Employability in business education: Opportunities and challenges

Prof. Nayan Barua

(Former Head and Dean, Faculty of Commerce, Gauhati University) & Angshuman Sharma (Research Scholar, Department of Commerce, Gauhati University. Can be reached at (angshu2606@rediffmail.com)

The dearth of suitable employment avenues in India has been a very serious issue among the people in general and the educated unemployed in particular. While this problem has assumed different proportions in different parts of the country, its snowballing effect has been felt overwhelmingly in the North Eastern States of India. Scores of youngsters are forced to leave their native land in search of livelihood. Commerce and management education is an essential part of corporate business in terms of curriculum design and activities performed. However, it cannot be separated from everyday life and human ethics. Many opine that commerce or management education has bestowed upon learners a lesson of practical education of day-to-day way of life and enabled them to acquire to a certain degree, the art of livelihood. It is indeed true that an increasing trend has been observed in terms of students getting enrolled in the business stream. Increased employability value is perhaps the guiding force that learners perceive while exercising their academic options. Business education in India has been at a crossroads for a while now. A wide range of business education programmes was initiated for both undergraduate as well as postgraduate levels over the last couple of decades. This was in the backdrop of the enormous challenge of employability confronting thousands of aspirants.

This well-acclaimed formula seemed easy enough especially for those who had chosen the commerce pathways to post their level 10 school education. The BBA/BCOM/BBM qualification after completion of level 12 of school education became a strong desire and soon enough, the postgraduate endorsing an MBA or MCOM award became a norm. The initial responsiveness of the industry was very positive as qualified MBA executives became the need of the hour. Besides, based on the reputation and ranking of the institute or the university, these executives were also successful in attracting handsome salary packages. The industry welcomed these executives with open hands to manage a range of functions specialized in Finance, Human resources, Marketing or Generic. The business graduates received job offers through campus interviews organized by the institutions and based on perceived ranking or reputations, the salary range varied from place to place and from one industry segment to another. The post-graduate business qualification attracted a salary premium which convinced young aspirants that a business degree at an undergraduate level with a postgraduate top-up was the perfect recipe for a high paying business career. Unlike the case of Management students, their counterparts in the commerce stream face much complication as there is no single regulatory authority under one umbrella to establish a uniformity of standard and control of commerce stream with strict notification authority. Universities mainly follow UGC standard curricula and practices for their undergraduate and postgraduate courses and sometimes make changes exceeding the prescribed limit of 20 per cent. Besides, the provisions of electives and options are so embezzled that a student can skip an important core subject and earn a degree easily i.e. without the feeding of a core subject. The absence of a mandatory practical learning programme has made this discipline detached from the mainstream purpose for which its nomenclature largely stands for. In India, both commerce and management education is growing at a rapid speed due to the strength, capacity of students and growing number of educational institutions, popularly known as Business Schools. The role of business education is expected to be more dynamic to meet the contemporary need of society. The present globalised economic scenario has made things more pressing and institutions engaged in business education are becoming more and more responsive to globalized order, upgraded knowledge and enhanced skill which is the need of the hour. Notwithstanding, commerce and management education should always be one step in advance to cope with developing technology and emerging practices. For instance, NER with its natural abundance has unfolded a new horizon of growth. In Assam, commerce graduates are redeeming their values through participation in the process of growth and adding strength to our belief in building a new culture of life. Agriculture, food processing and tourism have been identified long back as sunrise areas in the region. NEDFI has highlighted the potentialities of this agro and industrial sector and also assisted in their growth. The commerce graduates are creating a strong support base to provide services in all sunrise areas besides laying the foundation of the hospitality and wellness industry. Over the last few decades, the financial sector has been growing very fast and its buoyancy has created many ancillary and supportive services in which commerce and management graduates are perfectly matched. To name a few - Taxation (Tax practitioner), Merchant Banking, Stockbroking, Portfolio Management, Credit Rating Stock holding, Capital Budgeting, Project expertise, Factoring Services etc.

