Students' Corner

Dear Students,

 

LAST WEEK WE ASKED:  Do you think B-schools should increase the fee for management programmes next year?

 

BEST RESPONSE 

 

B-schools already operate with a fees structure which is unaffordable to many aspirants. People may talk about enhancement of quality of means of education with rise in fees but at the same time it discourages many middle income groups to make an attempt for those institutions. The competition will not be on merit but depending on one's fat pockets. This ultimately will widen the economic inequality in the society and will put a stigma on the whole education system of the country in the long run.

- Mohit Shaw, ICSI, Kolkata.

 

OTHER RESPONSES

 

Already B-schools charge exorbitant fee from students. The fee is highly unrealistic vis-a-vis the quality of education they provide. B school should focus on enhancing quality of education other wise their shop may close down in times to come. Regulating Authority like UGC, AICTE should keep vigilant eye on them so that they provide quality education vis-a-vis fee they provide.

- Nilaya Mitash Shanker, IIT Roorkee.

 

Students whether in the engineering courses or in other bachelor courses are increasingly going for a MBA to increase employability. This basically means a 5 or 6 years of education, for which they are unemployed. Any increase in fees shall put immense pressure on their parents, while many of the students due to paucity of funds would give MBA a miss - landing in low value jobs. Internationally, MBA courses are expensive but the Indian needs are different. We have a large youth population that needs to be well-skilled in order to find a gainful employment.

- Anasuya Mukherjee, Hindu College, Delhi University.

 

In today’s situation when education sector is reeling under the pressure of inflation and rising operational costs, it is justified to increase the fees of b schools so that the quality of education does not deteriorate. Apart from this, the return on investment for management education is quite high which would not deter the MBA aspirants from pursuing the higher degree. However the ambit of these augmented fees may not be within reach of students from all walks of life; hence suitable scholarship should be provided to the needy students.

- Dipika Sahoo, CET, Bhubaneswar. 

 

Many B-schools, which battle inflation and rising operational costs, have decided to pass on the cost to students and increase fee for their management programmes. In today’s environment, when education is becoming costlier, the decision to reduce cost or fees for their management programmes will help many needy students to undertake education at the best institutions. There are many students who are bright, smart and excellent in terms of academic performances but because of this high cost imposed by B-Schools, they cannot enter the environment of getting trained in leading B-Schools and achieve success in the near future.

- Naveen Patwary, ICSI, Kolkata.

 

Fee hike in management programmes is justifiable from view point of enhancing quality education and to maintain stature of B-schools but not when it denies opportunities to needy & meritorious students. Also looking at current inflation scenario, fee hike may be required next year to compensate for related expenses. But such increase must be accompanied with scholarship, fee waiver etc schemes to establish balance & equality and to ensure that latent talent pool of the country is well tapped & financially weaker sections has access to management education.

- Priya Rajesh Dhruv, Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.

 

B-schools are known for the high earning jobs students get there but the students also have to pay fee in millions in IIMs and other expensive B schools  and a hike in fee will act as a deterrent for candidates belonging to the middle class family. It will be a turmoil  for the aspiring candidates who are doing a job to decide whether to leave a job and go to college, pay millions and again get a job or to focus on their existing job. 

- Piyush Mittal, PEC, Chandigarh.

 

Hike in Inflation has given indirect right to B-schools to increase fee for management programmes next year. Many B-schools, which battle inflation and rising operational costs, have decided to pass on the cost to students and increase fee for their management programmes. Other major factors for increment in fees are hiring good faculty members on full time basis & infrastructural expansion. With demand and constant effort to meet international standard of learning, there has been considerable increase in B-school fees. Only one way, not to increase fees is compromise with regard to the services provided which is likely to repudiate. 

- Pratik Patel, School of Petroleum Management, PDPU.

 

Majority of the talent pool are from middle-class segment which prefers the B-school based on its quality of education and the return on investment (ROI) in terms of campus placement. Increase in the fees may shift that segment of students to other colleges which offer lesser package but better ROI. Current time of economic slowdown has affected the placement packages of B-schools. So, increment in fee has direct impact on the ROI and will have an impact on the quality and number of students in management programmes.

- Anand Trivedi, School of Petroleum Management, PDPU.

 

Being an MBA student, I acknowledge the higher price tag of B-schools as they stand out to a considerable extent in the quality of education. Having said that, it is all the more important for one to condemn further hike in the fee owing to the grave conditions of placements in best of the best B-schools. It would be wiser for the B-schools to upgrade their standards in education to international level, then claim a hike in the fee. On the contrary, any hike in the fee should be justified for and ensure it is commensurate.

- YVS Karthik, National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), Mohali.

 

In this high inflationary market and economy where price of everything is skyrocketing so, it would be inappropriate to say that B-Schools should not increase fee because, to meet the best quality of education & infrastructure of B-Schools it requires continuous investment. But as well here a matter of concern is that how much students are getting ROI. Already fees have been so high which is beyond the very large mass of students and placement scenario are very poor at maximum B-Schools. So it would be good to justify fee hike by assuring a thick pocket range of placements.

- Sumit Sourav, Regional College of Management , Bhubaneswar.

 

Due to the significant increase in costs due to high inflation in the economy, increasing the fees would be the only option for B-schools to invest for the improvement of the management programmes which includes revised salaries for faculty in sync with the pay revisions and other relevant costs. Also attracting quality researchers to the institute has now became more expensive than what it used to be earlier. So, in this situation in order to attract more students, local events and meetings should be organized frequently to help students get financiers for funding their education.

- Pratik Bairagi, Regional College of Management (Autonomous), Bhubaneswar.

 

Scenarios are certainly not rosy in the current economic situation with job scarcity and consistent drop of number of applicants applying for various national level management entrance exams. To figure it out, Institutes are coming up with novel ideas like introducing industry oriented certifications, global exposures and tie up with organizations suiting current practices. These efforts act as a catalyst at the time of placements and a differentiating factor from other institutes. If the institutes are able to pass on this message to the applicants justifying these operational expenses, hike in fees may not turn to be a potential threat. 

- Siddhartha Bhatnagar, School of Petroleum Management , PDPU.

 

The fee for management programme at B-schools is already beyond the reach of students with average financial background. Any further increase next year will only have detrimental impact on the strength of aspiring candidates. Apart from top rung B-schools, rest of them have registered steady fall in demand for MBA in recent years, mainly becoming a degree of affluent students. The fact being, only top notch B-school's are capable of providing high returns which makes them worth the investment. So it would be nonsensical for students with limited financial resources to opt for management degree from B-schools having substandard outcome.

- Shivam Chhabra, Integral University, Lucknow.

 

Your responses should reach us at edu@business-standard.com by Monday evening every week. Please ensure that your responses do not exceed 100 words. Avoid attachments and email your full name, institute's name, batch and complete mailing address. The student who gives the 'Best Response' will be awarded Rs 500.

 

THIS WEEK'S QUESTION:  Do you think the public private partnership (PPP) model should be scrapped in the case of Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs)?