With the acquisition of an MBA degree being the trend now, Indian institutes are looking at International students in their drive for global standing, writes debameeta bhattacharya

THESE days, every second student you come across will tell you that “I’m studying/preparing for my MBA”. It seems to be a trend. At a time when foreign universities are trying to fill their seats by offering lucrative scholarships to Indian students, the presence of foreign students in Indian B-schools shows a symbiotic twist to this “trend”.
Indeed, there has been a gradual increase in recent years, even if these foreigners are here only on exchange programmes for a semesters or two, instead of a full-time two-year run.
Now Indian institutes plan to go one step further. The top MBA colleges in the country are trying to increase the diversity of students on their campuses in terms of nationality by looking to attract foreign students for their flagship two-year management programmes. According to Debasish Chatterjee, director of the Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode, exchange programmes for international students for one or two semesters began at the IIMs almost a decade ago. So how come we are not aware of that?
“There has been an increase in the number of foreign students coming to Indian B-schools in the last few years. We had close to 70 students coming in for a semester or two in the last session.
However, whether we can attract these students for a full-time two-year course will depend on the kind of job opportunities that the Indian market can provide,” he said.
IIM, Kozhikode, intends to have at least 10 per cent foreign students in its flagship programme batches in the coming years.
“Getting international accreditation and an improvement in the job market scene in India will help attract foreign students to Indian B-schools,” said a final-year BSc Economics student from St Xavier&’s College, Kolkata, who is also preparing to take the Common Admission Test to get through the MBA programme.
Keeping this intention in mind, IIM, Calcutta, and the Xavier School of Management, Jamshedpur, are already trying to get international endorsement. According to Anindya Sen, dean of academics, IIM, Calcutta, the institute has approached the UK-based Association of MBAs and the USA-based Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business for accreditation. Nearly 80 foreign students have enrolled this year in the institute&’s global exchange programme. “We are close to getting our accreditation from Amba and the AACSB. Once these click, international students will feel more comfortable coming to our institute for flagship programmes,” said Sen.
The presence of non-Indian students in the classroom opens up avenues to new viewpoints and enhances the quality of interaction among students.
XLRI, too, is in the process of bagging international accreditation by the end of this year.
When meritorious Indian students are not being able to get a crack at premier schools due to seat crunch, wouldn’t inviting foreign applicants make the competition that much tougher? IIM, Calcutta, is working out alternative plans on this issue by providing six-month internship packages for global students to give them a taste of Indian business and practices. As of now, entrance examinations such as Cat and the Xavier Aptitude Test for admission to IIMs or XLRI, respectively, cannot be taken by international students. “We are looking at ways to woo international students by modifying the Xat pattern,” an XLRI official said.
If all works out well, IIM, Calcutta, and XLRI will definitely have a global standing.