Students attending an MBA class at Islamia College, Srinagar
The two T’s that make most news in the state of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K;), are terrorism and tourism. Almost everything else takes a backseat, unless of course an all-girl band is booed or there is bad weather at Amarnath. No surprises then, that education makes least news and MBA much further behind.
PaGaLGuY.com visited the state to know what MBA means to its youngsters and whether there is at all a business education culture. Considering that the state is torn by more bomb blasts in a year than the number of companies that come on campus, reality is actually not so dismal.
Below is the first of the insights that this correspondent got back from the state – an overview of the MBA scene in the state.
Statistics
To stack up statistics, there are some seven private MBA institutes in the state and at least seven state-run universities that offer MBA as a subject. The oldest among them is Kashmir University which started the MBA programme 22 years ago. And the newest is Central University, Kashmir which started three years ago. While some universities admit students through the Common Admission Test (CAT), others admit on the basis of Central Universities Common Entrance Test (CUCET) scores.
It is estimated that the wanting-to-do MBA population in the state will be close to 3,000 annually. While some schools have batches of 30 students, others have over 120 and they all run full quorum.
In fact, the student-faculty ratio in the state is also healthy. For instance Central University, Kashmir has 30 students and 9 full time professors (and an equal number visiting), while the management course at SSM College of Engineering and Technology has 13 permanent and three times the number of guest faculty for a batch of 120 students.
The ratio of women to men is also among the brightest. Most universities have equal number of male and female students, while few have 40% women. And to top that, almost every school has students from across the country – Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan and Bihar to name a few. Quite a number of faculties are also PhDs, (though we did not probe into this aspect deeply). Fees are modest as well with something like an Islamia College charging Rs 16,000 for the first year and Rs 14,000 for the second year.
Unlike the more famous schools in India, in J&K;, management institutes admit to payment seats. They are also honest about the rates. For instance, Islamia College charges Rs 2.5 lakhs each for 15 such seats, Kashmir University charges Rs 2 lakhs in two installments for some 5-7 seats.
Islamia College which was totally burnt down in 1992 is seeing fresh construction
Need for business education
The general refrain among b-schools in J&K; is that higher education has a tough time thriving in a state marked by so many uncertainties. And schools give all credit to students who brave many oddities to pursue an MBA. Be it external issues or families who think that basic education is all that is needed to go ahead.
According to Prof BC Sharma, Dean, Placements and Professor at The Business School, run by the Jammu University (which is the oldest MBA programme in J&K;) , youngsters in the state are actually very enthusiastic about higher studies. “They want to study and MBA is a natural option. Our b-schools do not figure in the top rung but given the conditions in which we operate, lots of efforts go into running them.”
Dr SA Mufeed, who is director of The Business School, attached to the University of Kashmir says that one reason why MBA is a craze is that there is no fierce competition to get into a management programme. “The colleges which admit though CAT, allow a cut-off as little as 60% for women and 70-80% for men. Besides, an MBA is a fresh alternative to the newer generation, which does not want to take up traditional tourism-related jobs.”
Infrastructure
Guess, it would not be right to compare the infrastructure in management institutes in J&K; to the better b-schools across the country. But it was not too bad either. Almost all the universities and management institutes, this correspondent visited, had sprawling campuses, with colourful and flowery plants everywhere. No, there were no Gothic buildings, simple modern ones plastered with chuna. Some institutes had classrooms which were ascending in nature but the insides were smaller and the furniture modest.
Cultural Committees or Admission Committees are rarely heard of and in many colleges, male and female students do not work together on projects. Extra-curricular activities are fewer. When this correspondent visited SSM College of Engineering, there was a cricket match in progress. Apparently, it is played in the IPL fashion and students are auctioned by in-house teams.
