Tuesday, January 3, 2012

KSBL World Class Business Education in Pakistan

Cambridge University's Judge Business School and Karachi Education Initiative are launching Karachi School for Business & Leadership (KSBL) in 2012.

Karachi Education Initiative, which is providing the initial core funding for KSBL, is a non-profit group of leading industrialists and businessmen of Karachi. The group has committed to raising a permanent endowment fund to support the education of deserving students at KSBL, as well as for the provision of resources, facilities and buildings required to create a world-class institution.



The school is headed by Dean Robert Wheeler III who has served at the Pennsylvania State University, University of Texas at Austin and Georgetown University in key positions like assistant dean and director of MBA program. Spread over three acres, the main campus of KSBL is now under construction on Stadium Road in Karachi. The construction phase will be over in July 2012 and the first group of students will be admitted in September. Initially, KSBL will offer a full-time, 21-month MBA program in general management only.

KSBL's MBA curriculum has been designed in collaboration with Judge Business School of Cambridge University in England. In addition to conventional teaching methods involving lectures and case studies, KSBL will use videoconferencing to let its students attend live lectures from American and British universities.

Wheeler told Express Tribune that the core faculty of KSBL would be of Pakistani origin with PhD degrees from foreign universities. “We’ll cut back on the administrative work that faculty is often required to do in Pakistan and encourage them to do applied research that could be used in the industry, government and business.” In many classes, especially those on entrepreneurship, Wheeler said more than one person would co-teach students via videoconferencing to provide them with a combination of academic and professional perspectives.

KSBL will join the ranks of other major business schools such as Karachi's Institute of Business Administration (IBA) and Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) to deliver world class business education for meeting the growing demand for professional management in the industrial and service sectors of Pakistan's economy.

The history of advanced business management education began with the founding of the Institute of Business Administration (IBA) in 1955 in Karachi, Pakistan, in collaboration with the top-ranked Wharton School of Finance & Commerce at University of Pennsylvania. Additional help and support came from University of Southern California and USAID to set up facilities and train faculty.

As the contribution of agriculture dropped from 50% of GDP in 1950s to about 20% of Pakistan's economy in 2000s and Pakistan began to urbanize and industrialize, the demand for business professionals grew significantly, as did the number of schools offering business education. As of 2004, there were 87 business schools recognized by the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan, according to stats compiled by Dr. Jamshed Hasan Khan of LUMS. Of these, 28 were in the public sector and the rest in private sector.

The rapid expansion of business education has raised concerns about the quality of such education. The HEC is responding to such concerns by standardization of business curricula and accreditation requirements. A number of programs have been initiated by the HEC to improve business faculty, including scholarships for advanced training and education in Pakistan and universities in the West.

Business schools in Pakistan have produced highly competent men and women executives who have proved themselves by managing significant topline growth and increasing profitability in banking, telecom, FMCG, automobiles and other sectors in very difficult circumstances. I am optimistic that the addition of business schools like the KSBL will further enhance the capacity of future managers to deal with such challenges.

Related Links:

Haq's Musings

Pakistan's Demographic Dividend

FMCG Consumption Boom in Pakistan

Pakistan's Financial Services Sector

Pakistan's Growing Middle Class Consumption

IBA's Entrepreneurship Study Flawed

Pakistan's Media and Telecom Revolution

Pakistanis Study Abroad

Pakistan's Youth Bulge

Pakistani Diaspora World's 7th Largest

Pakistani Graduation Rate Higher Than India's

India and Pakistan Contrasted in 2011

Educational Attainment Dataset By Robert Barro and Jong-Wha Lee

Quality of Higher Education in India and Pakistan

Developing Pakistan's Intellectual Capital

Intellectual Wealth of Nations

Pakistan's Story After 64 Years of Independence

Pakistan Ahead of India on Key Human Development Indices

Working Women in Pakistan

Pakistan Youth Roundtable

Scholarships at Foreign Universities

Institute of International Education--Open Doors

UK's Higher Education Statistics Agency Report

Austrade on Education in Pakistan

27 comments:

Anonymous said...

and the fees will be?

Riaz Haq said...

Anon: "and the fees will be?"

Regular tuition and fees at KSBL will add up to about Rs. 700,000 per year. There will be an endowment fund to pay for some scholarships based on merit and need.

Rs 700,000 (about US$ 8000) is pretty cheap for a world class business education, especially when compared with $40,000 to $50,000 for similar education in the West.

http://www.ksbl.org/mba/full-time-mba/admissions/

Anonymous said...

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/iim-ahmedabad-ranked-2nd-best-school/885901/

Anonymous said...

Rs 700,000 (about US$ 8000) is pretty cheap for a world class business education, especially when compared with $40,000 to $50,000 for similar education in the West.

