An MBA program aims to provide exposure to a wide range of issues and students from varied backgrounds enroll at business schools. However, Indian b-schools in most cases have a gender ratio heavily skewed towards male students. Interestingly enough, Apeejay Educational Society has chosen to set up women dedicated MBA programs at two branches in the NCR region.
The Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM – A) has this year reported that there has been an increase in the number of female students admitted to the institute and the percentage stands at approximately 20 percent. Some of the Symbiosis institutes of management usually have 30 percent of the batch consisting of women and Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad (MICA) is one of the few institutes to have an approximately even ratio of men to women.
Apeejay Education Society has chosen to set up women-dedicated full time programs at two of its institutes in Noida and Gurgaon. According to Dr Sushma Berlia, Vice President at Apeejay Education Society, the institute had earlier started an undergraduate college exclusively for girls in Charkhi Dadri, Haryana since that was an area where many women were not encouraged to go to co-educational institutes or to areas that are far away from their homes. The success of this college motivated the society to start management programs exclusively for women to give them a chance and encourage them to go into management.
Dr Berlia expects that these programs will help reduce concerns regarding safety which families in these parts of the country might have and financial scholarships of up to 40 percent will also help. Interestingly, she also adds that women would also be encouraged to participate in class and this will enhance their learning. These women dedicated programs are scheduled to commence at Apeejay Institute of Technology School of Management , Greater Noida and the Apeejay Institute of Management and Design, Gurgaon, Haryana and Dr Berlia is not aware of any other Indian b-school which offers MBA programs attended only by women.
Management is a discipline where it is important for students to get exposed to a wide variety of issues and people. Women dedicated programs might be beneficial in certain areas where there are safety issues and women need to be motivated to enroll for education. However, I wonder whether such dedicated programs are indeed required on a large scale as far as management education in India is concerned. An increase in the number of women in MBA programs would definitely be welcomed as this would lead to a more diverse class and corporate boardroom. However, women dedicated programs would probably reduce the exposure and range of perspectives which comes with an MBA program. What do you think?