Central University Kashmir has been sanctioned a massive 200-acre campus in Tulmulu area, since currently, it functions from three different temporary locations. Says Dr Farooq Ahmed Shah, its director: “It is only natural that management institutes need to have proper infrastructure if they are serious about imparting good education. We need to have classrooms which are technologically-advanced and libraries which are digital. We cannot lack in anyway.”
SSM College Campus at 4.00 pm
Placements/ Internships
If for the rest of the country, placements are a sore point, for J&K; it is the same. But the issues are more in-depth. Here, Placement Officers or Placement Committees are unheard of. Every management institute told PaGaLGuY that while other states grapple with ‘the number of companies that come on campus’ in J&K;, companies do not like to come at all.
Dr Farooq Shah adds: “The picture this state portrays is of fear and that deters company people. Difficult explaining to people that except for the stray incidents, the state is generally peaceful.”
Prof Zia Ul Haq, who is Assistant Professor at Central University, Kashmir says that he along with a group of professors had toured the country some time ago to generate an interest among corporates “We visited companies and convinced them hard to come over. We assured them that we would host them and make sure that there is no risk involved but we realised the task is more difficult than we thought.”
Central University however is upbeat by a recent letter it received from Mr Cyrus Mistry, Chairman of the Tata Group. The letter which is signed by Mr Mistry says that he has asked his HR department to look into the placement needs of the college.
Prof Khurshid Mahajan, Director, Department of Management Studies at Islamia College of Science and Commerce says that J&K; Bank is the only bank that visits campuses in the state and recruits students. While Prof BC Sharma states that a company like Infosys will gladly go to remote towns in other states but not visit J&K.;
Dr Nasir Shah, Director, The Business School at the SSM College of Engineering and Technology says that his students are more than willing to travel outside the state to work, “but not all students are permitted to do so by their parents.”
It may be recalled that a couple of months ago, PaGaLGuY had written an article on students of Central University, Kashmir who spent their internship months with the Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow. This has been considered a feat across management institutes in the state and it is felt that similar exercises need to be carried out to expose students to the ‘real MBA culture.
Prof BC Sharma is however considered a success story when it comes to placements for his university. Having held the post for many years, it is believed that he has mastered the art of convincing companies to visit his campus, even if it be for a few hours. Though 50 plus, Prof Sharma is extremely active on Facebook and states that social media is the way to get work done these days. “I use it to speak to companies as well and also my students. We have to show to the world that we in J&K; are also modern in thought.”
Unrest
Of course, all plans come to a naught when the state is engulfed in security issues. The recent Afzal Guru episode meant that schools closed down for days. A fidayeen attack or a bomb blast anywhere and life comes to a shut in the state. The first then to close are the educational institutions.
Prof Mahajan informs that in 1991, his entire university was burnt down by terrorist groups. “Our college is in the Jama Masjid area and a very sensitive place. It was reduced to ashes. We had 60,000 books in our library then. Everything just vanished; this huge complex became flat land. We have started building since then. Today, we have 80,000 books and buildings are still coming up.”
It is for this reason that Central University, Kashmir, insures its students when they enroll. Dr Farooq Shah explains that it is done so that the students and the families are looked after if a crisis strikes.” Naturally, the fees here are over Rs 20,000 per year.
Students are not too unnerved though. For them it is part of life. Adil Ahmed Zargar of Central University, Kashmir says that finally students want to do an MBA. “Problems will be there, how we cross them and go ahead is where the challenge is.”
Ruksana Riiyaz from SSM College thinks that students need to think beyond just placements. “We should be doing an MBA to learn a discipline and to make something out of it on our own. There are opportunities in the state which can also be harnessed.”
Muneer Ahmed, from Central University has a different opinion. “It is unfair to blame the security situation in J&K; for everything. “Schools and students here need to do more than what they are doing. Placement officers and committees are needed to help generate an interest in the state. We need to show the world, that tourism is not the only thing that we can do well in, we are also fit to work in companies and rub shoulders with students of the bigger and better b-schools in the country.”