Previous

Page - 4

The Policy Makers

According to The Financial Times, The Australian Graduate School of Management (AGSM) was judged the best in Australia and Asia for the year 2004.
The minimum work experience required for the AGSM programme is two years, but the average experience of the class ends up being as high as five. The nature of your work experience is what determines your level of success at the admissions. If the leader in you has surfaced several times in your working stint, then your application gets that added edge. Such special profiles are what attract attention at such colleges.

In sharp contrast is our very own India, where no such stipulations exist and where an MBA can be an attainable goal right after a graduation degree. Even premiere institutes like the IIMs do not make it mandatory to have prior work experience.

Take into consideration the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad. It prides itself on being a business school with a difference, i.e., an institution that imparts business training, IIM-A to those who have gained entry into its hallowed portals. It also makes it very clear that the diversity India possesses in terms of its economy and the range of students that are admitted are bases enough for a multi-cultural grounding. It makes the job of understanding and working in multi-ethnic corporations and markets a little less taxing.

Going Up The Ladder

"As a matter of principle, we take in experienced and inexperienced people together," says Prof. Shrikant of IIM-A. "We understand that their learning styles are very different as are their needs and placement opportunities. Students with experience bring with thern a certain maturity and understanding of business organisations and the two-year course overlaps with their existing knowledge base. The curriculum structure is influenced by the nature of responsibilities that the graduates will take up."

Next

* Contributed by -
Oumkar Umesh,
Senior Correspondent - The Observer of Management,
Vol. 1 Issue 4 April 2006,
(With inputs from Prithvi Singh).