The key indicator of a B school is the placements.In the US Wharton stanford,kellogs etc can charge $50,000/yr because the placements are $200,000/annum.

I don't think the average salary at LUMS is anywhere near 10-15lacs PKR/annum.

The students will just be burdened with debt which will haunt them for atleast 10 years!

Riaz Haq said...

Anon: "The key indicator of a B school is the placements.In the US Wharton stanford,kellogs etc can charge $50,000/yr because the placements are $200,000/annum."

The recent average salaries of mba grads from top 15 US business schools ranges from $115,000 to $135,000 a year....about 2-3 times the annual cost of attending these schools.

http://www.admissionsconsultants.com/mba/compensation.asp

Anon:"I don't think the average salary at LUMS is anywhere near 10-15lacs PKR/annum."

Recent IBA MBAs received on average monthly salary of Rs42,000, or Rs 500,000 per year, according to IBA Dean Dr. Ishrat Husain as quoted in Express Tribune.

http://tribune.com.pk/story/301378/iba-says-goodbye-to-batch-of-2011-barely-out-of-school-and-landing-in-their-first-jobs/

Anonymous said...

Recent IBA MBAs received on average monthly salary of Rs42,000, or Rs 500,000 per year,

exactly 700,000X 2=14 lacs +interest charges=16 lacs to be paid by a salary of 500,000 ie after tax and living expenses it is very unlikely a student will have more than 1.5 lacs surplus to service his 14 lac debt.

In India ISB(1 year course) has a fee of about 15 lac INR and a average placement of 17 lac INR.It still takes students a good 5 years to repay debts taken at much lower interest rates and serviced with a much higher salry relative to the size of the debt....

Riaz Haq said...

Anon: "In India ISB(1 year course) has a fee of about 15 lac INR and a average placement of 17 lac INR."

The IBA, being a public business school, is a real bargain at just Rs. 200,000 a year. About a third of the business schools offering MBAs are in public sector.

http://www.iba.edu.pk/fee.asp

As to private business schools that charge upwards of Rs 500,000 a year, most students there usually come from wealthy families which pay for their education, while deserving students get scholarships rather than student loans.

Riaz Haq said...

Here's a Businessweek story about India's MBA test for evaluating job seekers:

In five months, the MBA will lose its status as a universally accepted credential for management jobs. In India, at least, b-school grads who want those jobs will also have to take a test.

On Feb. 20, the All-India Management Association (AIMA) will roll out the Management Aptitude Skill Test (MAST), a screening test designed to determine whether business school graduates in India are qualified for jobs, according to several published reports.

The details are a little sketchy, and my efforts to reach someone at the AIMA were unsuccessful. But AIMA President Sanjiv Goenka, told the Financial Chronicle that the test was designed to help students. “The idea is to give aspiring management graduates a level playing field. It is not always possible for companies to reach out to all the IIMs and other B-schools while hiring. In the process, talented students are left out.”

Here’s what I know about the new test. It’s computer based and 150-minutes long, and it will test the candidate’s “management aptitude, domain knowledge in areas of specialisation like finance, marketing, HR, international business, operations & IT and assess their personality traits such as leadership, handling stress, decision-making skills, stability and teamwork abilities,” according to the Economic Times.

The Times is reporting that a number of big employers are already on board, including the India-based operations of Deloitte, MetLife, Pfizer, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Nokia, Lenovo, and TATA Communications. But the Financial Chronicle quotes an AIMA director general, Rekha Seth, as saying the number of companies planning to use the test goes well beyond that. “There has been overwhelming response from both companies and b-schools,” Sethi told the publication. “We are looking at 200 corporate endorsements and have already got 100 so far.”

It's unclear to me if the test will be required by these companies, as part of the application process perhaps, or if it will be optional. It's also unclear if the scores will be publicly available (so employers can mine the database for high-scorers) or if the candidates themselves can direct the scores to specific employers (similar to the GMAT and other standardized tests). Other unknowns include whether candidates with degrees from schools outside of India will need to take the test for Indian jobs, and if the test will be required for jobs in India only or for any position for which a graduate of an Indian b-school is being considered.
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I think most employers, even if they sometimes complain about MBA grads who need to be retrained after they're hired, still assume that business schools, whatever their flaws, do impart the basic knowledge and skills needed to thrive in a corporate setting. (If they didn't believe that they wouldn't pay them six-figure starting salaries.) So I'm left wondering whether something like this, while it might make sense in a country where the quality of business school education is uneven, would be necessary or useful in the U.S. and Europe, where programs are more established.
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In a perfect world (perfect from an employer's perspective) all candidates would have internships before a hiring decision is made, giving the employer a few months to put them through their paces. But it's an imperfect world. A test is an admittedly poor substitute for an internship, but is it better than nothing at all? Is it better than "Trust me, he'll do a great job"?


http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/blogs/mba_admissions/archives/2010/09/indian_mba_grads_face_hiring_test.html

Najam said...

