MBA in the Age of Uncertainty

As the world order changes, bringing in economic uncertainties and posing a question mark on assured career paths, how can business schools play the role of a guiding light to steer students through volatilities and make a leader out of them

- By Meha Mathur

EVERY generation believes that theirs has been the most tumultuous age.

One can't blame them, if they have experienced wars, partitions, internal unrest, natural calamities and Covid. But society has thrived, families have arisen from deprivation to build fortunes, and individuals have built careers. With or without a management degree, individuals have a VUCA and BANI world and led their peers to a better life.

There has been a premium on B-schools as a springboard for lucrative first jobs. However, the need of the hour is that B-schools prepare their students for resilience and navigating the uncertainties that mire the world. As the Trump administration tightened visa rules, curbed grants to his own country's universities, made it difficult for American corporates to hire from other countries, especially India and imposed huge tariffs on Indian exports, it sounded a death knell for many a youngsters’ overseas dreams.

Indian graduates from engineering and management institutes who hitherto sought after for their knowledge, skills and right attitude to work are now staring at a supposedly bleak future. The overall economic impact of US policies will impact Indian industry and corporate world too, hence there is a need for B-schools to guide their students through these uncertain times. But as management experts who expressed their views on this issue said, management education inherently grooms students to thrive amid uncertainties, and think as leaders.