”. Business and technical communities are shrinking. Social networks are turning private space into global platforms. Young people are moving across the planet in search of a better life: which they are seeking though better employment opportunities or higher education. In this fluid world of ours, with its never-ceasing migration, what is that singular item (apart from a passport) that youth need to travel? It’s language. An insight into a culture and its people starts from its language. It’s the first step to a complicated process of absorption or assimilation—professional or otherwise. Global buzz designates India as a “major player” in this flat world of ours. More and more of its citizens are travelling to distant lands for business, pleasure or education. The migration is expected to get more intense. So, is the Indian education system doing enough to train this fluid population of the future?

An English Problem CLASSROOM TIPS INNOVATIVE WAYS TO MAKE STUDENTS INTERACT Ask students to introduce themselves without using the word “I” EXERCISE EXAMPLES Make students write brief sentences: that only have six to seven words per sentence. Make pupils define their personalities by using adjectives that begin with the alphabets in their names

When it comes to English, perhaps Indians are better versed in it than a lot of their counterparts in the third world. But are we proficient enough, so much so that we can pat our backs and proceed with our passports? Academics and administrators disagree. So do industry experts. And it is not about a foreign language alone, sometimes students fail to express themselves in their own language. The problem, as some of the academics point out, lies in our perspective—that we treat language as a “soft skill”. It is rather one of the essential items that leaves a deep impression on the curriculum vitae and on life.

Take the Director of JNU’s Centre for Language Studies, G.J.V. Prasad, for instance. He fumes at the suggestion that language is perhaps dispensable. “Why is language called a soft skill? I was recently invited to a technical university by its administrators who asked me to teach ‘soft skills’ to students. I believe that if you don’t know how to communicate, then you know nothing at all. If you can’t express something, then as far as I am concerned, you have not understood anything at all. Language helps people not only to communicate, but to conceptualise ideas. It’s not a question of a soft or hard skill, but that of a necessity.” Fortunately, some schools, especially those dealing with management students, are waking up to the need. Vandana Sharma, professor, ERA School of Business, says, “Knowing how to speak well is a necessity. That It is the first impression that you make.”

Breaking Tower Of Babel Even if academics or administrators don’t see a need to treat language as little more than a soft skill, students have. Says Aadil Rashid Khan, who studied French for a year at Kolkata’s Alliance Francaise, before studying at Euromed Management, Marseille, “I thanked god, for my good sense and for listening to my parents the moment I stepped out of the plane. If I hadn’t spoken the language (French), it would have been impossible for me to make sense of my surroundings. Not that I was excellent in it.” And, where there is demand, there is always supply—clear from the mushrooming small and medium-sized language instiDecember 2010 EDU TECH

ACADEMICS

Language Studies

Language Opens A Lot Of Doors: Overseas And Here N. Kamala of Centre for French and Francophone Studies at the Language, Literature and Culture Studies Centre, Jawaharlal Nehru University What does language offer us? Which is to say, why should a person study a new language? There are two parts to the question: one obvious answer is knowledge. Studying a language offers an insight into a new world, culture and people—into their ethos and sensibilities. Because, at the end of the day, people make an effort to learn because they want to. The second, more pragmatic, aspect could be ‘mobility’—in terms of employment. In today’s flat world, more and more people are travelling overseas for employment, running businesses across countries: for which they need to interact with new cultures and people. In such a case, language is a familiarisation tool. There are students who travel to new shores for higher studies. Language opens a lot of doors.

Professor N. Kamala How does JNU’s french department approach language studies? We use latest methods—using the alter ego and connections to make the subject more familiar. At the university we don’t follow a singular structure. All departments experiment according to students’ interests. We do follow a text, a curriculum and a course. However, essentially the book and its content is there to bring out personal inputs. At the end of the day, unless there is an exchange or a dialogue, language can’t be learnt. We try to incorporate new ideas into our methodology. In order to make things more interesting we use comic strips, graphic novels, films and books: because it draws students out— there must be some point of interest for every student. I think a teacher’s schedule (teaching and curriculum) should be contemporary. One should talk of contemporary issues and topics... clearly, there is a way to make language simpler, without “dumbing” it down. But what we have to remember at the end of the day is that all these are just tools. They don’t work minus the oldfashioned rapport between the student and the teacher. That doesn’t work if there isn’t a positive group dynamic between students.

How important are language labs? Language training is physically and mentally exhausting—both for students and teachers. Language laboratories help both parties to make the process a little more simple. Labs give some amount of autonomy to students, let’s them learn at a pace that they are comfortable with. Language tools help a student to repeat, react and re-do sessions that he or she might have had with the teacher. And, if one can add question-answer sessions through audio, oral and interactive classes then it becomes even better.

EDU TECH December 2010

tutes that have popped up in recent years, offering diplomas and certificates that may be pursued after college, work or school hours. “Language is a barrier between countries interested in implementing business transactions. Our mission is to reduce this barrier by creating enough personnel who may be employed in companies with such a need,” says Laura Benito of Insituto Hispania, a private institute that has several branches across the country. But, those are the smaller fish. The big fish: English and Foreign Language Institute (EFL) in Hyderabad; Jawaharlal Nehru University (Delhi) with its School of Language Literature and Culture Studies; Jamia Millia Islamia’s programmes under its humanities and language department; and Delhi University’s language departments, have been in the game for a longer period of time. EFL, established in 1958, is one of the bigger names when it comes to English studies. Its aim was to bring about a “qualitative change in the standard of English teaching methods in India”. And from the way employers still complain of the poor communication skills of the otherwise “intelligent” Indian, it is apparent that the qualitative change is needed even more today. EFL concentrates not only on teaching, but on translation training programmes and language research. It gave in to popular demand and began courses in two most popular European languages – German and French – and eventually, Russian. The institute not only focuses on language, but on the culture, literature and tradition of a country of the origin. As do Jamia and JNU. Jamia offers 14 foreign language courses. Its impressive coursework offers less heard of languages—Pushtu and Kyrgyz. As Vice Chancellor Najeeb Jung explains not everything is about the business of business. “In today’s world it is imperative that we understand our neighbours. We began the Centre for Third World Studies expressly for this purpose. The world is getting smaller. But that does not mean that differences between people are also

Language Studies

decreasing. We need to know more about each other, especially the youth of all the nations, because they are the future of this world.”

What Is Education? For those who wish to further this argument—here’s a link (http://genomebiology.com/2010/11/10/138). Take a look. It’s a letter titled “A Faustian Bargain – an open letter to George M. Philip, President of the State University of New York At Albany”, written by Gregory A. Petsko, a professor of bio-chemistry and chemistry, Brandeis University. Petsko’s argument is as much in favour of liberal arts, as it is in favour of language studies. Because, study of languages is cen-

I had to know the language. Knowing an additional language helped me speak to my batchmates. I believe it (learning French) was the wisest thing I did.” His French is now coming into use, as he takes up a job with the UN at Rome, Italy, where most of his colleagues speak French.

The New Grammar The present breed of students are high maintenance indeed. The reservoir method (we teach, you listen) doesn’t work out for them. What does? Language laboratories do, says Vandana Sharma, ERA Business School, New Delhi. ERA has two language labs. For now, the technology is used

MODULES HELP STUDENTS PRONOUNCE, SPELL AND STRENGTHEN GRAMMAR. IT’S NOT HOW THEY SPEAK, BUT HOW THEY PERCEIVE THEMSELVES tral to the mission of a liberal arts curriculum. Most of the classics or the so-called “great books” are not in English. Unless you understand Sanskrit, how does one read the Vedas? Another essential question that should be asked is—“what is the purpose of a university (especially one that calls itself a research institution) if not to cultivate the core disciplines of education?” Language happens to be one of those core disciplines of education. As professor N. Kamala of JNU points out, there are two reasons why people should be learning languages—for knowledge and for practical purposes. For Aadil Rashid, it was all about being practical. “Life doesn’t end at the classroom. Since I needed to go out and talk with the local people and members of the business communities

for polishing the students’ English skills. But, soon enough it will be used to teach Mandarin. “We have recognised Mandarin as one of the many languages that will play an important role in the future of our country, and, as a result, play a role in the future of our students as well. India is increasingly entering into trade relations with China and trade borders are becoming more fluid. As a business school, we believe it is our responsibility to help our students speak the future’s language— which is as much Mandarin and other languages of China as it is English,” says Director Rajiv Marwar. For now, coach (yeah, you can call her that because of the way she eggs on her students to venture out of their comfort zone) Vandana Sharma is using the lab to teach English.

ACADEMICS

Modules at the language lab help students to repeat what they are hearing, taking the individual words and focusing on their pronunciation, spelling and grammar. For most students, its has not been only about a change in the way they speak, it has been more about how they perceive themselves. “Previously, I would not speak in English in the presence of strangers. Now I can. All the practise has made me less conscious,” said Anjali Sharma. What the language labs do is to encourage students to practise again and again—till the words are ingrained in the mind. Whether it’s English, Pushtu, German, Catalan or simply Hindi (yes, we need to learn that well as well). Dipak Jain, the noted Indian-American academician, who was named as the Dean of leading international business school, INSEAD, believes that B-schools should make language their business. “They (business schools) ought to think of compulsorily including a foreign language. If you want to be global, you have to take this step. Language learning makes you more culturally savvy. We also need to add more from non-business courses.” But, Jain is not happy with only the study of a foreign language. “B-schools should have a course on Shakespeare, as each of his plays depict a part of human behaviour, which can become an important source for human resource management. Then there should be history and anthropology, that make our understanding of people better. Business is all about people, products are secondary. The more you base your curriculum around people and broaden it the more innovative you would become.” Hear, Hear!