KSBL appears a good prospect,but it is too premature to declare that it will provide world class business education
The faculty is not yet known,and the amount of money they will charge has not been declared,but it will certainly be out of reach of students from parents of middle class(your favourite topic)

If the fees will be exorbitant than siblings of rich class will be seen there ,who generally join the Business teaching institutes more for fun ,than anything else.

Presently in Karachi,there are few top class business education centres apart from IBM like SZABIST,CBM,BIZTEK,IQRA,PAF KIET,DHA.; DADABHOY;.BAHRIA etc .


A large number of students comprise of working class,who want to do MBA for better prospects ,as this qualification is prerequisite for most of the advertised jobs.

Engineering graduates also prefer to have additional qualification of Business Administration instead of doing Masters in Engineering disciplines.But I haven't seen any Engineer abandoning his profession and switching over.

Riaz Haq said...

Najam:"KSBL appears a good prospect,but it is too premature to declare that it will provide world class business education"

I agree that it's premature to say KSBL WILL be world class.

But big name affiliations do matter.

In IBA's case, the affiliation with UPenn's Wharton Biz School, the top-ranked Biz school in US, made a big difference in attracting best faculty to teach top-notch curriculum.

KSBL's relationship with Cambridge's Judge school should similarly help it attract top talent to teach a strong curriculum.

Hasnain said...

The Dean of KSBL frenquently visits IBA, he is planning to have his first batch of MBA class exclusively from IBA and LUMS BBA programs. The advantage of KSBL is that as soon as the student gets enrolled, he will is earmarked for an employer, who will fund his studies and will employ him on the completion of studies.
IBA apparently charges a very high fee but interesting for you all would be that currently the full MBA batch and at least 50% of the BBA batch is on full scholarship (I, myself am a student of IBA )

Riaz Haq said...

Hasnain: "IBA apparently charges a very high fee.."

As far as I know, IBA's quality business education is quite a bargain at just Rs. 200,000 a year, less than a third of the tuition & fees at private schools like LUMS and KSBL etc.

Riaz Haq said...

Here's an Op Ed by HEC Chair Javaid Laghari published in The Express Tribune:

There has been a quiet revolution in the last two years, particularly in improved quality, access and relevance, which are the cornerstones of the Higher Education Commission (HEC).

Quality is a ‘process’ and cannot be improved overnight by dialling ‘Q’. Quality enhancement cells have been established in 81 universities which will monitor and ‘own’ quality and report to the HEC’s QA (Quality Assurance) division. Six accreditation councils, including in business and computing, have been established, and these will accredit professional programmes. An institutional performance evaluation (IPE) process has begun, and by next year, the universities will be given a scorecard on good governance. For the first time ever, universities and programmes are being ranked as per international standards, and the results will be published by the end of the year. A two-day orientation of newly-appointed vice-chancellors (VCs), facilitated by two British VCs and one American university president, was organised — also for the first time — to inculcate leadership and to improve quality in governing higher educational institutes.

Accessibility to university education among the population is now 7.8 per cent, and not 5.1 per cent as implied by Dr Tahir, and we are well on our way to reaching 10 per cent by 2015 as per the education policy, despite a 10 per cent cut in higher education funding. Pakistan spends 1.7 per cent of its GDP on education, and only six other countries in the world spend less. Of this, 0.22 per cent is spent on higher education and not 0.3 per cent as the article incorrectly states. Under these circumstances, the HEC has done wonders!

What the writer fails to mention is the new emphasis on ‘knowledge exchange’. Ten offices of research, innovation and commercialisation (ORIC) have been established this year, and 20 more are in the pipeline to bridge the gap between university research and industry. With a 30 per cent increase in research publications and PhD dissertations in the last two years, a focus on relevant research and a new programme to establish incubators and technology parks, the Pakistani higher education sector is on its way to become an economic powerhouse in the next two years.

This is the soft and quiet revolution taking place at our universities which is already becoming visible and changing the lives of millions of youth who are the beneficiaries of higher education in Pakistan.


http://tribune.com.pk/story/290255/a-quiet-revolution-in-higher-education/

Riaz Haq said...

The Indian School of Business and Inst of Bus Admin (IBA) will jointly offer executive MBA in Pakistan, according to The Hindu:

The Hyderabad-based premier school has signed a memorandum of understanding with Karachi-based Institute of Business Administration in this regard here on Friday.

As part of the agreement, ISB and IBA would jointly conduct executive education programmes in IBA campus in Karachi.

ISB would be responsible for design and delivery of the courses, Mr Deepak Chandra, Deputy Dean, ISB told newspersons here on Friday.

