HYDERABAD: In a bid to upgrade and make syllabus of professional courses like MBA more relevant to the industry requirements, JNTU Hyderabad had introduced two new subjects - Data Analytics and Management Information System - this year. However, in the absence of guidelines about the courses or norms pertaining to faculty requirement for the courses, teachers and students are having a tough time. Though the syllabi of these courses has been framed by JNTUH and has also been approved by the Board of Studies, faculties in MBA colleges are unsure how to teach the subject, particularly Data Analytics, which they claim does not pertain to the MBA course.
It may be mentioned here that JNTUH has 215 affiliated colleges that offer MBA course.
“Management students would have benefited more from a subject like Business Analytics and not Data Analytics, which is something that B Tech students will find useful. Even the syllabus of the course is technical which has nothing to do with management. We don’t know how to teach t subject,” said Dr Vijay Astra, lecturer, Aurora Engineering college, which also offers MBVA course.
Several colleges that offer both MBA and B Tech courses, are at present taking help of their CSE faculty members to teach Data Analytics to their MBA students. The other few rely on internet and dictate notes during classes. While students in third semester, who are now face-to-face with these courses would suffer during the exam or will have to burn a hole in their pockets getting private coaching, teachers with no training or knowledge of the subject are not faring any better.
“No new faculty is being recruited in colleges for these courses. Colleges are just publicising these ‘new-age courses’ to get more admissions. But even faculty with MBA degrees are unable to teach the subject because it is not their domain. There was no orientation either. It is a challenge for us too,” said V Vadde, lecturer at a private college at Secunderabad.
‘Procedure root cause of problems’
While teachers said that upgrading of syllabi and including new courses is the need of the hour, the process JNTUH follows is the root of problems. Dr Astra suggested that the varsity should communicate with private colleges and discuss their issues before deciding on new courses or revision of syllabus. “When you plan to take up such activities, form a committee and inform the colleges. Take their opinion,” he said. Prof N Yadaiah, JNTUH registrar, said the process of syllabi-making involves an expert from the industry who gives inputs regarding the trends in the industry. “For this, we have always had some interdisciplinary subjects either as open or core subjects ,” he said and added, if colleges feel there is a requirement for an additional faculty, they can hire them on their own.