Conclusion If we value the advanced study of languages as central to the mission of a liberal arts curriculum, then we must ensure that programmes have adequate resources, connect well to other elements of liberal learning, and provide students with the essential experiences to develop translingual and transnational competence. December 2010 EDU TECH

TECHNOLOGY

Mobile Applications

welcome MAT Phones and apps could be technology’s answer to peanut butter and jelly— wholesome. Mobile Application Technology (MAT) can make education accessible anytime—and the higher education sector needs to remember that BY URVEE MODWEL

MOBILE MUSINGS AT&T GRANTED ABILENE CHRISTIAN university $ 1.8 million to further their mobile initiative M-LEARNING INCLUDES IPADS, IPOD touch, handheld PCs, and, of course, mobile or cell phones

EDUTECH December 2010

FIRST CAME THE mutinies. Then, the Industrial Revolution. Followed by the “electronic wave” in the Eighties—which continues today. Wireless and mobile technologies are two by-products of that electronic wave: that keep on growing. A cellphone is no longer a “statement”. Now, every Tom, Dick and Harry (and their cousins), have one. It’s no wonder then, that the cell or mobile phone is the weapon of choice for universities to launch aggressive programmes. But, a university cannot win the war alone. They have teamed up with service providers and application (app) providers such as Nokia, Tata Teleservices, Blackberry and Apple.

A thing to remember is that mobile learning (m-learning) is not just e-learning, it is in all senses “mobile”. Keeping the Centre’s target of attaining a GER of 30 percent by 2020 in mind, these apps— available on the net—could be an answer to India’s GER prayer. Take Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) for instance. IGNOU recently made headlines when it announced its plans to start an “English mobile course” using Nokia’s Ovi—the brand under Nokia’s internet services, availed through a mobile, computer or web-based device. Nokia is moving deeper into the world of internet services, and is competing headon with Google, Microsoft and Apple.

Mobile Applications

TECHNOLOGY

THE MOST IMPORTANT THING THAT ONE MUST KEEP IN MIND IS THAT M-LEARNING IS ‘MOBILE’ Many consumers claim that Apple has some of the best apps, also the most varied. However, from a higher education standpoint, Apple hasn’t yet marched in to this field, guns ablaze. When it does, can mobile apps save global higher education? This was a question asked by Abilene Christian University (ACU), a private university in Texas, USA. In 2008, ACU granted 650 freshmen the choice to use either the iPhone or iPod Touch. Currently, some 2,000 students and three-quarters of the faculty have university-issued handsets. ACU put in place a funded-programme to equip faculty to begin experimenting with the handsets in classrooms. The launch included a mobile web portal and custom applications such as class attendance, online course information, mobile content in the form of podcasts and videos, and real-time views of students’ balances in campus accounts. The goal, in effect, was to turn the campus into a laboratory for m-learning research and analysis. December 2010 EDUTECH

BY SANTOSH KUSHWAHA

Global Standards

TECHNOLOGY

Mobile Applications

“M-LEARNING HAS GREAT Can mobile applications help higher education institutions? If yes, then how?

There are multiple ways. Common usages can be—keeping people updated about the entrance or academic results, official circulars, event information or change in classroom programmes. However, key issues are: 1-Mobile technologies that students use the most 2-Kinds of mobile benefits that students like the most compared to other media and technologies 3-Key hurdles that exist in the current application of mobile technologies 4-Scope and possibilities that help application of mobile technologies in higher education

Mobile applications (apps) have taken the world by storm. It began with small-time developers. But, Apple really gave the technology a boost by offering free services and incentives—paving the way for innovation in information and content delivery specific to user groups, including higher education. However, ‘pedagogical’ use of mobile devices is not widespread in OSAMA MANZAR higher education. Despite the ‘digital divide’, —Founder Director, and due to positive trends such as Digital Empowerment Foundation, New With technology floodgates opening up—what decreasing costs and increasing social Delhi, India sets mobile applications and technology apart? currency associated with mobiles, there is a Mobile technology and applications have the lack of encouraging environment in widest reach among students. Which means that campuses that justify ‘pedagogical’ use of education can be imparted to hitherto unreached segments—in mobile technologies. But remember, the ever-widening some traditional societies in could mean the women, or those who research domain in higher education platforms gives a wider are differently-abled, or professionals who can’t quit. The mobile has berth to academic communities to explore mobile tools and almost ubiquitous reach. apps. m-Learning has great pedagogical value in India, especially in rural areas.

How can administrators leverage this to their advantage?

Use of mobile technology is also allowing students to conduct research, receive homework alerts, answer in-class surveys and quizzes, get directions to offices and stay current on their account balances—it even offers the option of checking the cafeteria menu. In May 2010, AT&T, the wireless and telephony giant, awarded ACU with a $1.8 million fund to further its initiative.

Mobile Facts M-learning software does not solely comprise applications designed for learning purposes, but also those designed for geo-location uses, data access and maps—that may be adapted for educational purposes. M-learning hardware includes mobile phones, handheld PCs, tablets, iPad, iPod Touch and netbooks. Prevalence of smartphones on campus can be a big help; especially, if the phones come with a data plan that

EDUTECH December 2010

Are these applications widely accepted as a tool of learning, or will institutions have to struggle to make them mainstream?

allows users to run applications on the phone’s operating system, browse the web, and send and receive e-mails. These bonuses make m-learning an attractive option for course projects that are supported by mobile technology. And we’re not just talking about students. Faculty and administration can benefit even more. This “always-on and anyplace” technology lowers the physical boundaries of a classroom. Not only is mobile technology inexpensive, the infrastructure, i.e., the phone itself, is brought to the campus by students. Teachers can facilitate text-blogging for learning, and can map each others’ location. Now, applications are being built that are campus-specific. Take another international example: Purdue University and CISCO collaborated in 2009 to give the Purdue campus a completely wireless network that gives the university access to numerous Purdue-devel-

oped mobile applications. In addition, students were provided real-time feedback during courses, enabling professors to adjust course content. “Web and mobile apps create a common gateway to data and services that university people need to work together. Our technologies are a complete suite of products, provided for free and tailored to needs. We offer official e-mail ID: a 2GB-inbox (studentname@college.ac.in); chat software: chatrooms and conference chat for students, faculty and alumni; automated social networking sites for institutes with profile pages for students and faculty; unlimited webhosting for a college website. “These services save institutes lakhs every year,” says Shashank Mehrotra, director (strategy and business development), Directi. Another way of adjusting course content could be to simply do it yourself.

Mobile Applications

TECHNOLOGY

PEDAGOGICAL VALUE IN INDIA” Depends: some places have greater mobile penetration than others. It’s easier to make it mainstream in mobile-rich regions. Definitely, it’s going to take some time in making it fully mainstream. It will depend on its usability factor. Mobile as a change agent is definitely exciting. Educational institutions and students are going to lap up these changes—as youth invariably take to changes faster than any other group.

Is mobile learning conducive to India’s learning environment? It is definitely the technology of the future. With the rate mobile phones are spreading, it is conducive to India’s learning environment. It might seem a ‘copy-cat’ trend at present, but it is not. It’s biggest advantage? Provisioning education information services to Indian youth. The mobile phone symbolises the youth, the new generation—with or without higher education tags.

Can you share with us some examples? I can highlight some. 1)BPUTALERT—it provides information through SMSes, for free. It’s India’s first University Mobile Alert Service that began in December 2007. It has a subscriber base of 61,500, and offers academic calendars and notices. Information is accessible only through SMS. 2)Voicetap—allows phone conversations with relevant persons on any topic, anytime, and from any place: via a three-step process. A)

Emantras, a global company that delivers learning solutions, launched a mobile learning platform, Mobl21, in January 2010. Mobl21 is an easy-to-use, cost-effective platform that delivers educational mobility. It’s accessible for teachers and students and scalable enough for institutional adoption. It helps create learning assets that compliment formal courses and extends learning opportunities. With it, one can create content, and then manage that content by making it accessible to the classroom.

User sends an SMS with a query. B) Voicetap sends back an SMS with options of experts with whom an user can connect, and their numbers. C) User calls and listens to profiles, makes a choice and connects with the person. 3)mGurujee—enables one to learn, whenever and wherever. What one needs to do is pick up the phone, download question sets and start taking tests. 4)SMSGYAN—provides web services via SMS, for free. Services include an encyclopedia, a dictionary and book reviews. 5)LIVEBook—facilitates self-paced learning. It was developed to overcome hurdles encountered in conventional methods. It was created for people living in the remotest corners where there is no internet.

What is Digital Empowerment Foundation? Can you tell us about your initiatives? Our focus is at two levels—primarily, qualitative research, how apps can be integrated with others to deliver educational content and services, especially in rural areas—as was experimented with CTO for a micro-level study. Our attention is on promotion and scaling-up of apps. And, practices that promote learners’ needs. Our “mBillionth Award” platform (for South Asia), focuses upon innovative applications in m-learning in India and South Asia, for further replication and deployment on a case-to-case basis.

