Click your way to an online MBA!

MOOCs (Massive Online Open Courses) are fast becoming popular in India. India is the second biggest market for MOOCs, after United States. MyBskool.com is a Chennai-based startup that is pioneering the MOOCs concept in India. Latha Venkitachalam, Chief Operating Officer, myBskool.com talks about the company and shares her insights on India’s burgeoning e-learning landscape.

Debeshi: Can you tell us more about myBskool?

Latha: myBskool.com is a 3 year young startup based out of Chennai, started in October 2010 that is pioneering the MOOCs (Massive Online Open Courses) concept in India. In lines with the MOOCs initiatives of Stanford and Harvard that has revolutionized the higher education eco-system worldwide by attracting millions of students from across the globe.

Debeshi: What are your company’s e-learning offerings?

Latha Venkitachalam

Latha: myBskool offers online management courses to students. Early this year, we launched a free 100-day Mini MBA in partnership with Madras Management Association (MMA) with content co-created with Indian Institute of Management Ranchi. The programme was offered on a portable classroom model with access from PC, tablets and smartphones. We got a fabulous response from the student community. Over three lakh students have registered for this course, thereby making us India's largest online business school.

Debeshi: What are the programmes that you offer in collaboration with other schools?

Latha: We have the Online Mini MBA in partnership with Madras Management Association and content co-created with IIM Ranchi. We offer an Executive Diploma in Business Administration from Mahatma Gandhi University. Then, there is an Executive Post Graduate Programme in Management from IMT Ghaziabad and Short Term Certificate programmes in partnership with MMA and IIM Ranchi.

Debeshi: Your insights into India’s e-learning industry in higher education

Latha: E-learning is the most convenient option for individuals who cannot take a break from work and continue education. This is also a great opportunity to be updated on the subject and keep in touch with the ongoing trends. Moreover, it is the easiest and cost-effective mode of learning.

Debeshi: What are some of the bottlenecks faced by companies in this space?

Latha: Education is linked to employment and recognition of online courses in the employment market is a challenge. Online learning is not accredited by Government bodies. Also, the Internet penetration in our country has not been that fast. People do not want to pay for certification and there is an attitude that anything that comes via the Internet has to be free.

Debeshi: What are your growth plans in the next five years?

Latha: We want to increase our collaborations with foreign universities in areas such as faculty exchange. We are also looking at expanding into verticals such as IT and Healthcare. We want to be known as India’s best online learning company.

A stamp of approval

Sharon Bamford, Chief Executive of the Association of MBAs (AMBA), was in Delhi recently to speak at a global accreditation conference. The UK-based organisation accredits programmes at 190 business schools in over 70 different countries. Sharon spoke with me about the AMBA accreditation process and global quality standards for Indian business schools.

Debeshi: All of a sudden, leading business schools in India are scrambling for international accreditation. Why, in your opinion, has this happened?

Sharon: India has taken its place at the top table in terms of global politics, global companies and global leaders - it is now important that India's top business schools are recognised for their global standards in research and teaching.

Sharon Bamford: accreditation is key

Accreditation differs from rankings in that it is audited to ensure compliance. Our accreditation in particular, is not about imposing irrelevant foreign standards on a school, but ensuring key quality indicators are benchmarked globally and the programmes we accredit are relevant for the context and the Market, thus, ensuring impact. We regard it as a developmental and consultative process and schools feed back to us that the process was as important as receiving the accreditation itself.

Globalisation requires not only a global mindset, but global knowledge and the skills to operate in a global marketplace. India's top schools already have outstanding international partnerships with schools who hold international accreditations, but to be an equal partner it is important that India's schools also benchmark themselves against these global quality standards.

India has the opportunity to attract international students to its top business schools, but this discerning market will require assurances of standards, not just in the teaching and learning, but in aspects of pastoral care, alumni relations, industry links, to name but a few.

Indian graduates are taking global leadership roles and need to be cognizant of the recognition of their qualifications on the world stage - an international accreditation of their programme is.

Debeshi: When awarding AMBA accreditation, what are the things that are taken into account?

Sharon: A critical element for us is the three years of relevant work experience, which we see as the cornerstone of a quality MBA. In India we accredit the MBA that new graduates sign up for as the equivalent of a Masters in Management, and the Executive and Part Time MBAs as an MBA. We look for international experience, which can be given in a variety of ways that suit the school and its students and we require minimum cohort size of at least 20 and at least 50% of the faculty to have PhD's, thus ensuring the quality and relevance of the learning for the student. The programme should also have been running for a certain number of years.

We originated as an organisation 'by MBAs, for MBAs' so a prospective student signing up for an AMBA accredited MBA can be assured of a qualification that is recognised internationally and is rigorous and relevant.

Debeshi: How does accreditation from an international agency such as yours improve prospects of domestic business schools?

Sharon: Business school graduates are increasingly mobile and even a very good school might not be recognised by employers around the world. An international accreditation articulates that the school meets global quality standards and that the school belongs to an elite 'club'. An employer in Australia may not have heard of an Indian school, but they would understand that if that school had met the same quality standards as Queensland University of Technology, for example, they would be able to set the candidates qualifications in the context of a quality school from their own environment.

We are also an MBA membership organisation and the alumni from all of 190 accredited schools across the world provides an outstanding network.

