they have international recognition. That’s
changed over time. One of the things that
we have been doing for two years is to build
the Study in India programme. Last year,
we worked with 13 different Indian busi-
ness schools and marketed Indian business
education to students in about 60 countries.
Over the two years, we have seen candidate
interest increase by about 65 per cent.
Also, of course, it helps that Indian
business schools themselves have become
more recognised and have got interna-
tional ranking.
We could do with some help in the
regulatory framework, which is a little bit
restricting for reasons we don’t entirely
understand. For example, the regulators
restrict certain schools from accepting
the NMAT by GMAC exam (the NMIMS
Management Aptitude Test is only for In-
dian business schools). Why? There are
legacy reasons.
Apart from these, the visa regime is dif-
ficult for students. For example, if you are
doing a two-year MBA programme and
want to do summer internship, you need a
separate work visa, which is difficult to get.
We need to oil the wheel a little bit to lessen the friction but I am certain
that we will work on that.
In India, we see business schools focussing on exchange pro-
grammes and having more diversity. How will that help?
The Indian growth story has been heavily built around the country open-
ing up to the world ever since reforms were implemented. Indian busi-
ness schools also want to open up to the world and we need to remove
bottlenecks in their way. A part of that is exchange programmes. Our
students will be future business leaders and so they need to appreciate
different cultural contexts.
Indian business schools should try to develop their unique identity.
Sometimes we worry that in our hunger for international recognition, we
become too much like everybody else. For example, too many business
schools are now looking for international accreditation, which is a good
sign of quality but it comes with a downside – to be credited, you have to
conform to norms that have been developed for western business schools.
We should leverage what’s unique about India, because that’s what is go-
ing to bring the international candidate here. If you are just like everybody
else, then you are competing with them when there are certain things that
don’t work, like environment or perception of safety of our cities.
What unique features can Indian business schools leverage?
It’s not what is unique about Indian business schools, it is about what is
unique about India. India is multi-cultural, highly diverse, and has the
ability to work together. But more importantly, we also know the concept
EDUCATION SPECIAL94 I BUSINESS TODAY I August 25 I 2019of frugal innovation. Other economies
can learn from that. We have to build
upon what makes the Indian economy
unique.
We are as aspirational as many
economies in Africa and Central Asia.
So, we should build programmes that
are relevant to those economies. We
should not try to build managers who
can work for, say, General Electric,
but managers who can work for suc-
cessful Indian corporations or start-
ups that are doing unique things in
a way different from Silicon Valley
organisations.As of now, which are the top
countries for MBA?The biggest traditional market has
been the US and that continues. But
over the last couple of years, we have
seen some decline in international vol-
ume in the US. Last year, it was about
10 per cent. It’s cyclical and there has
been a political environment that we
have to deal with.
Some non-traditional markets
have come up, for instance in Europe.
Germany is an attractive market not
only because of the quality of business
schools but also the liberal visa regime.
Moreover, Germany has been going
through a negative population growth
so it needs qualified individuals. Spain
and Denmark, for example, have lead-
ing business schools. So, apart from
the US and Canada, there are a lot of
good options in Europe.
We are also beginning to see a rise
of Asian business schools. In 2000,
among the top 50 business schools as
ranked by The Financial Times, 42
were in the US, eight in Europe, and
zero in A sia. Last year, 12 were in A sia.
There are obviously quality busi-
ness schools in India and China but
also in cities like Singapore and Hong
Kong. Students are saying: My career
is going to be back in Asia, and now I
have an equivalent quality of business
education in Asia. So why don’t I study
here rather than go overseas?@sonalkhetarpal7(^1954)
Year the GMAT tests
were set up
32,425
No. of GMAT tests taken
in India (Jul 2017-Jun 2018,
or test year 2018)
242,714
No. of GMAT tests taken
globally (TY2018)
7,000+
programmes at
2,300 universities and
organisations use the exam
76,973
No. of NMAT tests
taken in 2018