Not All Fun And Games Like all other fledgling technologies, MAT naturally also comes with a variety of downsides. Foremost— the Indian education system is not as receptive to new technologies as the west is. The “chalk and talk” method has been ingrained into Indian culture for centuries and it will not be easy to convince people that MAT is truly effective. “The biggest challenge lies in the mindset. Adoption is taking longer than expected as most principals and directors are apprehensive about adopting new technology and find it hard to believe that

APPLICATION PROVIDERS MAY NOT WANT TO INVEST TOO MUCH TIME, EFFORT OR MONEY UNLESS THIS REALLY KICKS OFF

something free will not have any hidden agenda or some sort of catch,” says Mehrotra. If you add to that the fact that not every Indian college-going student will be able to afford a smartphone, the receptiveness to MAT decreases significantly. Another issue could be that since MAT is new, there may be a shortage of absolutely topic-specific applications. Understandably, unless this technology really kicks off, application providers may not want to invest too much time, effort, or money in it. Also, as with anything new, the standards of the existing technologies may be low, since it is, as yet, impossible to gauge the receptivity of the technology on a wide-scale. Lastly, a cultural problem being that most students—and some administrators too—find it highly difficult to resist the urge to talk on the phone, frequent interruptions during study periods are bound to occur. December 2010 EDUTECH

STRATEGY

Industry-Institute Linkages

Linking

Industry &Institutes BEN THURIAUX-ALEMĂ N, RICK EAGAR AND PHIL WEBSTER

Research and technology institutes have long been key players in national innovation infrastructures, bridging the gap between industry and academia. However, in a world characterised by tighter control of government spending, greater government intervention and changing stakeholder expectations, they will be even more important. We examine how industry can ensure that it gets the best out of collaboration with these institutes, and how the institutes themselves can adapt to their changing role 42

EDUTECHâ&#x20AC;&#x192; December 2010

BY PHOTOS.COM

STRATEGY

Industry-Institute Linkages

esearch and technology institutes (RTIs) provide services to government and industry in research, development, technology and innovation. In developed countries RTIs have a long history, with many founded decades ago as government-funded national research laboratories.

Today they have evolved into a number of different forms with varying emphasis on research, technical services and technology development and exploitation. There are many thousands of RTIs, both big and small. Well-known examples include the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US, Fraunhofer in Germany, TNO in the Netherlands and the National Physical Laboratory in the UK. RTIs have been essential players in many countries’ national innovation infrastructure, bridging the gap between industry and academia. However, as we face the “new normal”—a world characterised by tighter control of government spending,

TABLE 1- Change in global domestic expenditure on R&D

by top-15 countries, 2007-2009

50 CHINA

TOTAL TOP 15

SOURCES: OECD, IMF, R&D MAGAZINE

EDUTECH December 2010

TOTAL WIHOUT BRIC

AUSTRALIA

SPAIN

TIWAN

ITALY

BRAZIL

INDIA CANADA

RUSSIA UK

FRANCE

GERMANY

JAPAN

SOUTH KOREA

greater government intervention and changing stakeholder expectations—the role of RTIs will become more important, both for industry and government. This is because: • Open or collaborative innovation is now accepted as a key approach enabling companies to innovate effectively and efficiently. RTIs have specialist expertise, especially in applied research, that makes them preferred partners for industry in sourcing novel ideas. • RTIs have specialist knowledge in domains such as food, health, climate change, energy, infrastructure and socio-economics. This knowledge will be increasingly valuable to companies needing to address burgeoning sustainability and corporate responsibility challenges and opportunities. However, if you ask chief technology officers in industry about their experiences of partnering with RTIs, the picture is not always rosy. While RTIs are increasingly exposed to market forces, many still have poor customer focus and are driven by cultures that emphasise scientific interest rather than corporate profit. This creates a degree of mutual suspicion and disconnect between industry and RTIs, often exacerbated by intellectual property (IP) concerns, which make relationships notoriously hard to manage. In this article we will review the current status of RTIs and examine both what industry can do to ensure that it gets the best out of collaboration with RTIs and what RTIs can do to adapt to their changing role.

The Current Status Of RTIs Despite the recession, there has been continued investment in R&D at a global level (see Table 1),

Industry-Institute Linkages

but this does not mean that life is easier for RTIs. They are increasingly being held accountable. Most governments are putting increasing pressure on RTIs to demonstrate more clearly the value for money they are providing to the taxpayer, and to increase the proportion of their revenue that they generate from industry. At the same time, industry is under pressure to prioritise its R&D expenditure both internally and externally, which has resulted in increased competitive pressure on RTIs. There is a wide variation in the proportion of government core funding between institutes. Although the proportion for most RTIs in the developed countries is now less than 50 percent, most continue to rely heavily on it (see Table 2). This funding mix is at the root of problems that many RTIs have in clearly defining their role, because meeting the needs of government will not necessarily attract industrial customers. In the “new normal”, resource-constrained customers are increasingly expecting world-class science for their investment. Funding data from leading RTIs such as TNO, FhG, and GTS demonstrate that their customers increasingly procure this science internationally, selecting the best providers from the global marketplace. This means that RTIs face increasing competition from research providers overseas. Leading businesses recognise the value of accessing universities and RTIs to generate ideas which are high-risk in terms of likelihood of success but have high potential, or are in areas that are related but non-core to their business activities. Industry expects ideas of relevance to be transferred effectively, and is increasingly willing to openly share its IP with multiple partners to help them develop the best ideas. Leading RTIs recognise the importance of technology transfer and industry-led joint research projects. They recognise spin-outs and licences as measures of success. However, these relationships rarely evolve further into stable, long-term, open knowledge-sharing arrangements. Often there are significant barriers to be overcome, such as reluctance to share IP and differing priorities between business (profitability) and RTIs (research excellence and publication in worldclass journals). Effective collaboration and partnership will be increasingly important for success in a more competitive “new normal.”

Get The Best Based on Arthur D. Little’s experience of working with more than 60 RTIs and corporate research organisations around the world in the last decade,

STRATEGY

TABLE 2- Income sources for selected top RTIs 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0%

GTS

SINTEF

State

IRECO

FHG

Industry

TNO

RIKEN

AIST

International

ITRI

RTI

SRI

Other

LEGEND: GTS: Grimsel Test Site (Switzerland) SINTEF: Foundation for Scientific and Industrial Research (Norway); IRECO: Institute For Research And Competence (Sweden) now part of RISE (Research Institutes of Sweden) FHG: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft (Germany) RIKEN: Rikagaku Kenkyusho (Japan) AIST: National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (Japan); ITRI: Industrial Technology Research Institute (Taiwan) RTI: Research Triangle Institute (US) SRI: Stanford Research Institute (US). Figures are for 2007 except for RTI (2009) and SRI (2008).

SOURCE: ARTHUR D. LITTLE, TECHNOPOLIS ANALYSIS

we highlight three key ways in which industry and RTIs can get the best out of collaboration.

1. Increase engagement between industry and RTIs in strategy and planning processes RTIs often struggle to clarify their role and strategy. The mission and rationale for the institute drifts over time, or a series of small incremental changes are made which fail to respond adequately to fundamentally changing needs. The lack of clear strategy makes it difficult to prioritise the RTI’s activity. Without a strong market focus, and without performance and incentive systems aligned to a clear strategy, RTIs find it easier to operate like universities. The research interests of the staff begin to dominate the organisation, and it gradually becomes a set of independent research units operating as loosely associated technological fiefdoms, rather than as an organisation with an overriding business mission to serve industry or national stakeholders. In our experience, the most successful RTIs anchor their strategies around customer understanding of and stakeholder involvement in the strategic planning process. This is a significant challenge for many organisations that may pride themselves on “having the answers” in-house. Developing customer focus in particular requires

50%

and less is now the proportion for most RTIs in the developed countries

December 2010 EDUTECH

STRATEGY

Industry-Institute Linkages

a fundamental change in the mindset and motivations of many scientists. The strategy process must force the organisation to abandon some activities and to increase the internal competition for resources in order to develop areas of strength where the institute can be nationally or internationally competitive. Deciding which R&D activities to abandon is a highly charged, emotive and controversial process. We have found that there needs to be a real break with the way things have been done in the past, especially in terms of prioritisation processes. Whilst a lot of RTIs typically want to “fix it themselves”, we find that facilitating these difficult decisions is best mediated by two sets of external parties. First, by international R&D experts who command scientific respect and have experience of working internationally. Second, by technical industry customers, who provide non-partisan, external opinions on key needs and priorities which are invaluable in defusing conflicts within the RTI and support rational decision making. Workshop-based approaches may be used to engage industry customers in strategy development. A competence based strategy with the classical fit-attractiveness methodology lends itself to this type of approach, with industry and government stakeholders providing the key inputs on opportunities and challenges that shape the attractiveness dimension (see Table 3). The outcome of such a process is a prioritised set of research “themes” that the RTI should pur-

“IP Scouts” Identify ideas of commercial relevance, a model used successfully by publicly funded entities such as the London Technology Network

sue, based on a rational and objective assessment of what is most important to its customers and where the RTI can have the greatest impact. These can then be further translated into detailed objective-driven research programmes.

2. Develop a networked, collaborative model of innovation focused on knowledge transfer Industry and RTIs need to move from a linear “closed” technology transfer relationship to an “open” innovation ecosystem approach to succeed in the global marketplace (see Table 4). Achieving this shift requires industry to evolve the business models underpinning technology transfer and research partnerships towards a system that encourages long-term relationships and the transfer of knowledge and skills rather than intellectual property rights (IPRs). A more open approach to sharing common goals is needed— while not compromising the value of market exclusivity of IPRs. Four principles are the key to success for industry: a. Transfer knowledge rather than technology Businesses often find it difficult to translate IP licensed from an RTI into a workable idea. More successful technology transfer (as, for example, at Rolls-Royce and GlaxoSmithKline) involves a transfer of skills and knowledge as well as technology. Examples include the secondment of staff to industry to raise awareness of industry needs within the institute. Conversely, industry may partially fund junior researchers who act as “IP scouts” to identify ideas of commercial relevance,

TABLE 3 - Prioritisation of research themes for joint industry-RTI projects WHAT ARE KEY INDUSTRIAL CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES, NOW AND IN FUTURE?

DEVELOP JOINT INDUSTRY- RTI PROJECTS

CAN THE INSTITUTE CONTRIBUTE TO SOLVING THESE CHALLENGES, NOW AND IN FUTURE?