“Pakistan is one of the countries that have growth potential and we are always looking towards working in those markets,” he said.

The environment and challenges in offering executive education programmes were also similar in both the countries, he added.

Beginning from June this year, ISB is planning to run about 10 programmes for senior management executives in Pakistan industry.

Family business, entrepreneurship, business leadership and strategy, Mr Deepak Chandra said.

“Going forward, we will also extend this to exchange of students and faculty and also public/government sector in Pakistan,” Dr Isharat Husain, Dean and Director, IBA said.

The history, culture and environment were similar in India and Pakistan. Referring to difficulties in Visa, communication and logistics between the countries, he said:

“Our Government has assured us help. We will try making this collaboration more fruitful.”

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/companies/article3310728.ece?ref=wl_industry-and-economy

Riaz Haq said...

Here's an ET story of a celebrated CEO's departure in Pakistan:

(Asad Umar's) tenure at Engro has certainly been a remarkably successful one. When Umar took over as President and CEO of the company in January 2004, Engro was largely just a fertiliser manufacturer with a small petrochemical subsidiary. Under his leadership, however, the company turned into a diversified industrial conglomerate, with interests ranging from fertilizers, foods, petrochemicals, chemical storage, energy and commodity trading.

Small wonder, then, that Dawood was effusive in his praise of Umar when announcing the departure to the company’s employees, noting that under his leadership, Engro’s revenues had grown from just Rs13 billion in 2004 to Rs114 billion in 2011, growing at an annualised rate of nearly 36.4%. (Inflation during that time averaged 12.6% per year.)

Even within the core fertiliser business, Umar took Engro from being a local player to a globally competitive one, leading the firm into the $1.1 billion project that set up the world’s largest single-train urea manufacturing plant in Pakistan.

Umar’s 27-year career at Engro began in 1985, when the company was still a subsidiary of ExxonMobil, the global oil giant. “I still remember the exact figure of my first salary: Rs8,170 per month. My boss at the time said ‘Well, frankly they are paying you too much.’” As CEO of Engro Corporation, Umar was paid Rs68.6 million for the year 2011, which comes to a monthly salary of Rs5.7 million.

In addition to his salary, Umar, 50, was also paid in stock and currently owns about 2 million shares of the company, with options to buy another 924,000, according to Engro’s latest available financial statements. At Monday’s closing price of Rs102.47 per share, that puts the value of Umar’s stocks and options at over Rs300 million.

Umar represents the growing class of executives trained by the country’s business schools who made it big by working their way up the corporate ladder rather than being born into privilege. Umar graduated from the Institute of Business Administration in Karachi in 1984, working for a short stint at HSBC Pakistan before moving to what was then Exxon Chemical Pakistan as a business analyst.

He was the only Pakistani employee of Exxon working abroad (in Canada) when the famous management buyout of Engro took place in 1991. Umar came back to Pakistan and in 1997 was appointed the first CEO of Engro Polymer & Chemicals, the group’s petrochemical arm.

When became president of the company in 2004, he immediately made the company take a global perspective, becoming the first Pakistani private sector firm to hire the top (and expensive) US consulting firm McKinsey & Company to help create the Engro’s strategy. Engro changed its corporate structure as a result of that engagement and is now on a global expansion kick, buying out a US-based food company and considering expanding into the fertiliser business in North Africa to supply the European market.


http://tribune.com.pk/story/365621/corporate-titan-after-27-years-at-engro-asad-umar-calls-it-a-day/

Anonymous said...

I have got admission at KSBL and IBA but I'm completely unable to decide where should i go? I know alot of factors goes in favor of KSBL but big issue is that no one knows KSBL atm. and as a business school No Alumni Network... Please can you guide me towards right step? thanks.

Riaz Haq said...

Here's an excerpt from The News on India-Pakistan management pros summit:

The first-ever Pakistan-India management conference will be held in Lahore next month to establish relations between management practitioners and professional institutions of the two countries and to share best regional practices and case studies from the corporate sector.



The two-day event, titled Dividends: Pakistan-India Management Summit, will be held on September 20-21 in Lahore, in which nearly 600 corporate and business leaders from the two countries are expected to participate.



Aman ki Asha – the Jang Group-Times of India peace initiative – is partnering the event with Nutshell Forum, in which participants will not just share their management experiences and challenges but also establish relations on individual and institutional levels.
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“The two business conferences helped set the broader agenda and underlined the importance of peace and friendship between Pakistan and India for economic development and prosperity in the region,” said Shahrukh Hasan, the group managing director of the Jang Group. “This management summit will take this process a step forward as it will help professionals and their associations to directly build ties and links necessary to give shape to and practically implement the recommendations made at the Lahore conference,” he said.
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Providing details regarding the forthcoming summit, Muhammad Azfar Ahsan, chief executive officer of Nutshell Forum, said that around 100 corporate leaders from India and 500 from Pakistan are expected to participate at the Lahore summit. He hoped that the summit would be a landmark event that will enable professional institutions such as AIMA, MAP, ICAP and the stock exchanges to establish direct links. Ahsan said he was delighted to partner the summit with AKA. “The response received from professional bodies in both countries has been beyond our expectations; the quality of speakers and delegates already confirmed will ensure that deliberations are of a very high level,” said Ahsan.



