Being churned out in their hundreds, Pakistani MBAs may be there in abundance, but are they anywhere near the qualitythat is expected of them?
Quantity and not quality is what we seem to churning out when it comes to education. And no where is it more visible than in the mushroom growth of business schools in the country.
Quality is one thing that is thoroughly being compromised in Pakistani business schools. Although they are churning out a plethora of business graduates each year, the output in terms of quality is quite low, both by existing international and Asian standards. The quality of the output of an institute is gauged by the potential and prowess of the graduates and the amount and quality of research. Research is perhaps one of the most important parameters to judge the quality of an institute.
Today we see a number of business schools recieving government charter, schools and institutes that haven’t been tested for quality. The government charter only authroizes them to award degrees and nothing more. There aren’t any quality tests whatsoever. Thus most of the business schools continue to make money by churning out business graduates that are not upto the international standards or even the standards of the few good schools that we have, such as IBA and LUMS.
It is quite interesting to know that only two Pakistani business schools feature in Asiaweek magazine’s Top 50 list. At the same time, India has quite a few schools in the list. But above all, their institute, the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad is ranked number one.
Asiaweek’s rankings use a wide variety of parameters but something which we need to invest in for the future is research. As capital investment is essential for economic development, so is research for progress in the educational arena. The Indian schools that are ranked among the very best business schools of the world have a very high quality research output. The Case Method is prevalent in the schools like IIM and ICFAI. These cases are either developed through an in-house case development programme or are licensed through the Harvard Business School which still accounts for 80 per cent of the Business Cases in the world. Thus, it is quite evident that all the top business schools rely heavily on research to support their coursework and promote their national industry.
The curriculum of our business schools predominantly includes texts by foreign authors, which thus provide the students exposure to the international scenario. Essentially, this needs to be supported by content on our local market. The graduates that our business schools are producing are not completely ready for the business world owing to the fact that what they are taught in their classrooms is hardly applicable to the practical world. This can be attributed to the lack of research that we have on our local business scene. In order to prepare the students for a particular market you have to teach them in an environment which is close to the one that is to be observed in the actual market that the student will be working in after graduating.
Modern teaching methodologies such as role-playing, business games and case studies are becoming extremely popular as they can be applied to different markets and can actually simulate the real business environment for the students in their classrooms. These methodologies can only be used if and only if we have substantial research on our local business scenario.
Time calls for an increased focus on research by business schools so that we have enough material available on our local industry as to enhance classroom learning and to provide exposure to readers about the local business scenario.
It is indeed imperative for the authorities and the institutions to realize that the curriculum being followed by the business schools needs a serious rethink. The emphasis should be on practical application of concepts. Research provides an avenue for an increased emphasis on practicality. At the moment there are two major research publications focusing on business in Pakistan. These are:
* The cases being developed through the Case Research Centre at the Lahore University of Management Sciences. LUMS has an in-house Case Development Centre through which 332 cases have been developed on the Pakistani Industry and another 100 are in the process of development. These Pakistan specific cases are drawn from real life issues in organizations. LUMS since its very inception has used the Case Method for its MBA programme and there has been a transition from teaching cases licensed by the Harvard Business School to the use of Cases developed in-house. That is the sort of transition all good business schools should go through. The teaching material should be developed in-house so that modern teaching methodologies can be adopted and more can be passed on to the students in terms of the latest business development on the local and international scene.
2. The Pakistan Business Review being published by the College of Business Management, one of the constituent colleges of the Institute of Business Management, Karachi is Pakistan’s only business research quarterly. It is actually quite surprising to note that none of the other business schools that have been around for quite sometime took this initiative. Pakistan Business Review is a business specific journal and focuses on the latest business issues, policies and development in the local business world. It is supervized by an international advisory board of business academics from national and international organizations, such as the London School of Economics, the University of Sussex, the University of San Diego, Bochum University, Germany, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, the International Association for Clean Technology, Austria, the Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of Pakistan, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan, the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, the Applied Economic Research Centre, and The Aga Khan University, Karachi.
Other than, these two business specific research projects, there are a few multi-disciplinary journals being published by various universities on economics, social sciences and business etc. The important thing to be noted is that these aren’t any business specific and target a wide variety of subject areas.
The Pakistan Development Review being published by PIDE, the Lahore Journal of Economics by the Lahore School of Economics and The Pakistan Journal of Economics and Management by IQRA University are a few notable ones.
Among all the business and social sciences journals being published by Pakistani universities, the Pakistan Development Review is the most well renowned locally and internationally. Generally, the journals and research publications lack in quality and only the Pakistan Development Review and other PIDE publications are upto the international standards.
In light of the research scenario in the business schools it is imperative to realize that research is an investment for the future and is a great asset. It has great advantages for the institution and for the business in the country. The importance and benefits of research cannot be undermined in any sense.
We need to re-align our priorities. Rather than focusing on the number of graduates being produced the focus should be on the quality of the graduates. This is only possible if the business schools upgrade their programmes and take up research seriously and produce quality output on the local business scenario. The Indian business schools that are among the top ranked Asian Schools were not established long ago. But since their establishment they have focused on the research and the quality of their graduates. This is perhaps the most important reason that the IIM’s are among the best schools of Asia and are renowned worldwide. It is high time that we start taking research seriously and focus on it as to upgrade the prevalent curriculum and the course content as to better prepare our graduates for the challenges of the world today and tomorrow.
Recommendations
• The Bachelors and the Masters programmes at business schools need to be upgraded. The emphasis should be on the practical application of concepts rather than providing the students with the theoretical basis only.
• There should be a greater focus on social sciences and research in the curriculum. The programmes prevalent ignore the importance of social sciences, which is essential for enhancing creativity and nurturing a well-rounded personality. Moreover, exposure to social sciences helps in research and other related activities.
• The in-house MPhil and PhD programmes are not upto the mark. They should be upgraded and the faculty members should be encouraged to pursue higher studies at reputed International Institutions.
• In-house research should focus on the development of business cases, industry analysis as to support the use of modern teaching methodologies, which would enhance learning. Modern teaching methodologies such as role-playing, business games and the case method should replace the conventional lecture method. course material should be developed through in-house research centres such as the Case Research Centre at LUMS. On the contrary, the cases and analysis of the Pakistani industries can be licensed from LUMS and foreign institutions.
• There should be an increased focus on faculty exchange and research collaboration both locally and internationally. The LUMS-McGill collaboration is one such example of research, faculty and student exchange. Only with such collaboration can the level of our research and graduate output be improved.
• Research by faculty should be promoted through strict measures and incentives. Each business school should involve itself in high quality research focused on the local business scenario. It is amazing to note that none of our business schools developed a case or study supplement on the local courier company TCS. Rather, it was Harvard University that recently developed a case on the organization. Thus, we should start updating our curriculum to focus more on our local business scenario so that our graduates are equipped with the practical aspects of what they learn rather than just building their theoretical basis.
Business research
• It helps the faculty to use modern teaching methodologies such as role playing, business games and the case method.
• It is a useful tool of supplementing information on international markets with a follow up of the Pakistani business scenario.
• This provides an avenue for simulating the corporate environment in the class rooms.
• It provides an insight into the corporate culture.
• Keeps the faculty and the students updated with the latest developments in the foreign and local markets.
• It is an effective way of information documentation on different industries for reference, study and further use and research.
• Research has great implications for practical application and consultancy.
Being churned out in their hundreds, Pakistani MBAs may be there in abundance, but are they anywhere near the qualitythat is expected of them? 
