ERP Insights >> Magazine >> January - 2021 issue
Digital will be a Game Changer for B-Schools in India
Author : Antarpreet Singh, Director - Digital Learning, Indian School of Business
Friday, January 22, 2021
An well known Thought Leader and EdTech strategist, Antarpreet holds 35 yrs of diverse experience owing to his top leadership positions with Global Tech majors: Alcatel Lucent, Reliance Jio, Fujitsu, Tellabs.
Digital has been a key lever of success for businesses globally in last 10 years -today 5 out of 6 top companies (by way of market capitalization) are technology cos, compared to only 2, in 2010. This is the scenario on supply side of Digital tech. On consumption side, Education has emerged as one of the prominent use cases for the tech providers. The pace of change caused by Digital disruptions is further going to accelerate and we will see profound changes never seen before in the way we live, do business and acquire education. Massive challenge posed by Digital & AI disruptions also offers a great opportunity to higher management education space. Digital can be a new lever of growth for standalone B-Schools as well as universities imparting management education, as one of their offerings. Digital can help B-schools grow their footprints not only in India but across the globe, making Quality education available at highly affordable cost to a vast majority of students. Digital knows no political or geographical boundaries – so the addressable market for B-Schools is massive - especially in the southern economic hemisphere of our universe (Brazil, Africa, India, China, South East Asia) - this economic hemisphere hosts 70 percent of global population.
There is a huge misconception amongst faculty, students and B-School administrators that Digital would replace conventional teaching frameworks and that would render education ineffective compared to what it has been in a brick & mortar model, where students learn from teachers at the same physical space, sharing same time slice (concurrent or physical synchronous model). There is nothing like a pure Online or pure Off line model in today’s context – the off line-online debate is completely meaningless and often misleading. Digital model offers a great opportunity to B-Schools to craft what I would call as a ‘Blended recipe’. This concept is very similar to the way we cook our food – having our own recipe for each dish with various food ingredients, masalas, herbs blended to make it tasty and customised to our taste. In exactly same way B-Schools can have a recipe for ‘Blended Digital education’ which judiciously leverages Digital technologies, AI tools, algorithms and blends it with tried & tested conventional educational model (also referred to as ‘Guru-Shishya or MentorMentee’ model).
One could see stark differences between STEM (Science-Technology-Engineering-Mathematics) stream of higher education and management education in terms of applicability of Digital (blended) education model. In fact Management education at all levels - undergraduate, post graduate and even doctoral studies is highly suited to Digital tech, owing to its peculiar ‘DNA’. STEM streams have all together different ‘DNA’ as hands on lab exercises can’t be substituted or so easily simulated. The teaching also requires more closer interaction between faculty and students. Management education offers more flexibility and it’s much easier for students to self learn thru recorded faculty lectures, digital content (consumed asynchronously), learn from faculty in synchronous mode (physical, virtual or a hybrid mode), case studies thru physical or virtual mode discussions as well as online business simulations in self or group setting (being together physically in a classroom or virtually on a same digital platform).
“Digital is proving to be a key lever world over in making management education immersive, impactful, personalized giving best in class learning experience to students and all this at highly affordable or manageable cost”
The digitally blended education model also helps optimising cost of education delivery as students from far flung areas can enrol with B-Schools – without the need for them to relocate. The blended recipe ensures that there is a rich blend of self learning in digital mode as well as connect with faculty (virtual, face to face or mix of both) besides offering students new ways to learn (online gamification, online simulations, blended case studies). Overall B-Schools need to leverage Digital in two ways – having a strategic road map where Digital plays a key role (Digitalization of B School’s business & education model) and digitizing content, edu processes, digitally enabled class rooms and use of technology to reduce teaching overheads (Digitization). Digitalization provides direction whereas Digitization helps with speed or efficiency. Both Digitalization and Digitization go hand in hand for a B-School.
B-Schools in developed economies have already started reaping the benefits of ‘Digital’ – its helping the schools expand their global footprints, offering quality education at relatively affordable costs. Indian markets offer lucrative business opportunity for them. On the other hand, Indian B-Schools, barring few exceptions have still not come to terms with ‘Online or Digitally Blended model’ of designing and producing digitally blended courses as well as delivery beyond four walls of their campuses. In my view this reluctance would cost Indian B-Schools heavily in next 5-10 years as foreign B-Schools are taking away a huge slice of market share.
Education is all about students – Digital is proving to be a key lever world over in making management education immersive, impactful, personalized giving best in class learning experience to students and all this at highly affordable or manageable cost. India is one of the youngest country in the world with average age of its population just under 30. Opportunity to leverage Digital is massive for Indian B-Schools – would they still continue losing out to western B-schools and universities or take the plunge and craft their own ‘Blended Education Recipe’. (Views expressed in this article are personal.)