Other partners and supporters of the management summit are include the All India Management Association; Management Association of Pakistan; SHRM India; Pakistan Software Houses Association for IT & ITES; Pakistan Society for Human Resource Management; Marketing Association of Pakistan; India Society for Training & Development; Pakistan Society for Training & Development; Institute of Cost Accountants of India; Institute of Cost & Management Accountants of Pakistan; International Advertising Association Pakistan Chapter and International Advertising Association India Chapter.



Ahsan said that the conference will provide an opportunity to Pakistani and Indian corporate leaders to share experiences and explore avenues of “knowledge cooperation for sustainable development”. “This will help promote bilateral relations and bridge the gap between the Pakistani and the Indian intelligentsia,” he said.



Among the broader topics of discussion at the summit will be leadership and strategy; technology; innovation and growth; sustainable economic growth; human resource and the workplace. The event is to feature in-depth debates, presentations, keynote addresses, breakfast talks, panel and roundtable discussions along with a cultural evening, an art exhibition, sightseeing trips to historical and modern places of interest in Lahore and a Pakistan-India golf match.



Amin Hashwani, the chairman of the organising committee of the summit, said that Aman Ki Asha and Nutshell Forum will achieve another landmark by gathering “the best of management thought leaders of the region and providing a forum for sharing the regional best practices and studies.”



http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-3-128536-First-Pakistan-India-management-summit-planned-in-Lahore

Riaz Haq said...

Here's an ET report on SAP software business growth in Pakistan:

Seeing immense potential for growth in Pakistan like other emerging markets of Asia, SAP – a leading business solutions provider worldwide – is targeting 30% growth in its operations here as a new generation of qualified Pakistanis is more interested in increasing efficiency and productivity of their businesses.

The penetration of enterprise business software is going to increase in Pakistan as the new generation, which is taking over family businesses, is more tech savvy and inclined towards adopting innovative technological solutions, says Darren Rushworth, Managing Director of SAP Pakistan and Emerging Markets, in an interview with The Express Tribune.

“We are adding around 15 customers every quarter and are targeting 30% growth this year, which is big,” he said when asked if he was satisfied with the growth in Pakistan. “We are selling enterprise software, not toothpastes.”

Competitors of SAP in Pakistan are big names like Microsoft and Oracle, among others. SAP has 200 customers in Pakistan and its worldwide list of customers stretches to over 190,000.

Unlike most multinationals which include Pakistan in the Middle Eastern region, SAP counts Pakistan in its Asia-Pacific operations and views the country as an important emerging market in its growth plans in this region.

To a question about revenues in Pakistan, Rushworth said he could not give the figure because the company did not breakdown country-wise revenues. Last year, its global revenues were 15.4 billion euros.

Like most other countries, out of the 200 customers in Pakistan, 80% of them came from small and medium enterprises (SMEs), he said.

Responding to another question, he said, “the challenge we have in Pakistan is to have more trained partners. We are very much dependent on our partners here and this is why we will invest much in our partners to grow our business.”

SAP partners include IBM, Siemens, Abacus, ExD, NetSol Technologies, VMS, BI Solutions and Sidat Hyder Morshed Associates.

“Other than the big partners, we are also looking for small partners,” he said. “But since we need specialised partners, our search is for a niche market.”

Agreeing with the fact that Pakistan’s economy is mostly based on SMEs, Rushworth believes that SAP will continue to focus on such enterprises.

When asked about the impact of Pakistan’s slow economic growth on SAP business in recent years, he said, “I cannot draw a parallel between slow economic growth and our business.”

“I am not an economist, but what we saw in different markets is that we got business even in times of recession in different countries,” he added.


http://tribune.com.pk/story/439602/encouraged-by-pakistans-potential-sap-sees-30-growth/

Riaz Haq said...

Here's an ET story on top jobs for IBA grads:

KARACHI: If a high number of students receiving multiple job offers even before they graduate is the chief yardstick to measure a business school’s performance, the Institute of Business Administration (IBA) is certainly in a league of its own.

“Some of our students receive as many as six job offers before they had graduated,” IBA Dean and Director Dr Ishrat Husain said while speaking to The Express Tribune on Friday.