Technology Maturity MATURE

EMBRYONIC

HIGH

4 MEDIUM

MOD

LOW

Potential to develop future capability

GROWTH

LOW

3 HIGH 5

Define scope and boundaries of challenges Identify and prioritise challenges and opportunities, now and in the future

REVIEW ATTRACTIVENESS & FIT DEVELOP PORTFOLIO OF R&D PROGRAMS & PROJECTS APPLY 3RD GENERATION R&D PORTFOLIO PLANNING

Technology competitive position

Value for Industry

AGEING

DIFFICULT MODERATE HIGH

EASY

VERY EASY

1 HIGH

MEDIUM

MOD

LOW

Identify kinds of science, technology and innovation needed Assess the institute’s ability to address them, now and in the future

SOURCE: “3RD GENERATION R&D MANAGEMENT”, AN ARTHUR D. LITTLE PUBLICATION, ARTHUR D. LITTLE ANALYSIS

EDUTECH December 2010

Industry-Institute Linkages

STRATEGY

TABLE 4- Model of innovation based on knowledge transfer CLOSED INNOVATION IDENTIFYING MARKET TRENDS

RESEARCH

DEVELOPMENT NEW PRODUCT

SCIENCE &

TECHNOLOGY BASE

MARKET

OPEN INNOVATION

OPEN MARKET

IDENTIFYING MARKET TRENDS RTI-INDUSTRY SHARED MARKET PERSPECTIVES SCIENCE &

TECHNOLOGY BASE

NEW MARKET

LICE NSIN G

TECHNOLOGY SPIN-OFF NSOURCING OLOGY I TECHN

NEW PRODUCT

CURRENT MARKET

MARKET

RTI TECHNOLOGY BASE

SOURCE: ADAPTED FROM CHESBROUGH 2003, 2006 BY ARTHUR D. LITTLE

a model used successfully by publicly funded entities such as the London Technology Network. b. Become more targeted and outward-facing Industry partners can benefit from sharing their long-term technology needs with RTIs and thus helping the latter better target their activities. Often, RTIs waste resources and effort in raising awareness of topics that are not relevant to their customers. Leading businesses such as Procter & Gamble share their existing areas of interest with potential RTI collaborators and jointly maintain lists of technology needs. c. Establish IP management arrangements that encourage rather than deter collaboration Traditional mechanisms of technology transfer involve licensing or transferring IP in exchange for a royalty payment. In making this transfer, RTIs often over-value basic IP with no commercial relevance, whilst industry imposes tough corporate-level requirements for the defensibility and ownership of IP. Industry can seek alternatives to traditional licensing that are better suited to co-operation arrangements. Mechanisms include: • Seeking new ways to reimburse RTIs for their IP emanating from research by, for example, setting up business-funded facilities on site or exploring alternative licensing models, such as the General Public License open source software model.

• Setting out a standard corporate or RTI-wide IP policy in terms of what is acceptable and what is not with regard to, for example, IP ownership, disclosure, record-keeping and royalties. • Recognising that some types of IP are further from commercialisation than others. Differentiating between IP from different sectors is also valuable, as they have different times to market. For example, IP in the life sciences may require extensive clinical trials, whereas software can be commercialised relatively quickly. d. Work towards the creation of “competence networks” internationally Businesses procuring on a global basis seek out worldclass research in the specific domains that

The most successful research organisations anchor their strategies around customer understanding and stakeholder involvement in the strategic planning process

December 2010 EDUTECH

STRATEGY

Industry-Institute Linkages

interest them. Therefore RTIs need to focus on topics that are of greatest importance to their customers. Once these themes and competencies are identified, RTIs should, on the basis of shared scientific goals, form networks internationally to ensure their services are world-class and increase exposure to their customers through referral. One example of this is the Hewlett-Packard Consortium for Advanced Scientific and Technical Computing, which brings together users and academia internationally.

3. RTIs need to align their strategy with their organisation, processes and resources for better customer focus Getting the strategy right through engagement with customers is one thing; delivering the strategy in practice is quite another. RTIs need to become truly customer-focused, whilst at the same time safeguarding and strengthening their ability to maintain state-of the-art scientific excellence. This can be a tough balancing act and is not achieved just by training researchers in customer focus.

Playing around at the edges but leaving the core organisation, processes and culture unaltered will ultimately fail. If an RTI is looking to improve its customer focus, it needs to structure its research organisation accordingly—which generally means being application-based (i.e. split into units reflecting application areas or customer segments) rather than discipline-based (i.e. split into units reflecting scientific disciplines). Making this change provides a powerful mechanism for creating true customer focus, by enabling the best combination of specialists to be brought together to address an application-based challenge and by providing a means of breaking down the traditional silos between different research disciplines. In such a model, there is often a horizontal discipline line to ensure that scientific excellence is nevertheless proactively maintained (see Table 5). This model works well for small to mediumsized single location RTIs. Larger organisations such as Fraunhofer in Germany and VTT in Finland are based on a similar principle: they have an

TABLE 5- The pros and cons of alternative structures CUSTOMER-BASED, DISCIPLINES VIA MATRIX

CUSTOMER-BASED, DISCIPLINES WITHIN SBUS

DISCIPLINE-BASED

LEADERSHIP

INDUSTY DIR

CHIEF SCIENTIST(S)

DELIVERY

R&T Biotechnol- Material ogy Science

INDUSTY DIR

Food Industry

Project Mgt 1 Etc

Discipline

Alt. Energy Discipline

Etc.

Food Industry

Discipline Discipline

Alt. Energy

Etc.

Discipline Discipline Discipline

PROS

Aligns with commonest of the university structures n Scientists and researchers are one step removed from the customer, which is not aligned with a customer focus

Strengthens and simplifies management and development of customerdriven services n Relatively uncomplicated to run (i.e. no dual responsibilities)

Strengthens customer focus Enables scientific disciplines and platform technologies to be maintained and developed n Can help to promote cross-team working n

CONS CONS

CONS

n Can lead to conflicts between custom-

er priorities and scientific priorities n Can lead to disconnect and conflict between the delivery and scientific functions SOURCE: ARTHUR D. LITTLE

EDUTECH December 2010

Scientific disciplines broken up Difficult to maintain and develop scientific disciplines n Can lead to “stove-pipe” mentalities within units – poor cross-functional working

More complex situation in which RTI has to manage dual reporting lines n Needs careful handling of career paths and incentive systems

STRATEGY

Industry-Institute Linkages

autonomous and decentralised branch structure which allows easier interaction with industrial customers, and they typically maintain the strength of their discipline-based competence through close interaction with universities. Although most organisations led by scientists will focus on management and execution processes, we often find that in organisations where so much of the value is in the skill of its staff, critical HR processes such as recruitment, appraisal and career development need to be aligned with strategy. Because you “get what you measure”, aligning the incentive system (remuneration and promotion to management roles) is the only way to reinforce the effectiveness of the organisation. Often researchers are incentivised primarily on the basis of scientific performance—using metrics such as publications and citations, which can be detrimental to the objective of developing customer accounts and achieving customer satisfaction. RTIs need to ensure that incentives such as customer satisfaction, quality and project delivery effectiveness are included in addition to scientific excellence—both at the corporate and individual levels—using balanced scorecard approaches. These changes in incentives and targets must be embedded in new coaching, appraisal and promotion processes as well as being reflected in the organisational hierarchy. Otherwise, they remain paper-based procedures which are often ignored by staff with long traditions of focusing on academic-style research.

Insights for the Executive In the “new normal”, RTIs will become increasingly important both to business and to government. While collaboration between businesses and the research community has improved, there are still major barriers associated with IP sharing, differing priorities and conflicting roles. RTIs face major challenges in responding better to customers, dealing with global competition and demonstrating value for money, whilst still maintaining scientific excellence. There are three key imperatives for improving RTI-business collaboration: 1. Industry and RTIs should increase their mutual engagement in strategy and planning processes. The most successful research organisations anchor their strategies around customer understanding and stakeholder involvement in the strategic planning process. This requires the RTI to abandon some activities and to focus and

EDUTECH December 2010

Industry needs to evolve business models underpinning technology transfer and research partnerships towards a system that encourages long-term relationships, and the transfer of knowledge and skills, rather than intellectual property develop areas of strength where it can be nationally or internationally competitive. 2. Industry should adopt a networked, collaborative model of innovation focused on knowledge transfer. Industry and RTIs must transfer knowledge and skills rather than technologies. They should become more open about their research intentions to achieve better focus. They should establish IP management arrangements which encourage collaboration. They should collaborate internationally on the basis of shared scientific goals. 3. RTIs need to instil greater customer focus into their organisation, processes and resources. Improving customer focus requires the right processes supported by a suitable organisation – based on customer segments, rather than focussing exclusively on scientific disciplines. RTIs need to ensure that incentives such as customer satisfaction, quality and project delivery effectiveness are given the necessary prominence alongside scientific excellence. Ben Thuriaux-Alemán is a Principal in Arthur D. Little’s London office and a member of the Global Energy Practice and the Technology & Innovation Management Practice. He focuses on the alignment of strategy R&D and operations and has worked with Research Institutes and R&D departments in different fields. Email: thuriaux.ben@adlittle.com Rick Eagaris a Director of Arthur D. Little and leader of the UK Technology & Innovation Management and Public Sector Practices. He has broad experience covering strategy, innovation management, R&D management and public policy in a range of sectors including clean technology, energy, nuclear, life sciences and consumer goods. Email: eagar.richard@adlittle.com Phil Webster is a Consultant in Arthur D. Little’s Technology & InnovationManagement Practice. His work focuses on technology strategy, research and intellectual property management and science policy in the sustainability and life sciences sector. Email: webster.philip.@adlittle.com We gratefully acknowledge the insights and suggestions provided by Bonjoon Ku (Korea), Robin Hunter (USA) and CharlesBoulton (UK). Reprinted with permission from Prism, an Arthur D. Little publication

EXPERTISE EDUCATION CONSULTING

Why We Need An Aid Aggregator

ith competition to bag that perfect job, and the substantial pay that comes with it on a rise, Indian higher education is witnessing a boom. This demand has resulted in the growth of the Indian private education sector.

