A new year has dawned and so have our expectations. Let’s take a quick look at the outlook for those from the B-school fraternity.

Aspirants

Aspirants will not attempt CAT or other MBA entrance exams without a plan B. And every time they read a news report on placements, they will secretly wish to execute a plan B. Plan B could be PSU jobs, photography assignments, or even a band membership. However, eventually they will succumb to peer pressure and will find themselves in an MBA classroom and learning about 4Ps and 7Cs instead of high and low notes or shutter speed.

Parents Parents will want their kids to pursue an MBA for various reasons ranging from status and social obligations to better marriage prospects. Others may have their own thoughts but an MBA, for parents, still remains the key to a stellar career for their beloved son/daughter. And they will be eager to become co-borrowers for that education loan worth tens of lakhs of rupees or sacrifice their years’ savings for B-school fees.

Recruiters Recruiters will hope the economic environment stays fragile until the campus placements are concluded. The meek economic scenario will help them rope in the best talent for fewer bucks. They will continue to hire but slowly, and at lower wages. After the last quarter ends, they will want to be bullish and pray for a healing economy to earn big bucks with the help of their ‘otherwise pricey but comparatively cheaper resources’.

B-schools

Some business schools will expect a fresh breath of innovation through jugaad and some will thrive on their international status with swanky, international faculty at their helm. Alumni interactions will become important suddenly, and conventional teaching methods will take a back seat. The Indian business school will want to collaborate with their international counterparts in hope of bringing the Western MBA culture to themselves. The result would be numerous tie-ups and dual degree programmes in association with other business schools abroad, and increasing prospects for research. The fight for complete autonomy, and a few superlatives here and there to nudge placements along may well continue.

Students

Students will observe weekly fasts and visit the nearest temple on a daily basis till they get placed. After the placements they will skip group assignments and practice free loading in abundance. They will only be located in the room with the finest selection of single malts or even a bottle of rum.

Faculty Faculty will long for better pay-checks but they may not materialise. The professors will continue to grow grumpy with increased batch size and more teaching hours. They may find relief in some consulting work or an international conference when a B-school classroom becomes unbearable.

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