Rethinking MBA

I happened to read a very interesting article in today’s ET titled RETHINKING THE MBA.The authors argue that instead of having 2year MBA course, it’s more pragmatic to have 1 year MBA course.I’d like to sum up the reasons they have stated in support of their argument:
Students get slacked off after completion of 1st yr because they know that their job short listing is based on their 1st year CGPAs.
The creme De la creme of MBA is summer internships which get completed after end of 1st year so students get relaxed after 1 st year.

The students in top B schools are mostly engineers from top colleges so they are already conditioned to be fast learners so they don’t need 2 year model for learning management.
All the best b schools in the world like Ivey B School in Canada’s Ontario and INSEAD, Paris have adopted the 1 year model.

Keeping in these above points in mind, it’s better to have 1 year model because we know that to optimize your assets, assets must be leveraged, inventory must have high turnover hence these if we adopt 1 year model then the student intake can also be increased, faculty shortage can also be met and students can be industry ready faster and start earning faster.

I could not agree more with the argument stated by these eminent thinkers. I myself have faced the same issue in my MBA.i have observed that the 1st year of MBA was rigorous and we were really able to learn the concepts very fast and were more productive. We had to go through so many things like assignments, classes, extra curricular activities and in fact all the main subjects had been taught in 1st year itself and the 2nd year has been so relaxed that sometimes it comes to haunt me and makes me think as if I am simply wasting my time and the real valuable learning is effectively zero. I am not joking or temporarily emotional, I am serious. We hardly have classes, and the classes which we have are repetition and extension of courses taught in 1st year while some of them are just a waste of time and they are there only to fill time. Other than that we are doing almost nothing. And I sometimes think back that what value have I gained in my 2nd year which will arm me to be a better manager and then there is void in my answer.in fact I had learned more during my 2months of internship than in my MBA so this proves the fact that given time crunch and scope of learning being huge you learn things more faster and longer.

I don’t see any reason why we should have this 2year model, have the students get taught all the important courses, send them for internship and give them placement. The courses and subjects have no end and if we think that this or that subject is also important then this list will never end. Some things should be left to be learned on the job too.

I hope with this article, a better sense will prevail and hopefully the coming generation will get the fruits of this debate coming to fore.