Out of the 196 IBA BBAs, who actively looked for jobs in 2012, as many as 170 – or 86.7% – managed to find employment of their liking, according to the IBA’s employment survey released earlier this month. The average monthly starting salary for BBA graduates in 2012 was Rs43,200, compared to last year’s Rs36,700, reflecting an increase of 18%.

The banking sector has been the chief employer of IBA graduates in recent years. But the percentage of BBAs joining the banking sector was 18.8% this year, compared to 39% two years ago. Although the banking sector offered a salary of salary of Rs36,900 a month on average in 2012 – which is Rs6,300 less than the overall average salary this year – it still remains the single largest employer of IBA BBAs.

Husain says the fact that the number of IBA graduates entering the banking field has come down by almost 50% in just a couple of years should be attributed to slower expansion in the banks’ branch network.Dr Ishrat Husain

The education sector remained the second-largest employer of IBA BBAs this year with 13.5% graduates entering the field at an average salary of Rs36,000 per month. About 78.3% graduates joining the education field were female, according to the employment survey.

Many of the BBAs entering the education field return to IBA after getting the mandatory work experience required for the MBA programme, according to Husain.

Financial institutions were also a less preferred employer for IBA BBAs in 2012, as only 5.9% of graduates joined them at an average salary of Rs39,700 a month. Unlike the education sector, which attracted more than twice the number of BBAs this year compared to 2011, the number of IBA graduates joining the financial sector actually decreased from 14% to 5.9% over the same period.

IBA BBAs received the highest average monthly salaries in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), telecommunications and manufacturing sectors with Rs70,000, Rs67,000 and Rs35,000, respectively, according to the employment survey.

Commenting about the low level of interest among IBA graduates in joining the textile sector, Husain says it was due to the “seth mentality” prevailing in the industry. “We have taught our students professional management, so they do not want to become part of the textile industry for obvious reasons,” he said.

The employment survey says 90.5% of the fresh MBAs who actively sought jobs this year found employment of their liking. The average monthly salary for IBA MBAs in 2012 was Rs66,400, which is almost 24% higher than the last year’s average.

Sales and distribution, FMCG and IT sectors attracted 26.3%, 18.4% and 15.8%, respectively, of IBA MBAs in 2012, the survey said.

“While the general impression is that there are few jobs because of the sluggish economic growth in recent years, the truth is that there are ample employment opportunities for graduates of quality educational institutions,” Husain said.


http://tribune.com.pk/story/482633/grad-employment-offtake-puts-iba-top-of-pakistans-ivy-league/

Riaz Haq said...

Here's an Express Tribune story on McKinsey's planned practice in Pakistan:

KARACHI: McKinsey and Company – the firm that invented management consulting is still considered the most prestigious outfit in the business – is thinking about setting up a permanent presence in Pakistan, though the precise date of when they will do so is uncertain.

According to sources familiar with the matter, the company has conducted considerable due diligence about creating an office in the country. Talal Malik, a McKinsey spokesperson for the Middle East region, declined to comment.

But several sources, including current and former employees of the consulting giant, say that McKinsey has believed for at least five years that the Pakistani market is big enough for its strategy consulting services, which are among the priciest in the world. Dominic Barton, the global managing partner of the company, specifically mentioned Pakistan as an area of interest for the firm in a post on the company’s internal blog in 2010.

And the company is no stranger to the Pakistani market. McKinsey has previously worked on several assignments in Pakistan for a variety of clients, including projects for Engro Corporation, the Punjab government, and the Karachi Electric Supply Company. Those clients were served mainly out of the Dubai office, though some personnel from its offices in Europe and North America were also deployed to locations in Pakistan.

McKinsey has also hired personnel from Pakistani business schools, including the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), though usually no more than one or two a year for its Dubai offices. Should the firm set up its offices in Pakistan, McKinsey is likely to recruit far more heavily on the LUMS campus.

According to several sources familiar with the company’s plans, there had been two main concerns for the company in setting up a Pakistan office: ensuring the safety of its personnel and getting “core clients”....


http://tribune.com.pk/story/539008/is-mckinsey-company-about-to-set-up-shop-in-pakistan/

Riaz Haq said...