Debeshi: Which are the Indian b-schools that have been awarded AMBA accreditation?

Sharon: IIM Lucknow, IIM Kozikhode, SP Jain and MDI Gurgaon are the Indian schools with AMBA accreditation.

Debeshi: Any new updates/developments that you would like to share with my readers?

Sharon: I was invited to speak at the first global accreditation conference here in Delhi, but have extended my visit to meet with our schools and also with candidate schools that are going through the accreditation process.

The Indian alumni from our accredited schools that have returned to India are also important to us and we running an MBA Refresher, delivered by international and Indian faculty in August this year. Part of our mission is to maintain the professionalism of the MBA through continuous professional development.

Global stamp of recognition

In my recent post about Indian business schools: Best practices, I had written about top business schools identifying best practices to help benchmark with foreign schools and attract the best students and faculty. International accreditation helps business schools get a global stamp of recognition for their MBA programmes. Students get their degrees recognised globally, while the business school is successful in securing more foreign partnerships and linkages.

Four business schools in India have received the Association of MBAs (AMBA) accreditation. The UK-based AMBA is an international impartial authority on postgraduate business education. The AMBA accredits MBA provision at 187 schools in over 70 countries. IIM Lucknow’s MBA programme is the most recent to receive the Association of MBAs accreditation in November 2011.

The first to receive global accreditation from the Association was MDI Gurgaon in 2005 followed by SP Jain and IIM Kozhikode. More business school accreditations are also in the pipeline. “Granting Association of MBAs accreditation is a mark of the quality of a business school’s programmes and ultimately is a great profile-raising tool for schools, as our programmes are recognised internationally, thereby giving the business school a global status and network,” said Sharon Bamford, Chief Executive of the Association of MBAs. “The Association of MBAs accreditation is unique as it focuses on individual programmes, rather than the whole institution. This in-depth and detailed approach means that the highest standards of teaching, faculty and student interaction are guaranteed by our accreditation. We also believe that programmes should be of the highest standard and reflect changing trends and innovation in postgraduate management education,” she added.

As well as accreditation of top business schools, the Association of MBAs is committed to the growth and high standards of post-graduate management education by creating enhanced membership opportunities for Indian MBA students and alumni. The first of the Association’s membership initiatives launched in November 2011 with a networking and learning event called Global Connections. “India is the cornerstone of the Association of MBAs innovation strategy. Our focus is to work with Indian business schools to build and improve on their management education giving them international recognition, and to support MBA students and alumni with membership opportunities that assist in their professional development,” said Sharon Bamford.

Future initiatives include empowering local MBA students and graduates to build a global network representing accredited MBA programmes. This will provide professional development through learning and networking events and through the opportunity to build an international profile for those who have studied at an accredited programme. This global network would unite MBA students, business schools and employers of MBAs under the prestigious umbrella of the Association of MBAs.

Wharton’s programme for Indian leaders

“Learning is a lifelong process of keeping abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to teach people how to learn.” (Peter F Drucker)

As Indian companies scale for global aspirations in a rapidly changing economic environment, good business strategy demands that senior executives and managers are trained in specific skills to keep pace with the organisation’s growth plan.

In recent years, India’s executive education sector has been growing by leaps and bounds. With economic growth creating a need for skilled human capital, leading business schools such as the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and Indian School of Business at Hyderabad are focusing on executive education programmes. International schools such as Harvard Business School, Oxford University and the University of Western Ontario are also making a beeline for the market.

The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania has announced the launch of a new non-degree business certificate programme in India beginning January 2012. Called the Accelerated Development Program (ADP), this new certificate is designed to meet the current needs of global business leaders with high potential in India.

"The Accelerated Development Program exemplifies Wharton's commitment to global business education as it will bring Wharton's world-class faculty and thought leadership to business executives in India," explained Wharton Vice Dean Jason Wingard who made the announcement of the programme yesterday at the School's Global Engagement Series event held in Mumbai, India.

Harbir Singh, Wharton's Vice Dean of Global Initiatives and the Mack Professor of Management, says the present is an ideal time to launch such a programme in India. "There is a growing emphasis on internationalisation for organisations in India," Singh says. "Business leaders must be well aware of the need to build globally competitive enterprises, and how today's highly interconnected world affects everything from innovation to finance to leadership. You can't create and maintain a competitive advantage without a global perspective."

The Accelerated Development Program is designed to bring that perspective to India's global business leaders with high potential. The certificate programme will offer courses in Mumbai and Gurgaon, India in topics such as Strategic Thinking, Finance, Marketing, and Leadership.

What distinguishes Wharton's Accelerated Development Program from other business school programmes currently offered in India is that it will go beyond the classroom sessions to help participants become more reflective and proactive in managing their careers. All participants who choose to complete the certificate will receive coaching and professional assessments. Also, they will be eligible to attend an executive education programme at the Wharton School's Philadelphia campus in the United States. No other business school in India currently offers these types of additional benefits.

"Business leaders today need a higher level of proactivity and self-reflection during their careers," says Singh, who will teach in the Accelerated Development Program. "The pace of change demands a take-charge approach, and coaching is an important component."

To be awarded the certificate, participants must complete three of the courses within two years.