UNDERGRADUATE MANAGEMENT EDUCATION: A DEPARTURE FROM CONVENTIONAL MANAGEMENT EDUCATION

The education which imparts students the expertise to be managers, business leaders or professors in business education is known as Management education. Whenever the issue of Management education is discussed, the discussion hovers around post-graduate management education. The degree of MBA is considered by laymen to be a passport to well-paid jobs with great prospects for advancement. According to a report by ASSOCHAM Education Committee, though MBA aspirants are fleeced by B-schools in terms of charging exorbitant fees, only 7% MBA graduates are actually employable which speaks volumes about the quality of education imparted by such schools. The same report states that around 220 B-schools had shut down in the last two years in the country and at least 120 more are expected to wind up in 2016. Under such circumstances, the question is: how and where will the management degree aspirants get quality management education? This paper is an attempt to assess if this gap in management education can be filled in by undergraduate management education. The paper reviews the aspect of curriculum and pedagogy at undergraduate level and submits recommendations on strategies that will help in the developing and sustaining undergraduate management education in line with contemporary business trends coupled with societal care.