Declining Campus Placements: Is the Balloon of Management Education Deflating?

Over the past three decades, management education in India has witnessed significant expansion, drawing students from diverse academic backgrounds. However, recent campus placement trends indicate that the once highly coveted MBA/PGDM degree may be losing its sheen. While the COVID-19 pandemic temporarily boosted admissions, it created a misleading perception that management education remains as sought-after as ever.

Placement outcomes over the last five years tell a different story. Even premier institutions have observed a slowdown in both the quality and quantity of job offers. Based on my three decades of experience in dealing with campus placements, I have realised that the root cause lies not only in external factors- such as economic downturns, automation, or shifting industry needs- but more crucially in internal challenges within management education itself. Here are a few key concerns:

1️. Overexpansion Without Adequate Quality Control

Many institutions, including those in the Tier I and Tier II categories, have significantly increased student intake over the years. However, this expansion has not been accompanied by a proportional increase in faculty strength or infrastructure. As a result, while the number of management graduates has surged, their industry readiness and ability to take on responsibilities have not kept pace. The focus has been on quantity, often at the cost of quality.

2️. Mismatch Between Teaching Styles and Changing Learning Preferences

Millennials and Gen Z learners exhibit fundamentally different learning behaviours than previous generations. They prefer interactive, experiential, and tech-driven learning, yet many educators have struggled to adapt their teaching methodologies accordingly. My personal experience tells me that while an engaging professor may captivate students, that does not always translate into effective learning. Without pedagogical innovation, the learning experience risks becoming disengaging or ineffective.

3️. More Focus on Mechanical Learning Than Analytical Thinking

In recent years, management education has leaned heavily towards formula-driven, matrix-based decision-making. Students are often trained to fit decision-making scenarios into predefined models to arrive at quick and scientific-looking solutions. However, as businesses, societies, and customer expectations become more dynamic and complex, formula-based decision-making is proving inadequate. This has lowered the effectiveness of MBA graduates, as they often struggle to navigate ambiguous, real-world business challenges that defy straightforward mathematical solutions.

4️. Outdated Curriculum and Slow Adaptation to Market Needs

The business world is evolving faster than ever, yet many management institutions fail to update their curricula accordingly. Continuous curriculum improvement and revision remain an exception rather than a norm. This growing gap between market demands and the competencies of graduates is a major reason why many recruiters find management graduates underprepared for contemporary business challenges.

5️. Technical Skills Outpacing Behavioural Skills

Management education is not just about technical expertise- it is about people. Leadership, teamwork, communication, creative problem-solving, and self-awareness are critical behavioural skills that define great managers. However, most management programs overemphasise technical proficiency while underplaying the development of these essential soft skills. As a result, when companies seek leaders, they often find executors or mere process managers.

6️. Faculty-Industry Engagement Deficit

While academia excels in research and pedagogy, faculty-industry interaction remains limited in many institutions. Without regular industry exposure, faculty members struggle to connect theoretical knowledge with real-world applications. This gap widens when educators, who are meant to shape the next generation of managers, are themselves disconnected from the evolving needs of the industry.

The Bigger Question: Is Management Education Losing Relevance?

The real question for me is not just whether management education is losing its relevance but whether institutions are adapting fast enough to prevent its decline.

These challenges are by no means exhaustive- you can certainly add many more.  However, won’t you agree that we must engage in serious introspection and take corrective action before the oxygen that keeps this balloon afloat runs out?

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