Exec education: Ivy League entry ruffles Indian schools' feathers

Exec education: Ivy League entry ruffles Indian schools' feathers

Aim is to cash in on the growing Rs 350-cr executive education space in India.
When Harvard Business School’s (HBS) new dean Nitin Nohria told the media that the top B-school is looking for a classroom in India and is committed to doing something in the executive education space in an “intense way”, he was voicing the collective ambitions of the Ivy league schools.

While HBS and Tuck School of Business are already present in India in a limited way, they would soon be joined by others like Oxford University’s Said Business School and Duke University.
The reason is simple: All of them need to diversify their revenue stream and the India growth story is something they can hardly afford to ignore. Moreover, executive education is a Rs 350-business in India and is growing at a fast clip.
“We bring in advantages like scalability. It’s about leadership training at various levels in the organisation. A large portion of our delivery is technology related. It’s about blending classical executive education and technology-based education and about e-learning modules and simulation based courses,” says Vinay Hebbar, MD, Harvard Business Publishing.
Others are more than listening. For instance, in its 800-year history, Oxford University has for the first time, announced that it will set up an offshore facility at Lavasa near Pune.
The Said Business School at the University of Oxford proposes to establish a Center for Indian business studies — the Oxford University India Business Center which will, among other things, also deliver executive education programmes. The funds for this Oxford University Educational organisation will be given by Ajit Gulabchand, chairman of Lavasa Corporation.
Many Indian B-schools, however, are not amused and believe international B-schools are in India with a financial outlook and only to address MNCs.
“The interest of international B-schools in India is purely financial. If it’s only about offering quality education, why don’t they serve the small and medium enterprises (SMEs)? Why do they only visit MNCs and top Indian companies,” says the director of an Indian Institute of Management (IIM) who did not wish to be quoted.
Indian B-schools say the real executive education market lies in addressing the needs of the SMEs in regional languages. “Our training is as good as a Harvard professors as we understand the local market and needs better,” adds the director.
Some others say giving executive education in India is not a feasible option for the international schools.
“It’s not feasible for foreign schools to conduct programmes in India as the cost is very high. One also has to fly professors down in business class, accommodate them in five-star hotels and also conduct the programmes in a five-star ambience. In contrast, Indian B-schools conduct such programmes on their premises and accommodate the executives on the campus too,” explains an IIM Calcutta professor.
Charges for the executive education programmes are school and programme-specific. For instance, Harvard charges Rs 2,12,000 (plus service tax) for a five-day programme on “Building a Global Enterprise in India” and ISB Rs 1,50,000 for a five-day programme on “Marketing Strategy in a Competitive Environment”. IIM Ahmedabad, on the other hand, charges Rs 1,50,000 for a five-day programme for top Management on “Corporate Strategy — Brand Strategy Linkages”.
IIMs offer programmes at two levels: Short duration (seven to 20 days) and longer duration (six months). “Harvard is not in the longer duration executive education programmes, so competition for the IIMs seems lower than for ISB,” says an IIM professor who did not wish to be identified. Meanwhile, with the global economic revival, business schools say companies are loosening their purse strings and putting employee training programmes back on track. Business schools say they see an upsurge in executive education enrolments by 40 to 50 per cent.
Kunal Basu, reader in Marketing, Said Business School, Oxford University says, “With the growing demand for management education in the country, there are challenges and opportunities. Management education in India now faces the challenges of quality assurance and research excellence”. But that’s hardly something the Indian B-schools would agree to.
Despite the reservations of the Indian schools, the fact is that India Inc is happy that the international universities are coming to their door steps to deliver their executive education programmes as clearly there would be a 60 per cent cost reduction. Sending an executive could cost a company upward of Rs 20 lakh depending on the duration of the programme and the cost. The flip side, however, is that international exposure would be something that the executive compromises on.
Says Vivek Menon, Director Human Capital, Integreon, a knowledge processing outsourcing firm, “it’s good that international education will become affordable and allow more number of people to attend. Besides working out to be cheaper, this could also play a part in employee retention.
Integreon sends around six to seven executives in senior management every year to HBS for executive education programme. An advantage is that these executives could impart training to their own team members.

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