Garima Arora quit journalism in 2022 to pick up a public relations and marketing job. Finding herself ill-equipped for the new role, she decided to go for an online MBA, offered by SVKM's Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies.
Upon graduating this year, she joined as manager, corporate communications at Ola Electric and credits her programme for landing her the new role. "I shifted into public relations and wanted to learn the skills relevant to industry as I was facing issues," she said. "The role included decision-making, programme management and stakeholder management. The course helped me understand these skills and apply those in my role almost everyday," she stated.
The growth of online MBA programmes over the past three years has been the result of two developments the pandemic, which effectively pushed all programmes online for over a year, and the University Grants Commission's permitting online degrees in 2021.
Management, at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels, has become one of the most popular disciplines for online education. But there are challenges.
Students told Careers360 that they missed the benefits of peer interactions and learning as well as access to alumni networks.
Rashmi Subramanium, 27 and from Thane, Maharashtra, recently graduated from Mizoram University's online MBA in entrepreneurship. He found the content updated and the quality of lectures and mentorship strong but absence of peer relationships and alumni connections were big gaps.
No hands-on learning
The course helped Subramanium understand the concepts of entrepreneurship but didn't provide any handson entrepreneurial activities.
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'We have a completion rate of 80-90%'
During an interaction, Mayank Kumar, co-founder and managing director of upGrad, spoke to Sheena Sachdeva about new courses in accounting and management, the profile of learners, trends in online MBA courses, and more. Edited excerpts from the conversation below
New roles and spaces
Online MBA has helped many working professionals climb up the office hierarchy or even pivot to an entirely new career. But there are challenges.
'Committed to industry-relevant learning'
International Management Institute (IMI), New Delhi, is India's first corporate-sponsored B-school. It offers three PG diplomas in management - the flagship PGDM with 300 seats, as well as human resource management and business and financial studies with 60 each. Himadri Das, director general, IMI, discussed the challenges posed by competition among private business schools, the importance of diversity, and IMI's NIRF rankings with Sanjay. Edited excerpts from the interview.
National Insurance Academy plans expansion to meet rising demand
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The era of MBA in sustainability
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Despite good record, SRCC's PGDM faces degree hurdle
Delhi University's Shri Ram College of Commerce started its postgraduate diploma in Global Business Operations (GBO) 25 years ago. Principal Simrit Kaur spoke to Shradha Chettri on their effort to convert the diploma into a degree programme, changes required in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) and more. Edited excerpts
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Agribusiness managers are in great demand, both on the 'input' side of agriculture - seeds, fertilizer, machinery businesses - as well as in the processing of the 'output'
Creating 'innovators with conscience'
The SP Jain Institute of Management and Research (SPJIMR), Mumbai, has been the top Indian institution in the Financial Times' (FT) Masters in Management rankings for two years in a row. Varun Nagaraj, dean of SPJIMR, spoke to Atul Krishna about what the institute does differently, its plans, the future of business education, and the FT and National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) lists. Edited excerpts below
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The Faculty of Management Studies (FMS) at the University of Delhi (DU) is one of India's premier business schools offering MBA courses at a relatively low cost, compared to most leading business schools in India. Celebrating its 70th year, it is also one of the first university-based business schools. In an interview with Sanjay, head and dean of FMS A Venkat Raman spoke about the functioning of a business school under a central university, challenges, courses and future plans. He also spoke on the Common Admission Test (CAT) and its impact on diversity in student cohorts. Edited excerpts
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