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With companies increasingly looking at developing leaders from within the cadres and opting for cost-effective avenues for the same, the executive education market in the country has seen introduction of longer duration online programmes which are finding many takers.
Currently offered by the likes of Harvard, Wharton, MIT Sloan, and INSEAD, online programmes are finding interest among the IIMs who are mulling over starting the same too.
Online programmes help companies look at long-duration learning journeys for mid- and top-level management personnel, as opposed to 3-4 days short duration classroom programmes.
"Emeritus, a consortium of MIT, Columbia and Tuck is catering to online executive education and is finding lot of interest here. Companies are now interested in online delivery with focus on action learning and peer learning, across larger number of personnel," said Chaitanya Kalipatnapu, Co-founder and Director, Eruditus Executive Education.
Promoted by alumni of INSEAD and Harvard Business School, Eruditus delivers executive education programmes to Indian corporations and participants, by working with INSEAD, MIT Sloan, Wharton and Tuck School of Business in India.
According to Kalipatnapu, lot of companies are looking at a longer learning journey possible through online offerings than a 3-4 days classroom teaching. "The focus here is moving to small private online course (SPOC) from a MOOC. The student engagement rate of over 80 per cent in the Emeritus SPOC model of delivery is further helping the cause," he said.
Such has been the demand that the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) are also looking at launching online executive education programmes. "We are not yet in the online segment, though we intend of launching the same soon. There is good demand for online as well," said Sebastian Morris, chairperson-MDP at IIM Ahmedabad.
Similarly, IIM Kozhikode (IIM-K) too is in the process of launching online programmes. "Launching online programmes is very much on the cards. We should be doing so in the next few months," Sudershan Kuntluru, MDP chairperson, IIM Kozhikode.
On the other hand, while the number of open programmes have sustained over last year, corporate clients are increasingly looking at customised programmes which are up by anywhere between 15 per cent and 50 per cent for different B-schools over last year.
"Companies are increasingly investing more in developing internal talent and building a leadership pipeline. And it is here that custom programmes are seen as the right tool to achieve the same. Lot of innovation is taking place in executive education. While short-duration open programmes are sustaining, custom and specialised programmes have garnered good interest," said Kalipatnapu.
IIM-A too has seen a significant traction in custom programmes.
"IIMs are seeing a tremendous pick-up in customised programmes particularly for CEOs and senior leadership. There has been a roughly 50 per cent increase. Last year we did 110-120 custom programmes, while this year we are doing around 150-160," said Morris.
IIM Kozhikode, on the other hand, is seeing PSUs and government agencies such as BHEL and Indian armed forces coming for customised executive education programmes.
"Our custom programmes have gone up reasonably over last year by 10-15 per cent. Open programmes are not doing as expected. Companies are getting back to training employees. We have seen good traction from PSUs and government," said Kuntluru.
Meanwhile, according to Kalipatnapu, some of the topics that have garnered interest from among companies include digital, design, innovation through strategy and design, strategic thinking and emotional intelligence.
