Developing Entrepreneurial Skills Online

For budding entrepreneurs, management institutions play a crucial role in developing business acumen. With a shift to virtual platforms and online learning, a lot of peer-learning and practical experience has been lost. Learning happens in many forms and the social aspect has been missing during the lockdowns. 

Prof Himanshu Rai, Director, IIM Indore speaks about the evolution of management education, how with time the purpose of management education has grown, citing the 2008 economic crisis as a major turning point. 

Prof Rajesh Chakrabarti, MDI, Gurgaon points out that while their job, as an institution, is to be environmentally and socially conscious, they also have a responsibility towards meeting the student's expectations. Most students who pursue a management degree expect placement at the end of their degree. This cannot be taken lightly, nonetheless, students must be made ready for a variety of career prospects.

Dr Vishal Talwar, Director, IMT Ghaziabad underlines that as management institutions they want "move beyond being viewed as people who can provide successful placement".

Entrepreneurship requires more nurturing than what virtual platforms can provide. Bringing in the pedagogical perspective, Dr Vandana Sonwaney, Director, SIOM Nashik shares that, although a lot of skills can be developed virtually, "not the whole of management education can be replaced by virtual education".

Dr Kishore Gopalakrishna Pillai, Dean Amrita School of Business, Coimbatore and Bengaluru, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham reiterates that developing peer-to-peer learning is crucial to developing students' social capital.

Dr Madhu Chitkara, Pro-Chancellor, Chitkara University remarks that the next goal is to train faculty to handle hybrid teaching setups.

Watch the full dialogue here:

Vasudha Mukherjee

BW Reporters The author works with BW Education