Here's an FT story on Pakistanis business school grads:

...“This (power cut) is the sort of challenge they don’t necessarily prepare you for in a business school,” says the HR manager, adding: “We want our managers to have their feet on the ground.” This message appears to chime with the thinking across many of the country’s corporate board rooms.
More than a decade has passed since the September 11 2001 attacks on the US forced Pakistan into an American-led global “war on terror”. The period of political and economic uncertainty that this war unleashed has visibly changed the business environment in the country.
While there used to be a large number of expatriates running a network of multinational companies, there are now far fewer and these have hung on only because of Pakistan’s large market size. Concerns have mounted over the safety of western nationals in the country, who are likely to be in greater danger of physical attacks or kidnappings than their local counterparts.
The security risk has forced an increasing number of companies to hold meetings in safer countries such as Dubai.
Perhaps in response to the scarcity of experienced managers from abroad, local banks and companies are seeking well-rounded Pakistani executives armed with MBA degrees. But they also want them to be able to cope with challenges such as the heightened security risks. Although there are a number of successful US-trained Pakistani managers, some with MBAs from top-ranked US business schools, domestically trained MBAs are in demand because overseas-educated MBAs of Pakistani origin often do not want to leave the west to take up a position.
First, many of them prefer to build their careers outside the country in North America, Europe or Asia, because they are attracted by more generous financial packages. Second, by staying abroad, many such graduates can evade the risks that accompany daily operations in Pakistan, such as the running of elaborate supply chains involving road transportation to potentially high-risk areas.
Pakistan’s business schools are seeking to fill the gap created by this trend and an increasing number of graduates from the country’s top two MBA programmes – offered by the Lahore University of Management Science (Lums) and the Institute of Business Administration (IBA) at Karachi university – are looking for opportunities within the country.
“Our MBAs are hands-down a better choice for any employer in Pakistan,” says Arif Butt, dean of the Suleman Dawood School of Business at Lums. Its MBA programme is based on a case-study approach adopted by the world’s leading business schools. Prof Butt says Lums graduates “can very easily and very quickly assume positions of responsibility and become corporate leaders. They know the [Pakistani] environment very well.”
Lums also offers specialist programmes such as a certificate in agribusiness to train individuals in modern management techniques for establishing businesses linked to Pakistan’s large agricultural sector.
Ishrat Hussain, dean of IBA and a former governor of Pakistan’s central bank, says the post 9/11 environment has allowed local business graduates to rise faster.
“Across businesses based in Pakistan, whether foreign-owned or local, the position of CEO is increasingly occupied by our own graduates,” he says. “For many employers, there is no difference [between hiring a Pakistani graduate from the top two schools or a graduate from a foreign MBA programme]”.
As Pakistan’s business schools are increasingly preparing their graduates for the local environment, attention needs to paid to the particular problems the country faces.
Aside from security risks, challenges include operating in an environment tainted by corruption and widespread tax evasion....


http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/c3cfa7da-8809-11e3-a926-00144feab7de.html

Riaz Haq said...

Reformer-in-chief: In conversation with Dr Ishrat Husain

http://herald.dawn.com/news/1153435

Fahd Ali. What were the challenges you faced after taking over IBA in 2008?

Ishrat Husain. When IBA was set up in 1955, it was the first business school outside North America. Why the heck is it still so unknown outside Pakistan? To me, the challenge was that this institution should be one of the top institutions like the Indian Institutes of Management, which are household names abroad. Why isn’t IBA in the same league?

Also read: Jawwad S Khawaja—Poetic justice

Being a public sector institution, my first condition for taking on the job was that I would not allow interference from any political quarters. The second condition was that the government must give me the freedom to approach the private sector and charities to raise money because the government did not have the money [required to restructure IBA].

Ali. What necessitated IBA’s restructuring?

Husain. I wanted to put IBA among the top 100 global business schools and among the top 10 in the region. In order to do that, I had to realign its programmes with the best international practices that are also rooted in local circumstances. IBA also had to apply for accreditation with the international agencies. The changes were necessary in order to obtain those accreditations.

Ali. What was your restructuring strategy?

Husain. I enhanced the quality of the existing academic programmes and brought in new ones. I transformed IBA’s flagship MBA programme and aligned it with the best international practice: that everybody has to have a two-year post-graduation work experience before they can enrol.

When, however, we started the new MBA programme in 2010, the enrolment went down drastically — from 150 to 25. This was a big shock. Tuition fee collection declined substantially and many members of the faculty had no courses to teach, but I persisted. The market has now recognised there is a qualitative difference in graduates who join an MBA programme straight after a BBA and those who are now coming out of [the restructured] MBA programme. The new graduates are more mature. They are not chasing grades; they apply their knowledge to real world problems.

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Ali. There is a focus on the social sciences in higher education these days. What do you think is the reason for that?

Husain. I presented a paper, Public Policy and Social Sciences, at a conference at the Government College University in Lahore about seven years ago. In that paper, I discussed the status of social sciences teaching and research in Pakistan. [My diagnosis was that] people who did not pass the civil service exam became teachers of history and social sciences.

But that trend has changed. Some of it owes to the Higher Education Commission (HEC) that has started investing in PhD programmes. Some very bright young men and women have gone to good schools abroad and come back with PhDs recently. We should have people who are conducting research on our political system, our social and economic problems and our history. We should have more Ayesha Jalals.