This growth, coupled with inadequate public funding (only 1.9 percent of India’s GDP—lowest among nations with a GDP greater than $500 billion—goes to higher education), has resulted in cost of education skyrocketing. A student is now one of the most important sources for revenue for a higher education institution. In some cases, where institutions strive to provide high-quality facilities, this demand (for fee) is justified. But, in several more, it is not. Due to substantial central and state governments’ support, students have been able to pursue higher education in public universities at a nominal fee. However, the same cannot be said of the private or autonomous institutions, where the cost is higher. Engineering courses, for example, in private institutions cost around seven times more, when compared to a state-owned university. In the cases of specialised courses (fashion designing), the top colleges charge a tuition fee of INR20,000 to INR57,500 per semester. Add to it other expenses such as lodging, examination and infrastructure fee, and the amount doubles. While some are able to absorb this cost without getting into debt, a majority are left with little option other than to turn to lending institutions. In India, the number of options for financing of higher education from external sources is limited. The most prominent of them is educational loans. The concept

BY BHARAT PARMAR & ABHINAV I

asktheexpert@edu-leaders.com

Bharat Parmar(top) is a founding partner at Eduvisors, a leading research and consulting firm focused on the education sector. Eduvisors advises clients in implementing varsity projects and assisting foreign universities and education businesses enter India. Abhinav I is a part of Eduvisors

of scholarships (company sponsored or individual donations), or college aid (aid to research and teaching assistants) is not wide spread—as a result its impact is minimal. Top institutes such as Indian Institutes of Management, Indian Institutes of Technology though, have been pro-active in this regard. They help a financiallyweak student by offering income-based fee waivers and need-based scholarships. Such initiatives, however, are few.

Centre’s Push To ensure that prospective students are in a position to pay fee, the Centre has tried to persuade public sector banks to offer loans. Because of the comparatively higher risk, private banks have been more circumspect about the same. The government, on its part, has proposed a National Education Finance Corporation. The corporation aims to provide education loans at lower interest rates and longer repayment period. December 2010 EDUTECH

EXPERTISE

Bharat Parmar & Abhinav I

However, only 9 percent of students, with a majority of them belonging to the middle-income families, seek loans. Aspirants from low-income families still find it difficult to access credit, because of their inability to provide adequate collateral security. Despite the fact that education loans have made it simpler for aspirants to gain access to higher education, students carry the burden of debt soon after they graduate. At a macro-level, with higher education available to one and all, the lack of surety of matching pay cheque, results in the debt getting multiplied. The alternative—and a better one—is scholarships. Many leading organisations such as BPCL, Infosys, L&T, OP and Jindal Group (to name a few) have been running scholarships in specific areas. These are based on a student’s merit and past performance. While some are open to students from a range of colleges, most are run in partnerships with specific ones. As of now, education loans remains a student’s first option after self-financing.

Why And How? One of the main reasons for such a situation is the lack of initiatives taken by stakeholders (government, regulatory bodies, education institutions and corporates) to promote scholarships. Higher education institutes should play a prominent role in taking up this responsibility and finance students and, in the process, build an ecosystem where scholarships are the preferred means of financing. More than just a service, this will help institutions differentiate themselves from the rest of the pack—in terms of positioning itself as a studentfriendly institute. The scholarship may be raised from foundations, organisations, and high net worth individuals, who find it difficult to channelise their contributions because of lack of any intermediary. Marketed and executed properly, advantages of such an initiative could be multiple. It could help institutes establish early relationships with high school students and help them remain competitive by attracting quality students. Also, with corporate organisations participating, the private sector aid coming to the campuses would increase. However, focusing on administration of scholarships would mean misutilisation of the insti-

EDUTECH December 2010

STRAIGHT FACTS: Scholarship America collates and disburses scholarships to needy and deserving students and saves institutions the hassle of managing the logistics

tutes’ bandwidth and also a stark deviation from their focus area. A scholarship aggregator—similar to Scholarship America, which is the US’s largest independent not-for-profit scholarship and educational-support organisation—which collates and disburses scholarships to those needy and deserving, is what we require in India. In a situation, in which we have an aggregator and the option to outsource the administration of the scholarship programmes, institutions can reap benefits without facing the hassles that come with such a programme.

Inside Scholarship America Founded in 1958, Scholarship America is the largest non-profit, private sector scholarship and educational support organisation in the country. Supported by communities, companies and non-profit foundations, the organisation has disbursed more than $2.4 billion to about 1.7 million students since its founding. The structural strength of the financing mechanism for higher education in USA has been able to ensure access to easy financing of higher education. However, nearly 50 percent of the college graduates have student loans, with an average student loan debt of $10,000. With the average cost of college increasing at double the rate of inflation, education in public schools costs an average of $13,000 per year, and $28,000 in private schools. Lack of financial resources is also the leading reason why students drop out of college. Over 30 percent of students leave after their first year. Almost 50 percent never graduate. In total, about $700 billion is currently

Bharat Parmar & Abhinav I

owed by the US population in student loans. Through initiatives like “Dollars for Scholars” and “Scholarship Management Services”, Scholarship America has been reducing the burden of student loan debt. While the former initiative is a community-driven programme, the latter involves mobilising capital from the corporate world to those students who need support.

Programme Details Dollars for Scholars: The initiative is a community driven programme, with more than 1,200 locally based, volunteer-driven chapters, covering 4,000 communities across USA. Scholarships are raised from families, foundations and organisations; which are then distributed to the local students via a “Collegiate Partners Programme”. Collegiate Partners are post secondary institutions that support Scholarship America and the “Dollars for Scholars” programmes. The scholarships are used to meet any need that a student faces. Secondary usage includes using the money to reduce self-help portion of the financial aid package. Scholarship Management Services (SMS): The initiative involves the administration of education

1.9% Of India’s GDP is dedicated to higher education in India, one of the lowest percentages among most developing nations

EXPERTISE

assistance programmes, in form of loans, scholarships and tuition assistance; on behalf of individuals, foundations and corporations. Currently, the SMS administers more than 1,100 scholarship and educational assistance programmes, distributing over $1 billion to more than 1 million students.

Conclusion Scholarship America, thus, acts as a nodal point, that brings together institutes, aspirants and donors. Institutes are able to attract quality students, while aspirants are given access to debtfree financing options. Donors are given a platform to do their bit for the community. The education sector in India is currently seeing a boom; the demand for higher education is going up. More and more institutes are being established. The time is right to build a conducive environment for students where they do not have to take up the burden of debt, or give up on education, because of the lack of access to financing sources. Subscribe to a daily electronic newsletter from EDU at http://edu-leaders.com/content/newsletters

PROFILE

Najeeb Jung

FACT FILE NAME: Najeeb Jung CURRENT ENGAGEMENT: Vice Chancellor, Jamia Millia Islamia FAVOURITE FILM: Mughal-E-Azam FAVOURITE BOOK: I am usually reading three to four books at the same time. Right now it's Ghalib. One of the professors of Urdu is helping me out with my reading

PASTIME: Loves to exercise now that he's nearly touching the big '60'. Nowadays, yoga takes up most of his time, apart from reading

A Vice Chancellor, A Gentleman Frank and precise—that’s our first impression of Najeeb Jung, VC, Jamia Millia Islamia. EDU talks more than just education BY SMITA POLITE & R. BANERJEE 54

EDUTECH December 2010

ir, will you please step outside, it will be easier for our photographer to get a clearer picture.” It was a simple request. Jamia Millia Islamia’s Vice Chancellor Najeeb Jung took three seconds to process it. By the fourth, he was up and escorting the EDU team outside for the photoshoot. It’s perhaps the first side of Jung’s character that comes across—he really doesn’t fancy wasting other people’s time. Or his, for that matter. Perhaps, his long stint as an IAS officer taught him the value of time. Or, perhaps its his fondness for yoga that has made him a more disciplined man than the average person? Whatever may be the reason, the fact remains that despite juggling a mindboggling array of roles and responsibilities, throughout his career and every day, he still manages to say, “I have plenty of time.” Again, you get the feeling that he means

SUBHOJIT PAUL

INSPIRATION: Abba

Najeeb Jung

it. And, we believe him. Because it’s clear in the calm and reassuring manner in which he speaks. But then, Jung speaks in the same manner with everyone: to the visitor who has lost his way. He points him in the right direction, before the guard can interfere. He speaks with the same politeness with the gardener, inquires after his health and the well-being of the rabbits and pigeons being reared in the garden—right in front of Jamia’s administrative building. “I am afraid I might have turned the place into a zoo,” he says in a soft voice, looking fondly at the rabbits that cluster around him searching for a treat. Jung is a “different” Vice Chancellor. He is perhaps one of the few administrators who migrated from the administrative service to the higher education sector. He believes himself to be “blessed” for his peculiar background. And he points out, “All jobs are new when one starts. It’s never easy.” “The change was softened because I came to Jamia from Oxford, where I was in its Institute of Energy Studies. My time working with the Indian Administrative Services taught me to manage large projects. My biggest classroom perhaps was Shilwara (Madhya Pradesh) where I spent 12 years. It was a tribal area. I had to look at the area’s holistic development. That’s exactly how a university should be run—one must look at all the aspects.” Changes excite Jung and he looks forward to them. “Frankly speaking, this (the stint as the VC) was a wonderful change when it happened.” But we don’t believe Jung to be different just for his “background”. It’s also the way people conduct themselves around him and how he treats them. For a first, he refers to his students as his “children”, not only when he speaks, but also when he writes columns for newspapers. He does not shy away from difficult questions involving the identity of his university. Yet another aspect of his character? Jung really hates to mince words. He has a sharp wit, which is apparent when he answers his questions—we ask

him about his family. “Yes, I have three daughters and one wife.” His answer leaves us flabbergasted for a second. Then we laugh. And, all the tension (of being in the presence of an important man) is broken. His inspiration, he tells us, is “Abba”—no, not his father, but a fatherfigure, who raised his brothers and him, and went on to become like a “nanny” to the extended family. “He was the greatest and gentlest spirit I knew. My family owes a lot to him,” is how Jung describes Abba. Then there is the interesting tale of

