Home grown and world class?

 

 

Students from neighbouring states normally prefer Orissa for management education owing to the presence of many reputed B-schools here. I remember that in my batch, some 300 odd students from Jharkhand were studying in different B-schools. Facilities are adequate, study environment is admirable and cost of living is much cheaper than other education hubs, therefore, I think, a good number of students are opting for these B-schools,” says Saumendra Das, an alumnus of a Bhubaneswar-based B-school, who is now working with Wipro in Bengaluru. Bhubaneswar, the capital city of Orissa, which has now turned into a B-school hub and an important centre of education in eastern India, did not even find a respectable mark on the nation’s education map till a few years back. But during the past five to six years, rapid development has given birth to over 50-plus B-schools, both small and large in size, operating in Bhubaneswar alone. “Apart from national brands and university centres, 54-schools affiliated to Biju Patnaik University of Technology function in the state and most of them are situated in the capital city,” explains Dr P.C. Samantray, Principal of Srusti Academy of Management (SAM). He further adds, “Few years earlier, the number of B-schools in Jharkhand, Chhatisgarh and North-East were very small and this phenomenon resulted in a spurt in B-schools in Orissa over the last decade.”

Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar (XIMB), which is sharing the limelight in the upper echelons of most of the B-school rankings in India since the 1990s, has prompted the private B-schools to set-up hi-tech campuses with state-of the-art class rooms, library and other infrastructure. Prof. Sandeep Ray, a communication professional and visiting faculty at these B-schools shares, “the classroom and library facilities provided by most of the large institutions are very much at par with national brands. A student can get almost all the facilities in a Bhubaneswar campus that he can dream of in Delhi.”

The Asian School of Business Management (ASBM), which possesses state-of- the-art campuses in Bhubaneswar and Hyderabad was adjudged one of the best B-schools by Deccan Herald in 2008, and claims that it provides the best library facilities in the entire state. Chanakya Knowledge Centre, as the name of the library goes, is well equipped with more than 20,000 books and 5012 international and national journals. Prof. Biswajeet Pattnayak, former IIM Professor and Director of ASBM adds, “Along with quality infrastructure, we also highly emphasise on the quality of teaching. We have also introduced the ‘Finishing School Concept’, which is the first of its kind in India, which aims at sharpening communication skills and personalities of our graduates to equip them with the required expertise on corporate code of conduct and business etiquette.” Though sizes of the campuses vary, most B-schools in Bhubaneswar and other important cities of Orissa provide hi-tech teaching labs. Students work and live in a networked environment here. The classrooms are spacious and well-equipped with contemporary teaching facilities making learning an admirable experience. Further the class rooms are equipped with multimedia and audio-visual aids (with roof mounted projection systems etc.) to facilitate effective learning and maximum interaction between the faculty and students. Saswati Jha, a student of Cuttack-based management institute DRIEMS, also shares her experience, “In Bhubaneswar and Cuttack, air-conditioned class rooms are a must for any standard B-school because during the summers, temperature rises to the 42-44 degree Celsius levels. A Wi-fi campus is an added utility in learning, as all of us are today using the Internet for information gathering. It helps a lot and supplements classroom learning.” Dr Subash Chandra Das, Director, DRIEMS claims, “We have provided the entire gamut of facilities to our students to prepare them to succeed in this globalisation age in the field of business management.” B-schools in Orissa are using information technology extensively to ensure that information becomes accessible to the students, anytime. The Rourkela Institute of Management Studies (RIMS), in the industrial town of Rourkela, has set up ties with the British Library and National Library, for sharing of books, journals and related information. It has also arranged a tie-up with EBSCO (the world's largest online academic data base service provider) to use educational journals provided by the Business Source Premier. “This has enabled us to join an elite group by providing access to a collection of more than 8,350 International Journals,” says Arya Pattnayak, secretary of RIMS. In the southern part of the state, institutes like SMIT also provide a tech-savvy learning environment to its students, as Bhagaban Gantayat, President of SMIT avers, “As a library plays a proactive role to ensure that the information resources required are organised to meet the present and future needs of its users, our institute has established a national standard digital library.”

As value addition becomes the order of the day, B-schools are providing allied facilities to their students. Srusti Academy of Management (SAM), Bhubaneswar, has set up a state-of–the–art Digital multimedia Business English Laboratory to improve students’ communication skills. This laboratory is equipped with advance softwares that enable honing of English Language skills. “As India is growing at a rate of 7 per cent, quality manpower will be the most vital requirement in the coming years. Therefore, we are committed to provide quality professional man power to the market,” states G.D. Mishra, Director of the academy.

So having discussed the improved state of infrastructural affairs in the state, one question remains unanswered - do state-of-the-art campuses, quality classrooms and world class infrastructure really create good professionals? Dr J. K. Mishra, Director, Institute of Professional Studies & Research comments, “A modern and advanced environment always contributes a lot to impart qualities in a student. In this tech-centric world, exposure to technology gives one a cutting edge. Therefore, B-schools are generating better employability amongst students; and consequently, the placement percentage is good here.” High employability, therefore, needs quality learning process that can only be achieved through adequate infrastructure and effective pedagogy. For attaining the latter, B-schools should enhance their focus on employing world class teachers as well, added Prof. Biswajeet Pattnayak. So, there’s the final take – adequate infrastructure will perhaps do, but average faculty quality won’t!