Thomas Struck responded to my contribution.
I am not sure how much of what I share goes beyond legitimate boundaries,
since it is institutional. However, since the issue is current and
burning, lateral views are useful.
T Strucks are quoted below each of my responses.
a) Choice can be considered deliberate. However, our perception is that
most students choose to come herebecause they did not get admission into
the popular business schools. The educational process is rated to be as
good as the better business schools. Thus, student behaviour is seen as
backdoor entry to the corporate job market.
Quote "I don't know whether or not your students have choosen your school
deliberately but I assume they do. If so, I think to see them as products
is not appropriate. It's not to long ago that I finished my studies in
engineering in Germany." end quote.
Quote "I think you should figure out, what the students' motivation to
study at your school really is." End Quote.
Quote "The students are your primary customer not just while studying at
your institution. A student invest in his education guessing, that when
his studies there would be sufficient demand for someone with his
education. A student's motivation might of course be the sheer lust of
learning, a strong desire to understand and so on. But in subjects like
Engineering or probably Rural Management as well, I doubt it. As long as
a student can choose freely (assuming his qualification, or a-levels or
matura allows it to a certain degree), he probably will choose the school
were he thinks he gets the highest knowledge or understanding or learns
the most in a reasonable time." End quote.
b) The Question we have is, When the resources of the institute is meant
for preparing graduates for a sector, how do we ensure students go where
they are required. Education is relatively subsidised, because, the jobs
do not offer the same pay packets. How do we attract, select the right
type of students.
Quote" That leaves 2 points. 1. Some (all?) subject of higher education
need a reasonable perspective to attract students. 2. Some (all?) schools
of higher education need a certain quality of learning (teaching) to
attract students. The question then is, what do your students have on
mind during there studies, what is their aim. Do they study assuming they
will work for companies, getting possibly high salaries? Or is their aim
to work for producer cooperations, which possibly don't pay that much?"
End Quote.
Quote "I think you should figure out whether your institution and your
students do have the same goal. I think not." End Quote.
Quote "I think you should figure out, what the students' motivation to
study at your school really is." End Quote.
d) Is "management" relevent? Do cooperatives, producer organisations
require management in their enterprise? If yes, then what is wrong? If no,
T Struck's following quote is valid.
Quote "And you should consider your own objectives. Are they still
appropriate?" End Quote.
e) I think the educational process does affect the outcome. Management
education does have its contribution. Several months ago, I had
contributed on this list my own unlearning process after my management
education while working in similar organisations. To produce a technical
engineer uses time tested methods. So have time tested means been tried
for business schools. My hypothesis is, does this hold true for Rural
Management. I have no answers.
Quote "IMO students are not raw material. They cannot be formed as one
wants to."
This is much longer than I wanted. I do hope there would be some readers!
Thomas P Benjamin
benjamin@fac.irm.ernet.in
--"Thomas Benjamin" <BENJAMIN@fac.irm.ernet.in>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>