“Has it ever struck you how remarkably management education and style has evolved over the years ?” Years gone by, MBA was the only degree that a young manager would consider, but these days the decision isn’t always that straightforward. As the global economy continues to flounder, the need for choice and competing degrees is required, and nowhere has this view been more apparent than India. A recent rise in demand for experienced employees has lead established schools like XUB bring along courses with a futuristic outlook.
To illustrate this, let me take an example of a finance graduate. A very generalized notion used to exist that the students graduating in finance will go and mostly work for share brokers or in stock markets which primarily used to mean that behavioural and other aspects were given way less importance in management than financial knowledge. After I worked in the financial services sector, I was looking up every course I could on core finance and I stumbled upon Masters of Business Finance (MBF) course provided by the Xavier University Bhubaneswar (XUB) which gave me a right mix of core finance as well as a chance to improve soft skills and overall personality unlike earlier management education and style. XUB has also introduced live model-based studies in business finance to simulate and upgrade the learning process using softwares like R, SPSS and others to name a few to enhance management accuracy.
Nowadays though, MBA’s come in a variety of forms. Xavier University Bhubaneswar (XUB) provides management education in a plethora of diverse streams such as human resource management, sustainability management, rural management, urban management, business management and others that entails subjects which are required to stay on top of the game in this fast-paced world of innovations. XUB has also introduced MBA equivalent programs like Masters of Business Finance (MBF) to provide a robust core finance base to meet industry demand for quality decision making.
Since digitization, machine learning, artificial intelligence, data analytics, robotization, and blockchain will define the future of business, the demand for graduates harnessing these kinds of skills will be at an all-time high. XUB has brought into inception programs in artificial intelligence and other sciences to provide students with the tools to navigate the complexities of the business environment with technical and digital business management skills.
Students are always stuck to their phones/tablets, gadgets, talking on WhatsApp rather than talking face to face. Students are well versed with new technology, and this is of utmost importance, but they still definitely need those soft skills, because every business till now has involved a human being. There is always a human, or a board, that takes the decision. Here at XUB, as a part of creating valuable future ready managers training in soft skills such as negotiation, leadership, teamwork and problem solving remains a top priority.
It’s clear that the management education has changed over the years, and it would be reasonable to suggest that it will continue to develop as years go by. With the rising interest shown by employers in such assorted programs, the question remains as to how far the industries can keep up. At this point though, it is impossible to tell, but whilst businesses favour it, students will demand it.
– Vishal Dhanawat
MBA-MBF (2018-2020)