MBA magic: A global perspective

In management studies, be it in India or overseas, accreditation makes a qualitative difference to a business school and provides a benchmark for students to make a decision.
“Accreditation is a process of standardisation against international benchmarks,” says Sharon Bamford, chief executive, Association of MBAs (AMBA), UK, who was in the Capital recently.When a B-school goes through the process of accreditation, it becomes more focused; processes become more rigorous and more tightly defined, communications improve and in totality, it presents a better value proposition to the student. “It is not as if things were bad before; it is just that things are much better now,” Bamford explains.
India has four AMBA-accredited schools including IIM Lucknow, IIM Kozhikode, SP Jain and MDI Gurgaon.
Vis-à-vis Indian accreditation bodies like the AICTE, Bamford says that the parameters are where the main differences lie. “The way the Indian accreditation body would look at the environment, we also look at it, but ask if it meets international standards. We would not be looking at the size of the classroom or students, or books as much as at the skills that students would have, the impact of them on their learning and what they do with it and where they go,” she says.
Globally, there are a few trends in management that have emerged. For one, it is only in India and China that the generalist MBA is on a rise, says Bamford. In most other markets, specialised programmes in management are gaining currency.
Another trend is that of women joining the MBA brigade in increasing numbers. In India though the ratio is still in favour of men, it is gradually improving. IIM Kozhikode, for example, has a high percentage of women students, which is encouraging. The third trend is that of the demand for soft skills from employers. In addition to the competencies gained after a management degree, soft skills make students’ job ready and complete as professionals, sums up Bamford.