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Energy management or HRD? A Part time MBA course, 1 Year MBA or full time MBA? Time- tested curriculum or new-age strategies? Academics recount the emerging trends in management education in India.

Call it the recession effect. Post financial meltdown, engineering professionals working in leading multinational firms are now playing it safe when it comes to pursuing mid-career courses that can help them advance their professional goals.

Engineering professionals are no longer willing to take the risk of quitting their jobs and enrolling for a management programme to give them that career edge in the job market. Earlier, an engineering professional who went for a mid career value added programme would happily resign his job and go for a general programme in MBA that can go up to two years in duration, but now they are more cautious and go in for sector specific management programmes of shorter duration that could help them improve their position in their existing companies.

Candidates are also showing a growing preference for some of the new age specialisations such as energy and environment management when it comes to advancing their career graph. Thanks to a growing sense of awareness on the part of the companies in devising more nature friendly ways while functioning.

Students with a management background in energy and environment are now being picked up more in campus recruitment by the companies. The area is still emerging and is all set to peak in the coming years. There is certainly an increase in the number of candidates opting for part time courses in management. The candidates no longer feel that it is worthwhile taking a risk by sacrificing a job in hand and pursuing a value added course.

The recession has created a lot of uncertainty among the engineering professionals who once used to hop from one career to another. Today they are not sure whether they will get another job, if they quit their existing one,” she said.

So how does a part- time programme work? Since most of the engineering professionals will be tied up with work, IMI offers programmes with a minimum of two classes a week, with a lion’s share of the academic work happening on Sundays.

The part time programmes with specialisations in management and marketing are conducted for duration of three years. There is also a buffer period of two- years, in case a candidate is transferred or sent on a deputation to a different place. However, 99 per cent of the candidates complete their programme on time. Some of the innovative courses started by the institute include programmes in ethics and corporate governance and innovation and knowledge management.