PROFILE

The affair was such a serious one that it carried on to the second generation of Jungs as well. One of his daughters is a yoga specialist, who is a part of the Bihar School of Yoga—you guessed right, the school that Mahatmananda belongs to. Between sipping our teas, the conversation veered from topic to topic—probable change in Jamia’s status (and, why not?), and how Jung loves to take special classes where he engages his “children” in discussions. The intention is to bring in some sort of perspective of life in general. “Everyone’s allowed to disagree. But, impolite behaviour is not admissi-

“EVERYONE'S ALLOWED TO DISAGREE. BUT, IMPOLITE BEHAVIOUR IS NOT ADMISSIBLE” how he got hooked onto yoga. “I was the collector at Jaipur. In those days, I would start working at 6.30am. That was when I would go through the official files without any disturbances. One such ordinary day, I was told that a swamiji was there to meet me. I met this obviously Caucasian swamiji. His name was Mahatmanand. He had arrived at Jaipur that morning itself, with his guru’s order to start an ashram in Raipur. As he asked around, the people at the station said that he should probably meet the Collector. And there he was! I was so taken aback.” But as the request sunk in, Jung began thinking: the Collector’s bungalow was a sprawling affair that spread over acres. “After consulting with the then chief minister Arjun Singh, the government allotted some space within the bungalow’s premises. Since I was living in the same space, I couldn’t stay away.”

ble. That is not an adult way to discuss problems and come out with solutions.” We also talk of the M.F. Hussains that adorn his office walls (I have no idea how I got interested in art!); his staff (it’s a pleasure to work with them); daughters (a World Bank employee, a yoga specialist and a barrister, respectively); and science versus arts, (whatever one does, he or she should give it his or her hundred percent). We finally lose count of the several minutes that have been spent in the room. But, it’s time to leave. Before we quit the room, he talks of one more project—more trees on the campus. Jamia already has 6,000 trees—who said there can’t be too much of a good thing? Subscribe to a daily electronic newsletter from EDU at http://edu-leaders.com/ content/newsletters December 2010 EDUTECH

THE GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE FROM

THE CHRONICLE

O F H I G H E R E D U C AT I O N

58 ECONOMIC CRISIS POINTS TO CHANGE 59 SINGAPORE’S EDUCATION LABORATORY

In Qatar, Educators From Around the World Talk About Change Abdullah bin Ali Al-Thani, Chairman, World Innovation Summit for Education, Doha, hopes the meeting will lead to international partnerships BY URSULA LINDSEY

EDUTECH December 2010

COURTESY WISE

oha, Qatar: Over 1,200 people who work in education across the world arrived in the small, oilwealthy Persian Gulf emirate. Visitors, attended to by squadrons of PR people, were there for the “2nd World Innovation Summit for Education” (WISE), which bills itself as “building the future of education”. The summit is part of Qatar’s continuing bid to become “a reference for education” says its chairman, Abdulla bin Ali AlThani, in an interview before the programme began. “WISE was created to be a platform for people to network and to learn from each other.” For most participants, the conference was indeed a wonderful, all-expense-paid networking opportunity. Participants were there courtesy of the Qatar Foundation, a government agency headed by the emir of Qatar’s wife, Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al Missned, which oversees a staggering array of educational, cultural and philanthropic activities. “I was meeting people by the time I got off the plane,” says Julian Johnson, senior vice president of Sponsors for Educational Opportunity, an American mentoring programme for students of colour. The summit is still “embryonic,” says Johnson, but, “You have to give them props.” The conference “does not just take inventory of the status quo, but looks at how do you propel change. And it broadens the conversation beyond the usual circles”.

Freedom Of Expression

In other cases, connections were harder A session of The Doha Debates devoted to to find, as speakers discussed projects with Sign up for a free weekly arguing the motion “Education without vastly different means and ambition. electronic newsletter from The Chronicle of Higher Education at freedom of expression is worthless” also At a panel on leadership, Patrick G. Awuah Chronicle.Com/Globalnewsletter took place the same week. The lively discustalked about the university he founded, The Chronicle of Higher Education is sion programme, which aired on the BBC Ashesi University College, in Ghana, a a US-based company with a weekly and other channels worldwide, was yet small, private, non-profit institution that newspaper and a website updated another example of how Qatar is cultivating intends to teach a generation of African daily, at Global.Chronicle.com, that cover all aspects of university life. a reputation as an intellectual hub within entrepreneurs. Meanwhile, Abdullah A. AlWith over 90 writers, editors, and the Persian Gulf. Othman, rector of King Saud University, in correspondents stationed around the Scholar Tariq Ramadan, perhaps best Saudi Arabia, explained his institution’s globe,The Chronicle provides timely known for having his work visa revoked by planned to raise a $25-billion endowment by news and analysis of academic ideas, the United States just before he planned to 2030 and rise in world university rankings developments and trends. take up a post at the University of Notre by offering faculty members financial incenDame in 2004, argued on Tuesday’s show tives to publish scientific papers. that, in fact, education without freedom can Education City be “counterproductive” and that young people in MuslimQatar’s own situation is unique. “We are blessed with the majority countries are too often told: “Be quiet, get knowledge, wealth of oil and gas and also with the commitment of the leadget a salary, and don’t change anything.” ership to education,” says Al-Thani. Nagla Rizk, a professor at the American University in Cairo, Doha’s Education City is home to six branch campuses of countered that “working your brain is a luxury when you can’t renowned American universities: Carnegie Mellon, Georgefeed your kids”, and asked Ramadan if the education of the stutown, Northwestern, Texas A&M, and Virginia Commonwealth dents who made up a majority of the audience was worthless. Universities, and Weill Cornell Medical College. The University Qatar is an absolute monarchy and adheres to a strict interCollege London and the French business school, HEC, have pretation of Islam. Freedom of expression is limited; it is a just joined Education City as well. crime to criticise the emir or religion. The audience passes the Each university was selected for the way its programmes—in motion, 53 to 47 percent. engineering, medicine, museum studies and foreign service— A Holistic Approach fit a need in the Qatari economy. This year’s WISE summit focused on reforming education The Qatar Foundation covers all the costs of the universities’ systems, financing education during a global recession, and operations. It is building a state-of-the-art teaching hospital as the use of new information and communication technolowell as reportedly the largest student-services hall in the world. gies in teaching. Many educators agree that it’s an extraordinary investment to According to Al-Thani, the summit had chosen “a holistic way make in the 1,000 or so Qatari students enrolled here. of looking at things”. In some cases, the approach worked. The Al-Thani says Qatar has “learned a lot” from its partnerships interrelation between secondary and higher education, for with Western institutions and that it benefits from the exchange example, came up in “interesting ways” during several sessions. of ideas at WISE. He hopes the summit will create an active, Delegates pointed out that not only does poor secondary educayear-round network of like-minded educators and that useful tion affect the success of university students, but that poor partnerships and projects will emerge. teaching colleges affect the quality of secondary education. SevAfter last year’s summit, the Qatar Foundation created a parteral participants questioned international donors’ move away nership with the World Bank and the Arab League Educational, from financing higher education. Cultural and Scientific Organisation to try to create a regional assessment system for the academic quality of schools and, eventually, universities. But the project is still in its infancy, says Mourad Ezzine of the World Bank, and governments “are reluctant to assess because that leads to accountability for government performance”. In October, WISE also hosted a seminar for 12 university presidents from developing nations and territories, including Pakistan, Palestine and Sudan. Experienced university presidents shared their insights about heading institutions facing challenges or turmoil with the participants.

POOR SECONDARY EDUCATION AFFECTS SUCCESS OF STUDENTS. POOR TEACHING COLLEGES AFFECT THE QUALITY OF SECONDARY EDUCATION

Subscribe to a free weekly electronic newsletter from the Chronicle of Higher Education at Chronicle.Com/Globalnewsletter December 2010 EDUTECH

THE GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE

For Business Schools, Economic Crisis Points Way to Change When opportunity arrives, we say it ‘knocks’. When the economy collapsed two years ago, an opportunity for business schools didn’t just knock; it came crashing through the front door BY YASH GUPTA

COURTESY CAREY BUSINESS SCHOOL

ncongruous as it might sound, the collapse may prove the best thing to happen to business education in a long time. It has shown us the kinds of business methods that are ineffective and, worse, destructive. It glaringly revealed an all-too-prevalent corporate mind-set that measures success mainly in terms of shareholder value—with value for the organisation, workers, customers, and society in general far down the list of concerns, if on the list at all. To change the way we do business, we must also bring change to the way we teach business. Some schools have begun this process, including the one where I serve as dean, the Johns Hopkins University’s Carey Business School. Carey’s new Global MBA Programme, which began this fall, was created in the midst of the meltdown with the idea that a socially focused form of business education (and thus business practice) is sorely needed. Even the venerable Wharton School, the oldest business school in the United States, plans changes that will emphasise “driving innovation, making the school more international, and cultivating a culture that is a force for good,” EDUTECH December 2010

according to Poets & Quants, a website with news about business education. At Carey, two major projects within the curriculum of the two-year, full-time Global MBA illustrate our commitment to the idea of business that keeps “humanity in mind”. The students spend the intersession of their first year in Peru, Rwanda, Kenya, or India, helping to develop business plans for communities in those emerging nations. Later the students immerse themselves in a classroom project that seeks ways to commercialise

inventions and discoveries made by Johns Hopkins scientists and engineers. This social focus underpins the philosophy not just of the full-time Global MBA, but also of our long-standing part-time master’s programmes in business administration, finance, and other disciplines. So a shift in the thinking of business educators has begun. It won’t be an overnight process, given most schools’ longtime emphasis on what I call the “science” of business. One key to making the changes stick will be ensuring that our students understand that the international landscape has been transformed. The United States still claims the world’s largest economy, but it no longer dominates as it did for decades. China, India, and other nations have begun to elbow their way into the lineup of major economic powers. Moreover, the ease and speed of modern communication and travel have created greater interdependencies among nations, people, businesses, and cultures. Our future customers, and perhaps even our future business partners, will be found on nearly every continent. Business is no longer just a matter for Wall Street or for Main Street US, but

