ICFAI Business School has consistently used the case study approach over and above textbooks which prepares students for the real world, says J Mahender Reddy, Vice-Chancellor, ICFAI Foundation for Higher Education
The ICFAI group is one of the largest private universities group in India. Established in 1984, ICFAI has been in higher education for nearly three decades. It launched the certification programme for Financial Analysts, the CFA Programme in 1985, and has been instrumental in developing a new generation of professionals in India. In 1995, ICFAI set up the ICFAI Business Schools (IBS) in eight locations to offer employment-oriented two years post graduate programmes in management with various specialisations. Over the years, IBS Hyderabad has been ranked among the top ten B-schools. ICFAI has also sponsored 11 private universities in different States leading to a pan-India presence of ICFAI Universities. In this interview, J Mahender Reddy, Vice Chancellor, ICFAI Foundation for Higher Education, talks about the rigorous approach IBS has adopted to the case study methodology for its management schools which has helped its case research centre emerge as a global centre for case studies.
Nearly 40 years in the space of education now. How are you consciously meeting the dynamic needs of the current labour market?
With every year the demand for higher education increases and we feel a big need to enhance the quality of higher education delivered. So we’ve always maintained an application-oriented approach to our curriculum. Our curriculum goes through frequent review and we have integrated robust research cases into the education we deliver here. We are one of the first to successfully and consistently use the case study approach significantly over and above textbooks. We believe this comprehensively prepares students for the real world.
And, what are the advantages you’ve perceived from incorporating the case research methodology?
During a two-year window, our management students go through 400 cases. In the first year, they study cases developed indigenously by our own institute. In the second year, they go through Harvard Business School cases. The case research centre is also a profit centre for us. Our cases are populated via Harvard Business Publishing and this ensures some flow of revenue. Moreover, our cases are available in over seven languages through Harvard Business Publishing, and we’re one of the largest resources for Indian cases.
You speak about revenue flow. ICFAI as an institution is also a business at the end of the day. How do you differentiate yourself in the face of stiff competition?
We need faculty and student quality to be good, so we focus on this here. We’re here not just to develop students and cater to a market need, but to also develop our faculty. Younger members of the faculty attend seminars and deliver talks outside the institution; we host conferences here as well to ensure we exchange ideas and connect with industry. Besides a socially relevant curriculum where students get to put on a manager’s shoes, we maintain a student-centric academic delivery very consistently and we believe this is the way the nation has to move. We believe teachers have to become mentors and coaches.
How is the larger landscape for academic institutions changing in your opinion?
We’re seeing internationalisation occur; we see this playing out through dual degrees and semesters abroad, because so much of higher education today is about living and learning together. We also see more interaction with and exposure to the industry, along with significantly more management development programmes, which is a great move forward. Depending on the needs of the market and the desire of some students to work and gain experience in various settings outside India, qualifications like MSc in Financial Economics and PhD in Economics are gaining favour. Lastly, we believe co-curricular and extra-curricular activities are important for the overall development of students into well-rounded professionals.
Yours is a residential model, nearly 3,000 students. You also spent Rs 400 crore to establish eight varsities. Are you seeing returns on all that investment?
It’s early stages, we have not recovered it all. But we invest whatever we make back into this institution. We spent Rs 20 crore just in research over the last three years, because churning out new cases is an important agenda for us. Classic cases are evergreen, but generation of new studies is important. And over the years efforts in maintaining quality of education, good placement record and excellent infrastructure continues to give us returns.
What new challenges present themselves to institutions like yours as you look into the future?
We’ve noted how the 18-23 year old population in India is growing substantially (reports say 600 million of them below 25). We believe the aspirations of people to achieve higher education is going to grow and enrolments are going to go up.
The private sector role in higher education is definitely going to grow substantially in the next few years and we want to cater for these aspiring young people. We’re also aware that national and international players will emerge as competition for institutions like ours.
How have you built the institution and maintained its culture consistently over so many years?
What we’ve followed right from the beginning here is sow the seeds for a long term future, specifically to develop a culture of academic enquiry and freedom of individual pursuit. Moreover, we believe that if any of our sub-enterprises has short-term objectives then our future is also short-lived. For example, we kicked off the case research and development initiative very early here and that involved a longer-term approach, but we need to maintain that. We’ve been able to build the institution by ensuring our students and faculty are always of high quality. But really, institution building is successful when efforts are not centred around the institution alone. We’re always focused on what will benefit the larger society.