A major policy decision of the Government to withdraw HS courses from degree colleges in NER in general and Assam, in particular, is likely to open a new job market for those having master degrees in commerce. The increasing number of degree colleges and universities are also absorbing a sizeable number of postgraduates in commerce. The key issue with higher business education in India has been an ongoing disconnect with industry in terms of quality graduates or postgraduates being produced from a perspective of employability. There is a clear gap that has emerged in terms of the industry experts and the talent that the institutions are producing. This issue requires the institutions and their academic leadership to take a hard look at the graduate attributes that are required in terms of the knowledge and skill components as well as the curriculum and its delivery mechanism. The industry too can claim expectations from the young graduates as they seek employment opportunities but it is for the institution to walk the talk to enable the learners to become employable. The recent realization of the Central Government that content-heavy course curriculum has failed to deliver results for its poor alignment with the recognised demand. The most important challenge for business education in India centres on the fact that high-quality education is limited to the top-liner schools. The number of students graduating from these schools is negligible compared to the demand of the industry. The fact is that there is such a difference between the top liner and the next level which leads to numerous problems. It is also appropriate to mention here that the HRD department always becomes easy prey to drastic technological upheaval and there is a considerable reduction in manpower in the name of reorganization and re-engineering. In recent times, it has been observed that corporate bottom lines have increased but the amount of salary and wage bill is falling alarmingly. This is mainly because of the shrinkage of the workforce. In Assam and the entire North Eastern Region, commerce discipline did not receive a rousing welcome either from the student community or from the edu-entrepreneur until the beginning of the 21st century. It is only in the last decade that students have shown their desire and inclination towards the commerce stream. The relevance of commerce as a discipline subsists owing to its combination with the allied subjects/disciplines. As the commerce curriculum has been designed combining many allied subjects viz. Statistics, Mathematics, Economics, literature besides core papers of business education which inter-alia includes Management, Accountancy, Finance, Marketing, and Insurance etc. However, the introduction of mathematics is perhaps one of the single most reasons that have impacted the growth of commerce education substantially in our state. The emergence of professional institutes (like the ICAI, ICWA, and Management Institutes) have partially eclipsed the professional relevance of the B.Com/M.Com degree which was designed to serve both academic and professional interests. It is indeed true that these professional courses are tailor-made and mixed with a large scope for practical training. They are more specialized and educational training rigorously implemented under one single authority. Specialization always brings intensity and perfection in any field of activity and soon the specialized knowledge provider gathers appreciation of high esteem. On the other hand, academic courses are knowledge-oriented though tuned professionally in commerce stream to meet market demand. The interface between industry and academia is yet to reach the desired level and a sustained mechanism is required to augment the process reconciling academic autonomy and business interest. However, the North-eastern region has reason to foresee a spectrum of rays as a large number of colleges both in the public and private sector are applying for permission to open a commerce stream in recent times.

Visionary approach and selfless commitment can build the institutions to suit the changing time fulfilling the aspirations of our coming generation. Although commerce education is a part of business education, yet there is no common authority to set standard norms for it. The colleges and institutes are under different universities and therefore the standard of the mother university largely governs the standard of the colleges. In reality, the qualities of such institutes vary widely from one to the other. The programmes of commerce education are designed as per the direction of the UGC through the affiliated university with the liberty to fluctuate up to 20% of its content. This additional authorization is seldom used effectively to serve the best interest of students. The process of revision of course content is not done at a prescribed periodic interval. The positional status of commerce education in Assam in particular and the country, in general, is such that it does not enjoy full acceptability from industrial organizations as a terminal course to groom business executives. A master degree holder in commerce has to adorn himself with further enrichment to get recognition of teacher-ship in colleges and universities. Likewise, the level at which a student gets his/her course completed has to go through the process of attaining finishing quality to groom himself to hold an executive position. Commerce and Management education should have a strong industry focus and connection. The learning processes and pedagogical interventions should be consistent with the business environment. A periodic review should also be ensured at need-based intervals. The educational institutions could build tie-ups with reputed national and overseas institutions to inject the advanced touch which will help remove the dismal employability of our product. To cover the higher cost, the facilities of education loan can be availed of by desiring students. Achieving excellence at a point in time or a very restricted field is not the key objective of success. What should be aimed at is sustainable excellence and not momentary triumph. The number of students in each college/institute should be based on an ideal teacher-student ratio. This will certainly reduce the present imbalance between input and capacity ratio and may build up an ideal input ratio in cities and semi-urban areas. The syllabus of commerce education should also incorporate ethical components since the products are absorbed in the myriad of activities of the economic system of our country. The commerce institution could run an executive development programme for small scale sectors and also for those who are self-employed without any formal entrepreneurship training. The UGC has provided HR Development Centre in all the major universities for the training of faculty members. Besides, there are many Faculty Development Programme's (FDP) at present sponsored by various organizations and the Government at regular intervals.