India is ahead of the USA in the availability of MBA jobs as far as fresh management graduates are concerned, according to a recent report.

But that does not quell the concerns of MBA aspirants over their future and the quality of management education imparted in India.

A report by TopMBA.com says MBA demand is up in Asia, especially in India and China as MBA is essential in entering many booming fields such as consulting, professional services, manufacturing, IT services and microfinance.

As the lure of an MBA degree is up there is a realization that quality of management education matters for sustaining in the competitive field of management.

MBA is considered the best ladder to climb the corporate power structures. Therefore, success oriented MBA aspirants accord a high value to the brand power of the institution and evaluate how its alumni fared in the job market in a span of 10 to 20 years.

But more job placements will not make an institute a pet of MBA aspirants in shaping a fast paced career and skill enhancements. The institute’s fitness and ability to add value to candidates' future and enhance credentials matters more.

MBA aspirants also look at the success ratio of Institute alumni up to 10 years after passing out from a B-school. These are factors influencing the choice of MBA colleges.

The horizons of MBA are expanding. Traditional MBA jobs such as investment banking, management consultants and financial analysts are still exerting considerable sway on the youngsters.

But more career avenues have opened for MBA graduates. They include luxury management, fashion industry, apparels etc. They were traditionally handled by creative agencies in the past. They are now attracting management talent to enhance business prospects.

Event management is one area that has become very lucrative for management graduates.

As long as good management remains the pillar of success in a company, career prospects for management graduates will not deplete.

The excellence of any management institute rests on its ability in offering high employability for the students by building the skill to perform a job and generate the desired level of productivity sought by an employer.

The MBA course curriculum and teaching pedagogy in India maintain global standards and that makes Indian management graduates qualified enough to match their global counterparts.

Many Indian B-schools miss out on industry exposure for students and disappoints on industry interface. B-schools laying primacy on these become an integral part of their teaching pedagogy. This success is not limited to short-term achievements such as initial placements but also translates into continued professional success spanning throughout their career.

The way ahead for management education would be to ensure management programs that are future proof and stand up to near and medium term challenges.

In the words of management expert, Kashi Balachandran, currently the Executive Director of the Glocal School of Business in Uttarakhand, there is no weakness in India’s management education. Such doubts stem from the talk of a fatigue experienced by providers of management education who are not innovative with the times and lag in resources.

The risk comes from the efforts to narrow the management by feeding traditional functional subjects such as accounting, finance, marketing etc. Rather, the institutes must prepare the students to take up leadership roles to understand and operate specialists in several subject areas and numerous diverse countries.

In the latest National Ranking by Ministry of Human Resource Development for 2017, the IIM, Ahmedabad has been ranked No 1 management institute.

1. Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad
2. IIM, Bangalore
3. IIM, Calcutta
4. IIM, Lucknow
5. IIIM, Kozhikode
6. IIT, Delhi
7. IIT, Kharagpur
8. IIT, Roorkee
9. XLRI, Jamshedpur
10. IIM, Indore
11. IIT, Kanpur
12. National Institute of Industrial Engineering, Mumbai
13. IIM, Tiruchirappalli
14. IIM, Raipur
15. IIM, Udaipur
16. Management Development Institute, Gurgaon
17. Vellore Institute of Technology, TN
18. P. Jain Institute, Mumbai
19. IIM, Rohtak
20. IIM, Kashipur
21. Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Management, Shillong
22. Kalinga Institute of Technology, Bhubaneshwar
23. Anna University, Chennai
24. Institute of Management, Ghaziabad
25. Indian Institute of Management, Ranchi
26. PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore
27. Management Institute, New Delhi
28. Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi
29. Institute of Rural Management, Anand
30. Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, New Delhi

According to Balachandran, several business schools in India are lagging in broader thinking on instruction. Skilled teachers are absent who could teach solid courses and bring to the classrooms vast real world experience. They fail to bring in qualified high-level practitioners from well-operated companies to impart knowledge to students. This is true of schools located outside major metropolitan areas.

Glocal School of Business provides ample opportunities to students to specialize in multiple areas outside the traditional such as law, media, journalism, sports administration, management of health care, public enterprises, technological firms etc. The program gives ample time to develop a personality in a wholesome manner to become true global leaders.

He claimed the institute has been offering ample exposure to the industry by calling experts to campus for students’ interaction and has been sending students on useful internships, opportunities to visit companies abroad and intern there.