GLOBAL.CHRONICLE.COM for every byway in every community, large and small, in the world. Indeed, all of us are joined in what the social critic Jeremy Rifkin has called “a race to global consciousness,” progressing toward an “empathic civilisation” that recognises the aspirations of all people and the urgency of caring for our fragile planet. That is the core concept of this great opportunity presented to our business schools and students—to craft business methods that match Rifkin’s vision by doing good for society while doing well for the company, by profiting others while turning a profit. For too long, business schools have largely defined their mission as the teaching of a set of specific abilities. This how-to approach has focused on accounting, marketing, finance, and similar disciplines, defining leadership as expertise based on certain skills. Certainly these “hard” skills, the “science” of business,

are important and necessary components of a degree programme. But, perhaps even more essential for the business leaders of the 21st century are the “soft” skills and qualities representing what I would describe as the “art” of business. Chief among them I would place: n Intellectual flexibility, the scholarly ability to juggle a variety of ideas and place them in a broad context. n Cultural literacy, a solid knowledge of the customs and history of societies all over the world, in the places and among the populations that are becoming part of the global marketplace. n A strong grounding in ethics, and an understanding of the ways that the subtlest ethical conflicts, if not guarded against, can lead to an organisation’s undoing. In this way, business schools can join their counterparts in medicine and law, where increased emphasis has been placed on ethics training in recent years.

The ability to communicate ideas well. Optimism, creativity, a collaborative outlook, the willingness to lead. Altering our approaches to business and business education won’t be achieved overnight, but we must begin the effort. I believe that it is the role and responsibility of business schools to do so. The result will be the prescription for a response to the failed methods revealed by the economic meltdown: a new kind of business leader who is attuned to the cultures, the hopes, and the demands of people all over our rapidly changing, rapidly globalising world. n n

Yash Gupta is dean of the Carey Business School at the Johns Hopkins University. Subscribe to a free weekly electronic newsletter from the Chronicle of Higher Education at Chronicle.Com/Globalnewsletter

Singapore’s Newest University Is an Education Lab for Technology With vital input from MIT—and China—an unorthodox idea takes shape, with implications beyond the city-state’s borders BY JEFFREY R. YOUNG

ingapore: Every year automakers roll out “concept” cars, which incorporate novel design elements that may become standard years from now. Singapore has taken the rarer step of building a concept university, one meant to road-test the latest in teaching theory and academic features. Singapore University of Technology and Design, now under construction, is a big gamble for a high-tech city-state that considers a globally competitive work force its key to national survival. Government officials are betting more than $700-million that the new venture will cultivate the next generation of inno-

vators in architecture, engineering, and information systems. One selling point of the institution, which is to start classes on a temporary campus in 2012, is that it is associated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. On many renderings of the logo, the words “Established in collaboration with MIT” appear in red letters, suggesting that the new venture expects to replicate the prestigious US university. But it will be anything but a carbon copy. MIT researchers are treating Singapore’s new university as an education laboratory where they can try out new teaching methods and curriculum, some of which may then be taken back to Cambridge. December 2010 EDUTECH

“Our guiding philosophy has been to try to establish something that’s very distinctive,” says Thomas L. Magnanti, the Singapore institution’s first president, who is a former dean of engineering at MIT. “If we just went and decided to build a new comprehensive university, in 20 years we may not stand out.” MIT has had mixed success in exporting its brand. It was forced to close branch campuses of its Media Lab in Ireland and India after only a few years of operation, after they failed to gain enough financial support. But it has long worked well with universities in Singapore. For years the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology has supported joint research, and MIT helps run the thriving Singapore-MIT Gambit Game Lab to explore video-game design. The Singapore leaders are not counting only on MIT, though. The new university has also forged a link with a top Chinese research institution, Zhejiang University, which will design some courses, provide internship opportunities, and conduct joint research. Singapore is even importing an ancient Chinese building, donated by Jackie Chan, to remind students of Eastern design traditions. “Singapore within the region seems to be stepping into the deeper waters of the global-university phenomenon,” says Gerard A. Postiglione, a professor of social science at the University of Hong Kong and director of China’s Wah Ching Centre of Research on Education. He speculates that government leaders in Singapore may hope that the unconventional institution will spur educational innovations that can be adopted by the nation’s other universities as well. The “design” in the new university’s name does not mean fashion design. Engineering is the focus, and “design” was used to suggest the mission of taking on real-world problems and quickly moving research from the lab to the marketplace. Will this “distinctive” new university prove to be a model for the future of education in engineering and design, or will some of its methods prove not ready for the open road?

No Boundaries Sitting in a conference room in the university’s temporary office space on a recent afternoon, Pey Kin-Leong, associate provost, outlines the venture’s unusual model. On the wall behind him hang blueprints of buildings that will one day rise on the future campus. From Day 1, students will be encouraged to apply what they’ve learned to their own designs, and to find applications for the theories they learn in class, he says. Traditional disciplinary boundaries will be played down. For the first three semesters, all students will go through the same battery of courses, whether they want to end up as architects,

EDUTECH December 2010

COURTESY SINGAPORE UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AND DESIGN

THE GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE

technology-systems managers, or mechanical engineers. That’s one semester longer for the core curriculum than at MIT. In their junior and senior years, students will choose one of four “pillars”: architecture, engineering product development, engineering systems, or information systems. Those will be the closest things to majors at the new university, which won’t have traditional academic departments. All students will be required to work in teams to create a final design project and bring it to life. If a team decided to design a “smart house”, for instance, an architecture student would draw the blueprints, technology designers would plan the sensors and other electronics, and the engineering-systems concentrators would help it all work together. “We want our students to be able to communicate and interact, and cut across the pillars,” says Pey. Zhejiang University is designing five elective courses for the Singapore institution, all focused on familiarising students with the cultural aspects of China as an increasingly influential economic power. Among the proposed course titles: “Business Culture and Entrepreneurship in China,” “Sustainability of Ancient Chinese Architectural Design in the Modern World,” and “History of Chinese Urban Development and Planning”. “Because the Chinese market is huge, this is an opportunity that we are going to give to our students,” says Pey. “If we can understand their mind-set, when our students do the design, the design will be very appealing to people in the Chinese market.” The Singapore university will also connect its students with internship opportunities in the United States, in China, and at a group of major technology companies in the city-state that have agreed to take part. “The uniquely Singapore part is we

GLOBAL.CHRONICLE.COM have a chance to expose ourselves to multicultural influences,” says Pey. “We’re a cross point between East and West.” The university has already selected its first class of students (82 said yes, out of 119 who were admitted), mostly from Singapore, some of whom delayed starting college to wait for these doors to open. Eventually, an enrolment of 4,000 undergraduates and 2,000 graduate students is expected; the university says it will meet a government requirement of admitting 20 to 30 percent of its students from abroad. Government officials would not reveal the venture’s exact price tag, but Chong Tow Chong, the provost, says the government is spending at least one billion Singapore dollars—about $771-million—to build the campus and hire professors from around the world.

Enlightened Self-Interest Singapore chose MIT to collaborate in the new university after reviewing bids from several major institutions in the United States and Europe. For MIT, the draw was to upgrade its own curriculum, says Sanjay Emani Sarma, an MIT professor of mechanical engineering who directs its role in the collaboration. “The most important reason is enlightened self-interest,” he says. “Engineering education is evolving quite a bit right now. It’s very dynamic. They can try out some things that sometimes, it’s harder for us to do because of our structure.” Sarma, who leads a team that is designing the new core curriculum, says its members have spent hundreds of hours at work. It’s a chance to rethink what a modern engineer needs to know. The designers have dropped some math concepts and added others, for instance, and have applied research done at MIT’s Teaching and Learning Laboratory. “This isn’t some sort of pro-forma thing where we’re just lending them our name,” he says. MIT plans to try out some of the new courses before exporting them to Singapore. Sarma will teach the first of those test classes at MIT, on transportation design, as early as next semester. “We’re going to eat our own dog food,” he says. “A lot of the class-

