Call it the effects of a flatter world as envisaged by Thomas Friedman, Indians are being sought after in almost all spheres. Education sector, especially the management education is the latest to join the bandwagon.

Going by recent events, there are interesting trends which are materializing. On one hand, there are an increasing number of B-Schools vying to set up shop abroad. S. P. Jain Institute of Management and Research is one such institute with its campuses in Dubai and Singapore. Then there are the IIM’s who, till recently, were in the news for seeking permission to go foreign. IIMB’s proposed campus in Singapore is likely to be launched next October. The number is bound to increase as more and more institutes join the fray.

The intent behind these moves is to capitalize upon the institutes’ strength in the domestic markets and replicate the same abroad. Such initiatives also make sense given the vast emigrant populace of Indian origin in majority of the countries globally. The familiarity of the school’s brand in the domestic market is a major factor in drawing a large number of professionals of Indian origin who attend the schools either full time or part time.

The schools usually meet the demand for the faculty by fishing into the faculty pool back home or by hiring local talent in the form of industry contacts or visiting faculties. The faculty members in these colleges are the best of the breed, having served in governments, the World Bank and other institutions of high repute.

On the other front, however, are the global biggies, foreign universities, who are now finding that India’s growing talent pool cannot be ignored. The huge corporate action that is taking place in the country provides them with opportunities to study and propound successful business models, which had hitherto been lacking the focus of academicians.

The emergence of India in the global corporate arena, growing number of multinational corporations from the country, and an exposed talent pool, form an enlightening combination to develop interesting case studies.

To put this to perspective, there is a vast amount of literature, in the form of Harvard Business Review caselets and articles, which are used in the B-Schools across the world. Surprisingly, India’s contribution to this repository is comparatively less. This deficiency is now getting reduced, what with, the development of literature from the Indian scenarios, which can be used in other countries of operations of these global universities and elsewhere.

The recent stake acquisition by Cambridge University Press, in one of the local publishing company, Foundation Books Private Limited is aimed at serving just this cause.

Another positive fallout has been the interest, the sector is generating among some big private venture capitalists. Vedanta group’s plan to set up an almost 10000 acre university of global standards, in the state of Orissa, is a case in point. An institute of such magnitude is bound to do lot of good to the relatively backward state of Orissa.

Right Moves

These moves would help improve the quality of education with management students, gaining access to quality pedagogues of the likes of Ghemavats and Prahlads more often. This also creates a brand consistent with the image of the knowledge driven society that the country is enjoying currently.

However, such initiatives cannot be evaluated in isolation. Developments such as these are in the right earnest but a lot depends on the governments will.  

Speedy clearances for Indian Institutes of Management to tap the foreign markets, allowing the Oxfords and Cambridges to set foot in the country, a concrete plan to improve the primary education standards in the country and a desire to improve the infrastructure in the sector are the need of the hour.

Education has come full circle. India today, certainly looks poised to regain the glory from the bygone eras of Nalanda and Taxashilla.