Digital will be a Game Changer for B-Schools in India
Author : Antarpreet Singh, Director - Digital Learning, Indian School of Business
Friday, January 22, 2021
An well known Thought Leader and EdTech strategist, Antarpreet holds 35 yrs of diverse experience owing to his top leadership positions with Global Tech majors: Alcatel Lucent, Reliance Jio, Fujitsu, Tellabs.
Digital has been a key lever of success for businesses globally in last 10 years -today 5 out of 6 top companies (by way of market capitalization) are technology cos, compared to only 2, in 2010. This is the scenario on supply side of Digital tech. On consumption side, Education has emerged as one of the prominent use cases for the tech providers. The pace of change caused by Digital disruptions is further going to accelerate and we will see profound changes never seen before in the way we live, do business and acquire education. Massive challenge posed by Digital & AI disruptions also offers a great opportunity to higher management education space. Digital can be a new lever of growth for standalone B-Schools as well as universities imparting management education, as one of their offerings. Digital can help B-schools grow their footprints not only in India but across the globe, making Quality education available at highly affordable cost to a vast majority of students. Digital knows no political or geographical boundaries – so the addressable market for B-Schools is massive - especially in the southern economic hemisphere of our universe (Brazil, Africa, India, China, South East Asia) - this economic hemisphere hosts 70 percent of global population.
There is a huge misconception amongst faculty, students and B-School administrators that Digital would replace conventional teaching frameworks and that would render education ineffective compared to what it has been in a brick & mortar model, where students learn from teachers at the same physical space, sharing same time slice (concurrent or physical synchronous model). There is nothing like a pure Online or pure Off line model in today’s context – the off line-online debate is completely meaningless and often misleading. Digital model offers a great opportunity to B-Schools to craft what I would call as a ‘Blended recipe’. This concept is very similar to the way we cook our food – having our own recipe for each dish with various food ingredients, masalas, herbs blended to make it tasty and customised to our taste. In exactly same way B-Schools can have a recipe for ‘Blended Digital education’ which judiciously leverages Digital technologies, AI tools, algorithms and blends it with tried & tested conventional educational model (also referred to as ‘Guru-Shishya or MentorMentee’ model).
One could see stark differences between STEM (Science-Technology-Engineering-Mathematics) stream of higher education and management education in terms of applicability of Digital (blended) education model. In fact Management education at all levels - undergraduate, post graduate and even doctoral studies is highly suited to Digital tech, owing to its peculiar ‘DNA’. STEM streams have all together different ‘DNA’ as hands on lab exercises can’t be substituted or so easily simulated. The teaching also requires more closer interaction between faculty and students. Management education offers more flexibility and it’s much easier for students to self learn thru recorded faculty lectures, digital content (consumed asynchronously), learn from faculty in synchronous mode (physical, virtual or a hybrid mode), case studies thru physical or virtual mode discussions as well as online business simulations in self or group setting (being together physically in a classroom or virtually on a same digital platform).
“Digital is proving to be a key lever world over in making management education immersive, impactful, personalized giving best in class learning experience to students and all this at highly affordable or manageable cost”
The digitally blended education model also helps optimising cost of education delivery as students from far flung areas can enrol with B-Schools – without the need for them to relocate. The blended recipe ensures that there is a rich blend of self learning in digital mode as well as connect with faculty (virtual, face to face or mix of both) besides offering students new ways to learn (online gamification, online simulations, blended case studies). Overall B-Schools need to leverage Digital in two ways – having a strategic road map where Digital plays a key role (Digitalization of B School’s business & education model) and digitizing content, edu processes, digitally enabled class rooms and use of technology to reduce teaching overheads (Digitization). Digitalization provides direction whereas Digitization helps with speed or efficiency. Both Digitalization and Digitization go hand in hand for a B-School.
B-Schools in developed economies have already started reaping the benefits of ‘Digital’ – its helping the schools expand their global footprints, offering quality education at relatively affordable costs. Indian markets offer lucrative business opportunity for them. On the other hand, Indian B-Schools, barring few exceptions have still not come to terms with ‘Online or Digitally Blended model’ of designing and producing digitally blended courses as well as delivery beyond four walls of their campuses. In my view this reluctance would cost Indian B-Schools heavily in next 5-10 years as foreign B-Schools are taking away a huge slice of market share.