‘DESIGN’ IN NEW UNIVERSITY’S NAME DOES NOT MEAN FASHION DESIGN. ENGINEERING IS THE FOCUS. ‘DESIGN’ IS USED TO SUGGEST MISSION OF TAKING ON PROBLEMS AND RESEARCH FROM THE LAB TO THE MARKETPLACE

es we’re developing for Singapore, we will be using for MIT.” As many as 50 MIT professors will be involved in the collaboration, whether by teaching a course or two in Singapore or participating in joint projects with researchers there. Professors hired to teach full time in Singapore will first be sent to MIT for a year to absorb its culture and teaching methods. Some students in the inaugural class say the MIT link was a key reason they chose to take a chance on the new university. “I believe that the MIT lecturers have more experience and would be able to provide better insights into the field that I would be studying than the lecturers in the local universities,” says Bryan Yap, who hopes to go on to design consumer electronics. He plans to take advantage of internships in the United States and China as well. Leon Cher, an accepted student who hopes to become an architect, says the link to a Chinese university was just as important as the MIT connection. One Saturday morning this summer, the provost, Chong, stopped by Cher’s house to congratulate him on his acceptance and answer any questions. In fact, top officials of the university made the rounds to meet all of the admitted students. “I guess I was impressed by the effort made,” Cher says. “And it is a privilege that will probably only be enjoyed by the pioneer batch.” The permanent campus, near the Singapore airport, will not open until 2014. For now, university administrators are focused on recruiting faculty members, which they see as key to success in building a reputation over time. Sarma, the MIT professor leading the collaboration, says he is more optimistic that the institution can pull it off, than he was six months ago, when the hiring process began in earnest. “I’m now very confident that they have a critical mass,” he says. Singapore officials say they are comfortable bringing in a Western university to help get their new institution started. It has worked for them before. About 10 years ago, the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School helped design Singapore Management University, which is now well established. Similar collaborations are under way. Yale University is working with the National University of Singapore to build a liberal-arts college, and Imperial College, London, is working with Nanyang Technological University to design its new medical school. That strategy, officials say, helps Singapore achieve its goal of building a competitive work force. “We’ve got nothing else,” says Cheah Horn Mun, director of educational technology in the Ministry of Education. Singapore has no natural resources and no farmland, so its “knowledge workers” are its most important asset, he says. If the experiment works, the institution could end up offering a more up-to-date engineering curriculum than MIT. Sarma says he’s not worried about being overshadowed by the new creation. “We don’t mind people being ahead of us,” he says. “Academia is all about sharing—and the fact of the matter is, we’re always changing.” Subscribe to a free weekly electronic newsletter from the Chronicle of Higher Education at Chronicle.Com/Globalnewsletter December 2010 EDUTECH

You have to tell a story. It’s better than golf Liaquat Ahamed

Book Review

Lords Of Finance Liaquat Ahamed’s first book has made the great depression of 1920s readable. Bankers can write THERE’S AN OLD saying, “When nothing else works, blame the bankers.” It holds true especially in the age of downward spiral, recession, and economic stagnation. After the fiscal collapse of a few iconic banks (in 2008, still fresh in our memories) around the world, we, as a cash-strapped society, have adulated anyone who has written against the “greedy bankers”. Bankers are the new villains for the young professionals who have seen salary cuts (if not job cuts), rising prices and job insecurity, all thanks to the ill-judged bankers’ decision to grant money to anyone trespassing in the bank. Banking on the hate-bankers wave Liaquat Ahamed, a banker by profession, has come out with his first title called Lords Of Finance, a book on the collapse of the world economy from 1929-1933, now justly called the Great Depression. There have been more books (in recent times) on the failure of the monetary system than actual liquid money in the market but what sets this book apart is the approach. The author has chosen to tell the story of bankruptcy, unemployment and inflation (in 30s) by looking over the shoulders of men in charge (during that time) of the four principal central banks of the world (the

four wealthiest): the Bank of England, the Federal Reserve System, the Reichsbank, and the Banque de France. The plot of the three most powerful nations in ruins—Britain, France and Germany— with their economies saddled with debts, population impoverished by rising prices, their currency collapsing and nothing-left-to-do youth wandering aimlessly in cafes seeding hooliganism, would easily qualify as a riveting script for the next Quentin Tarantino cult. With central bankers as protagonists the book traces their efforts to reconstruct the system of international finance after the First World War. Though, they did succeed for a while in between (mid-1920s)—when the world currencies were stabilised, capital became readily available and economic growth resumed once again—cracks soon appeared in the fragile picture of prosperity. The jargon-free account of the futile attempts of central bankers is a must read for everyone who has played in the hands of the “witch” called recession. The book proves that bankers can write. They can write more than fictional love stories set in college. Is Chetan Bhagat reading? —Anoop Chugh

Title: Lords Of Finance Author: Liaquat Ahamed Publisher: William Heinemann Price:

1,199

NEW RELEASES

Asian Women in Higher Education: Shared Communities THE BOOK is a close examination of Asian women—it talks of the problems they face because of the lack of connection between them and the British university system.

Author: Kalwant Bhopal Publisher: Trentham Books Limited Price: $34.95

EDUTECH December 2010

Does God Make a Difference? AN INSPIRATIONAL book that thrashes out why public schools and universities leave a major chunk of their students illiterate. The author talks about the “Big Questions” that good education ought to encompass.

Author: Warren A. Nord Publisher: Oxford University Press Price: $29.95

TIMEOUT

GIZMOS

Google Nexus S: Hands On Finally! The ‘iPhone Killer’ is ready to go global—guns blazing!

GOOGLE’S LATEST flagship cellphone is going to be a top holiday gift for err...geeks. Fast, smooth and elegant, the Nexus S is the new “top” Android phone, the first “Gingerbread” phone, and it’ll be the first one to receive new updates to Android as they come out. That’s going to be worth $199 (with T-Mobile contract) to a few people. The hardware feels similar to Samsung’s Galaxy S, which is a good thing. The Nexus S gets an all-black body, which blends better.

Price: 24,000

GADGETS Contemporary Design Executive Style LENOVO has launched IdeaPad G565 that incorporates a contemporary design with executiveclass features that include a biometric login— veriface—and OneKey Rescue System. The cover lid, screen bezel, keypad layout and rear-panel including the battery compartment are all coated in matte black finish. It is a decent mid-range laptop, which provides good value for money. Price: 38,090

Canon EOS 60D—Fence Straddler CANON’S 60D is the second body to utilise the 7Ds sensor. It also represents Canon’s first effort at an articulated LCD display, evidently to match Nikon’s D5000. The 60D is exciting because, it features a lot of the goodness of the EOS 7D at a slightly lower price point. Price: 50,000 (approximately)

Blackberry Torch 9800 Few Nits Prevent It From Shining

Cr-48: Google Chrome Notebook Cr-48 Google Chrome Notebook, a dummy laptop, is designed to show off the Chrome OS. Acer and Samsung have both signed on to release Chrome-based Netbooks in 2011. Its screen is 12.1 inches. The system has both Wi-Fi and built-in 3G. It ships with 100MB of free data from Verizon. It also has an SD card slot, a built-in webcam on the top bezel, and a single USB port. When you click on the power button, a Chrome logo pops up and prompts you to enter your Google password. You can think of the system as a physical extension of your Google account.

Price: 98,900

AFTER a slew of capacitive-touch phones over 2010, it’s only natural that manufacturers, would want to hop aboard this wagon. Blackberry has been one of the late adopters. A QWERTY keypad is a must for corporate users and touch-screen phones seldom feature those. Enter the Blackberry Torch 9800: “Torch” for short. A hybrid—featuring both a QWERTY concealed beneath a vertical slider and a touch-screen. Price: 24,000 December 2010 EDUTECH

LEGACY “One wants permissive individuals who don’t have a compelling need to reassure themselves that they are leaders”

Dr Vikram Sarabhai The Man Who Saw The Future

(1919 – 1971) Field Physics

Dr Vikram Sarabhai was a leader: when he saw a need, he set about taking measures to ensure that it was filled. A visionary, an astute judge of character, a scientist...when it comes to his merits, the list is long. In the space of higher education, his contribution as one of the founders of India’s leading management institution, is the stuff that legends are made of. He used his uncanny knack of recognising merit in others to build IIM Ahmedabad, roping in Ravi Matthai—a non-academic working at a Calcutta firm—as its first full-time director. As Matthai describes the unconventional man: “He had a great heart. He could talk with governments, he could build institutions... could concern himself with the problems of individuals.” Describing Sarabhai’s vision behind IIM, Padmanabh K. Joshi, Co-ordinator, Dr Vikram Sarabhai’s Archives at Nehru Foundation for Development, Ahmedabad, says, “He used to look after units established by his father, Ambalal Sarabhai, and interacted with the young MDs of textile mills to convince them of the importance of R&D.” Result: the Ahmedabad Management Association and the Ahmedabad Textile Industry’s Research Association (ATIRA). Later, ATIRA began hosting panIndia annual management conferences. “During that same time, the Centre decided to establish two IIMs... ultimately, Sarabhai brought one to Ahmedabad in 1961,” Joshi adds. Its goal: “To produce quality managers for the Indian context,” says Nagavara Ramarao Narayana Murthy, former Chairman of the IIM board. Its collaboration with Kellogg, Wharton and Harvard Business schools made it rank first in the “case study method” in India. In the past 50 years, IIM Ahmedabad has established links between agriculture, education, health, transportation, population control, energy and public administration and Indian industry—just the sort of holistic education that Sarabhai envisioned. But then, Sarabhai’s own education was special for the times. One of eight siblings, he was educated in a private school established by Sarla Devi (his mother), which was run on the lines of the Montessori method. A student of natural sciences, he went on to Cambridge, but returned to join Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru. He began research in cosmic rays under the guidance of Sir CV Raman, the Nobel winner and was awarded a PhD in 1947. Back in India, he persuaded trusts controlled by his family and friends to endow a research institution, near home—Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) in Ahmedabad was built. He was only 28 at that time. Sarabhai was a creator of institutions, and PRL was the first step in that direction. His will to turn the impossible into a reality had no pause buttons. He loved physics and dreamt of taking India to its ultimate flight of fantasy—space. Like its founder, today, IIM Ahmedabad’s staff and students have learnt to dream big. Their goal: “To produce high quality managers for the Indian context”. Subscribe to a daily electronic newsletter from EDU at http://edu-leaders.com/content/newsletters

EDUTECH December 2010

1923 Served as the youngest president of the Indian National Congress Associations Indian Space Research Organisation, Physical Research Laboratory, Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology, Operations Research Group Ahmedabad Textiles Industry’s Research Association Awards & Honours Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award (1962) Padma Bhushan (1966) Padma Vibhushan (1972-posthumous) 1940 Received Tripos in natural sciences from University of Cambridge 1947 Awarded a PhD degree for his thesis—‘Cosmic Ray Investigation in Tropical Latitudes’ Founded the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) in Ahmedabad 1963 Set up the first rocket launching station in India with Dr Homi Jehangir Bhabha 1962 President of physics section at the Indian Science Congress