‘Management education should adapt to global changes’

Management education in the 21st century should keep track of changes taking place in technology and management practices.

Founder director of Institute for Rural Management (Anand) K R S Murthy gave out this message for management aspirants at the Indian School of Business.

The institution organised the first invitational ‘N J Yasaswy Memorial Lecture’ on the theme ‘Building Excellence in Management Education-The Challenge of the 21st Century’ on Monday.

“It is a difficult task. While internet, other communication technologies and social media are important, it may require building appropriate networks at the field level or with educational institutions. A joint effort of students and faculty in relevant areas of interest may make the task contemporary and relevant,” Dr Murthy said.

Stressing the importance of management education in a globalised environment, Dr Murthy said the present curriculum should shift focus on practical aspects.

‘Education Should Build Confidence’

“Management education will be required to adjust to a shifting balance between theoretical and mathematical concepts and the different contexts for their application in an organisation,” he said, adding that management education should build a level of confidence in students to be able to think critically and learn on the field.The former director of Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore also noted that on the premise of rapid growth in the number of management schools and their capacity for graduating students with management degrees, the need for greater academic autonomy is felt all over.

“There would have been perhaps greater innovation and substantive differences across programmes, if the educational institutions had greater autonomy in curriculum development in place of the uniform prescribed syllabus by a University or regulatory authority,” Dr Murthy said.