It’s no secret that B-Schools in India are on a churn. Management education is facing its most severe test currently. Businesses are spurning B-School grads, except from top 25 out of some 3,000, and find fresh graduates from other disciplines like arts and commerce more desirable. The promoters who invested big money are wailing and the directors who are running these schools seems clueless.

There’s a severe shortage of faculty and students are in the lurch and the number of new students opting for management degree is declining. Can it get any worse?

Dire situations require bold thinking and quick response time. That’s what IIM Bangalore (www.iimb.ernet.in) and eMBArkers, a higher education research and consulting firm founded by alumni of XLRI and IIMB (www.embarkers.in) tried doing recently. A workshop was held for heads of deans, directors and over 70 program heads by faculty at IIMB, academic leaders, industry experts and consultants. The decision to form a league for directors of B-Schools was the most concrete outcome of this initiative.

Dr. Samir Kagalkar, director and cofounder of eMBArkers said the league would be a cohort based engagement with aspiring B Schools. This cohort could benefit from the rich experience of a few successful educationists and peers. Prof. Nagabrahmam, former director of TAPMI in Manipal, Karnataka, would head this league. He said building quality schools is more in the mind of the director than on factors like infrastructure or funds.

Powerful suggestions that came out of the workshop include:

• Collaborative research between faculty and students on the model of IIMB’s Tejas. Research should be simple and practical than research for research’s sake
• Entrepreneurship as a way of thinking rather than just a statistic of students starting their own venture after their graduation needs to be promoted
• Use technology by letting students preview the basic course on recorded video mode and thereafter engage in a more nuanced discussion during regular class. This way, faculty strength can be optimized
• Build capability among students in the most holistic manner using the finishing school concept right from day one rather than get into the last minute preparation during the placement season
• Directors should be transformational leaders who will own up responsibility of building the schools rather than expect a solution from promoter
• IIMs engage with regional B-Schools by mentoring them to reach higher level of quality.

This initiative by eMBArkers and IIM Bangalore’s Center for Public Policy is headed by Prof. Rajeev Gowda, is a first step.