The cries of some 200 students for a separate Telangana statehood, outside the gates of Osmania University, Hyderabad, can be heard faintly at the College of Commerce and Business Management, located at the heart of the university. Oblivious to the shouts, students sitting on bikes at the parking lot of the college, have their heads immersed in books. When asked whether the protests was affecting their study, Sai Kiran, one of the students replied. Protests have been on for months now but we try to stay unaffected. Our exams are on and that is more important.” Having said that, he once again buried his head into his book.
The Department of Business Management at the Osmania University has been doing its bit to ensure that the Telangana crisis least affects the schedule of its management colleges. About 200 MBA colleges are affiliated to Osmania University.
Dr B. Krishna Reddy, head of the Department of Business Management at Osmania University told PaGaLGuY that while it is routine to have lectures cancelled and strikes called, extra lectures make up for it. Lectures are held on holidays and weekends and other free time and we try our best not to compromise on the portion. We have kept to the calendar schedule.
Students-faculty unite
Last few months have seen many strike and no-education calls by the Telangana protestors but MBA colleges have learnt to deal with it. Both students and faculty take it upon themselves to make good the loss. In fact, students readily sacrifice their holidays for classes. Abhiram C.H., a student said that when lectures are called off, they are asked to come on the following weekend for classes and we agree since it means that lecture time is not wasted. Another student, .Vidya S, agreed and said that Telangana has little affected management colleges, except when strikes are called and students cannot enter the campus. But then extra classes make up for it, she added.
According to Prof. Vidyadhar Reddy, former dean of the Department of Business Management and now faculty, there is a delay of a few days at the end of the term but it is not because of the protests. We have some 20,000 MBA students in all our affiliated colleges and their exam papers often go through three sets of independent appraisals by different faculty. So in effect, there are more than a lakh papers checked and this usually causes a delay.
Unlike private b-schools, MBA colleges in Hyderabad begin lectures by September-October and finish by May-June, two years later. The entrance exam followed is the I-CET and is held in the month of May. Between May and September, a series of counselling sessions are held wherein colleges are allocated to students, depending on their entrance exam scores and past academics.
Placements
Going on to placements, even they seem only a little affected by the Telangana issue, so say the students and management officials. The only difference being that some corporates call students to their company headquarters instead of coming over to the campus, to avoid courting any trouble. Our management students by and large do not take part in the Telangana protests and companies are aware of it. Companies have no issues picking up our students, said Dr S Parthasarthy, Director, Head of Placement Services, Osmania University.
Companies like Wipro, TCS, LIC Housing Finance, Axis Bank, ICICI, SBI, Andhra Bank and Oracle are some of the companies that recruit from Osmania University. Last year, the average salary hovered in the region of Rs 4 lakhs.
ROI
Prof. Vidyadhar Reddy, says that considering that the fees are just about Rs 9,000 for two years (excluding hostel charges), they have the best ROI among all MBA colleges in the country. Anand Marathe, one of the student states that the ROI for MBA in Osmania University is a big reason why students take up management education here. Osmania University also has the highest number of international (not NRI) students amongst all universities in the country. Dr B. Krishna Reddy adds that some of its unique management programmes held for police and defense staff also draws in the numbers.
Hunky-dory?
Just while this correspondent was about to leave the university campus with the view that all was hunky dory despite Telangana demonstrations, an official from one of the technical colleges affiliated to Osmania caught up. He said:. Lectures have been really taking a beating due to the Telangana problem. Even if extra classes are taken, the quality of lectures has taken a dip. It is not that all is okay. One strike and the effect is felt for days. It is not easy to conduct classes with so much of problems in the campus. The official added since the Telangana crisis has got the student community up and about, it is bound to affect the education system sooner or later.
And it probably already has the students on a hunger strike outside the Osmania University gates, in other circumstances, would have been inside the campus attending lectures. It does not make a difference which side of the Telangana issue the students are on, the fact is that it is affecting their academic lives, and may be their future.. .