Education is all about students – Digital is proving to be a key lever world over in making management education immersive, impactful, personalized giving best in class learning experience to students and all this at highly affordable or manageable cost. India is one of the youngest country in the world with average age of its population just under 30. Opportunity to leverage Digital is massive for Indian B-Schools – would they still continue losing out to western B-schools and universities or take the plunge and craft their own ‘Blended Education Recipe’. (Views expressed in this article are personal.)
Digital has been a key lever of success for businesses globally in last 10 years -today 5 out of 6 top companies (by way of market capitalization) are technology cos, compared to only 2, in 2010. This is the scenario on supply side of Digital tech. On consumption side, Education has emerged as one of the prominent use cases for the tech providers. The pace of change caused by Digital disruptions is further going to accelerate and we will see profound changes never seen before in the way we live, do business and acquire education. Massive challenge posed by Digital & AI disruptions also offers a great opportunity to higher management education space. Digital can be a new lever of growth for standalone B-Schools as well as universities imparting management education, as one of their offerings. Digital can help B-schools grow their footprints not only in India but across the globe, making Quality education available at highly affordable cost to a vast majority of students. Digital knows no political or geographical boundaries – so the addressable market for B-Schools is massive - especially in the southern economic hemisphere of our universe (Brazil, Africa, India, China, South East Asia) - this economic hemisphere hosts 70 percent of global population.
There is a huge misconception amongst faculty, students and B-School administrators that Digital would replace conventional teaching frameworks and that would render education ineffective compared to what it has been in a brick & mortar model, where students learn from teachers at the same physical space, sharing same time slice (concurrent or physical synchronous model). There is nothing like a pure Online or pure Off line model in today’s context – the off line-online debate is completely meaningless and often misleading. Digital model offers a great opportunity to B-Schools to craft what I would call as a ‘Blended recipe’. This concept is very similar to the way we cook our food – having our own recipe for each dish with various food ingredients, masalas, herbs blended to make it tasty and customised to our taste. In exactly same way B-Schools can have a recipe for ‘Blended Digital education’ which judiciously leverages Digital technologies, AI tools, algorithms and blends it with tried & tested conventional educational model (also referred to as ‘Guru-Shishya or MentorMentee’ model).
One could see stark differences between STEM (Science-Technology-Engineering-Mathematics) stream of higher education and management education in terms of applicability of Digital (blended) education model. In fact Management education at all levels - undergraduate, post graduate and even doctoral studies is highly suited to Digital tech, owing to its peculiar ‘DNA’. STEM streams have all together different ‘DNA’ as hands on lab exercises can’t be substituted or so easily simulated. The teaching also requires more closer interaction between faculty and students. Management education offers more flexibility and it’s much easier for students to self learn thru recorded faculty lectures, digital content (consumed asynchronously), learn from faculty in synchronous mode (physical, virtual or a hybrid mode), case studies thru physical or virtual mode discussions as well as online business simulations in self or group setting (being together physically in a classroom or virtually on a same digital platform).
“Digital is proving to be a key lever world over in making management education immersive, impactful, personalized giving best in class learning experience to students and all this at highly affordable or manageable cost”
The digitally blended education model also helps optimising cost of education delivery as students from far flung areas can enrol with B-Schools – without the need for them to relocate. The blended recipe ensures that there is a rich blend of self learning in digital mode as well as connect with faculty (virtual, face to face or mix of both) besides offering students new ways to learn (online gamification, online simulations, blended case studies). Overall B-Schools need to leverage Digital in two ways – having a strategic road map where Digital plays a key role (Digitalization of B School’s business & education model) and digitizing content, edu processes, digitally enabled class rooms and use of technology to reduce teaching overheads (Digitization). Digitalization provides direction whereas Digitization helps with speed or efficiency. Both Digitalization and Digitization go hand in hand for a B-School.
B-Schools in developed economies have already started reaping the benefits of ‘Digital’ – its helping the schools expand their global footprints, offering quality education at relatively affordable costs. Indian markets offer lucrative business opportunity for them. On the other hand, Indian B-Schools, barring few exceptions have still not come to terms with ‘Online or Digitally Blended model’ of designing and producing digitally blended courses as well as delivery beyond four walls of their campuses. In my view this reluctance would cost Indian B-Schools heavily in next 5-10 years as foreign B-Schools are taking away a huge slice of market share.
Education is all about students – Digital is proving to be a key lever world over in making management education immersive, impactful, personalized giving best in class learning experience to students and all this at highly affordable or manageable cost. India is one of the youngest country in the world with average age of its population just under 30. Opportunity to leverage Digital is massive for Indian B-Schools – would they still continue losing out to western B-schools and universities or take the plunge and craft their own ‘Blended Education Recipe’. (Views expressed in this article are personal.)
