MY ARRIVAL in India and settling down is a long story, tied to one factor—my affiliation with the Delhi School of Business (DSB). DSB, as is known, is a B-school launched by Vivekananda Institute of Professional Studies—also known as VIPS—an 12-year-old institution. I did have some ‘concerns’ when I came here—India’s higher education sector has not reached a stable stage. I have noticed that in India, transitions are always difficult. Whether its infrastructure, education, even migration—the cities all seem to be in a state of transition. It may have a long way to go, but it seems that the Indian system is taking the right strides.

Take DSB, for instance. Apart from the usual programmes in business and marketing, DSB runs programmes in law, both at a Master’s and Bachelor’s level and offers mass communication and journalism courses along with computer application. I joined DSB thanks to a focused management which decided to opt for an “open approach” in recruitment—thus, they approached me, and I seized the opportunity because it gave me the chance to be in this interesting Subcontinent and experience first-hand its growing formal education sector. The second factor which attracted me to this offer, was a chance to be with DSB. The institution management offered me flexibility in approach and support to hire an almost custom-made faculty which would be responsible to deliver quality information and interface with international institutions to create programmes meaningful for Indian students. When I say “custom-made” I mean that some of DSB’s programmes are designed keeping in mind the growing needs of Indian students.

Say for instance, DSB’s “international business programme”; the course is offered at National University of Singapore (NUS). Now, it is being offered at the DSB and will be taught by the same faculty who teaches it at the NUS. And no, students will not be asked to pay extra. I find DSB best defines the Indian approach of letting students receive international perspective (in case of this programme, international business with additional inputs covering marketing, finance, leadership and especially supply-chain, being taught by a global faculty). The study of the supply-chain is a specialisation not frequently offered in Indian universities. However, India is a market that suffers from a lack of an organised supply-chain. Increasingly, Indian institutions are recognising gaps in their curriculum and trying to plug them by offering different courses. Need be, they are also bringing in faculty/experts from abroad who are, in their turn, bringing in both domestic and international experience to the table.

NUS ranks number 25 on a global list of institutions and this course is one of its forte—and an Indian institution is importing it. I believe it is a healthy trend; if you cannot bring universities with its world-class infrastructure to open campuses here, then bring its best courses to the domestic soil. Those who cannot afford to travel to foreign universities can still avail international programmes. It is a trend that will pick up speed more in the future and more and more domestic institutions, I believe, will collaborate as far as their best programmes are concerned. The attempt (in all this) is to make Indian students not only job-ready, but to make sure that they understand both the Indian and the global contexts as they might be expected to work in both. In such a scenario, industry interactions become cardinal. At DSB, we go the extra mile to get senior HR personnel to talk to our students. Such value-adding programmes are increasingly becoming the need of the day because the native and international markets are constantly merging.

Another idea which will get increasing mileage in Indian higher education is “international accreditation”. One of the first discussions I had with the DSB management was about the AACSB accreditation. AACSB provides internationally recognised, specialised accreditation for business and accounting programmes at a Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Doctoral level. The AACSB Accreditation Standards challenge post-secondary educators to pursue excellence and continuous improvement throughout their business programmes. AACSB Accreditation is known, worldwide, as the longest standing, most recognised form of specialised/professional accreditation an institution and its business programs can earn.

Thus the accreditation requirement was put in place even before DSB’s course work was decided. AACSB accreditation is a manageable process; there is an online document which systematically explains the requirements for all “types” of school, whatever their focus may be. The critical factor is the mission statement.

For example, if the stated mission statement is research intensive, then the accreditation body will assess the institution on that criteria. If the stated mission is to be a “teaching provider” for a large number of recipients then that institution will be assessed on that criteria not on research. So, for Indian schools—by which I mean specialised institutions—it is important to understand what they really wish to focus on because the assessment will start from the mission statement. The purpose of the accreditation is to give the students a chance to value the merit of the programmes before they can be in a position to judge for themselves. And the accreditation process is transparent, conducted by an independent over-side body, in this case, a private body. The accreditation also ensures that an institution is actually adhering to their promises of excellence—if you wish to receive the stamp of approval do what you said you will do.

If you do not, then the accreditation panel requires the institution to follow certain rules to make you practice what you preach. Essentially, US accreditation agencies are focused on mission definitions and delivery of the stated mission. Often, institutional mission statements are written by Public Relations firms.

But in trying to wrestle a accreditation, most institutions find themselves actually delivering.

Whether an institution is focused on teaching or research; its true focus is “local”—urban or rural—on students, parents, employees, in and around an institutional area. An institution not only teaches its students, it also sees them as future stakeholders; and interact with them accordingly. Thus, I cannot underline on accreditation enough. Of course, I have heard of enough reasons to not do it; “we have never done it”, “we can’t be bothered, it takes too much of time” or the favourite, “our students won’t read, you know”.

Truth is, an outcome-based assessment is valuable for student and teachers as it helps them to assess consistently and give feedback. I see accreditation as a good introduction to a piece. Say this piece that you will write, you will introduce who and what before you get into the why and how—and accreditation is just that.

Also, a word to the Indian administrators and education leaders— you cannot be in this sector and be a technophobe. I don’t care how old you are. Students use a lot of technology in their social, personal, leisure life and will be expected to use a lot of technology in their work life. Therefore, we cannot make them go backwards in the classroom. A new-age professor cannot just come into the classroom and keep writing.

He or she has to teach and explain and to a group that is increasingly available online. I find people trained abroad more comfortable with technology that people trained here in India. The idea is to have student-teacher interaction, and no fixed office hours. Students should expect to see their professor at all times. The online system or I-learn with message, announcement and discussion boards, class e-mail announcements, ensure that a professor can be reached at all times even if he or she meets her’s or her class once a week for three hours. It allows a lot of room for discussion and feedback assist them. But they have to be able to function in this environment. Some of the universities abroad have also started to embrace Facebook.