Also read: Raheel Sharif—The chief who could be king

[Social sciences] is also virgin territory: if you write about Pakistan’s historical, political and religious problems in a scientific manner, you will get published in the best journals. The critical mass has been created by the HEC and an incentive structure exists that induces young teachers to specialise in these fields.

The HEC also offers competitive research grants in the social sciences every year. You do not have to be part of a public sector university in order to compete for these grants. You can compete if you have developed a good proposal. The state is, thus, modifying its postures as far as research in the social sciences is concerned.

Riaz Haq said...

Consortium of #Pakistan #business schools formed to engage in #CPEC ops research. #China #FDI #LUMS #IBA #KSBL

http://www.radio.gov.pk/06-Feb-2017/consortium-of-top-pakistani-business-schools-formed

A consortium of top Pakistani business schools was formed to engage academic sector for applied research on various industrial and business opportunities related to China Pakistan Economic Corridor and make this project, a real game changer.

The decision was taken in a meeting held in Islamabad today with Minister for Planning, Development and Reform Ahsan Iqbal in the chair.

It was decided that the consortium will analyze the impact of Chinese investment in CPEC projects in the field of energy, infrastructure and industrial cooperation to ensure transformation of Pakistan into a new hub of trade for the whole world.

Addressing the meeting, Ahsan urged business schools to work for capacity building of provincial governments and chambers of commerce to ensure maximum benefits of CPEC.

He further instructed to develop linkages with top Chinese business schools and ensure exchanges of students and teachers.

The Minister said advised to upgrade universities libraries not only by acquiring Chinese publications but by translating them to make it available for local consumption to understand Chinese business practices, ethics and laws.

He said West, Middle East and Central Asian countries have already expressed to join CPEC so the consortium should propose a model to engage these nations for a true transformation of Pakistan into a geo economic hub.

It was also proposed that Chinese language should be included as a compulsory subject in all undergraduate programs in Pakistan. Deans of top Pakistani business schools also attended the meeting.

Riaz Haq said...

FROM FIRST PAKISTANI ALUMNA TO IAA PRESIDENT: MEET SADIA KHAN MBA’95D

https://alumnimagazine.insead.edu/from-first-pakistani-alumna-to-iaa-president-meet-sadia-khan-mba95d/


Sadia Profilevestment banker, development banker, financial sector regulator, family business leader and now entrepreneur. This is the career of Sadia Khan MBA’95D: first Pakistani woman to graduate from INSEAD and new president of the world’s most international alumni organisation. She explains how being an INSEAD volunteer has played a role in her own achievements – and how the IAA is working for the benefit of all alumni.

Salamander Magazine: Do you have a secret formula for success?
Sadia Khan: Initiative. Networking. Savoir-faire. Empowerment. Attitude. Diligence… Or, for short, INSEAD! And the best way to keep that formula fresh after graduating is to join the INSEAD Alumni Association. That’s why I’ve always been so involved at a national and international level. And the network feels more vibrant today than ever before.

SM: When you returned to work in Pakistan after many years abroad, there was no National Alumni Association… So you founded one! Why?
SK: Back in 1994, I had to fly to Dubai for my INSEAD interview, because there were no graduates to interview me in Pakistan. So I realised there was a need to galvanize the small but growing number of alumni there – and to provide a much needed networking platform for the younger generation. We started with 30 members in 2007, but managed to organise high-profile events for up to 300 people. The NAA has definitely helped to build the INSEAD brand within the country.

SM: You were an INSEAD volunteer before that, though. Had you already felt the benefits?
SK: I’d been actively involved with INSEAD since graduating. While I was based in the Philippines, I started interviewing MBA candidates and discovered that it not only kept me in touch with the school’s development but also gave me the chance to interact with the next generation of business leaders.

SM: How did you get involved at an international level?
SK: I was invited to become a member of the IAA Executive Committee as VP for Asia and communications in 2012. The highlight was probably heading up the implementation of the first Global INSEAD Day in 2013. The IAA model is based on teamwork and volunteerism and it was in that spirit that I took up my current role.

SM: How did you become the global IAA President?
SK: I have to admit I was taken by surprise when the search committee approached me earlier this year! It wasn’t a role I was vying for or even contemplating at this stage of my professional life. However, I knew there was work to be done right now in enhancing the value proposition of the IAA for our alumni, and there was a great team ready to support me in this role, within the volunteer community and within the school.

SM: Why do you believe the IAA is so valuable to alumni and to the school?
SK: An active alumni association not only helps to keep the alumni energised and engaged but also contributes tremendously to the positive branding of INSEAD. Through our activities, we not only get a chance to showcase the achievements of our members but also demonstrate our deep bonding with the institution. And nothing succeeds like success. The success of the alumni boosts the reputation of the school, while in turn the success of the school enables the alumni to bask in its reflected glory. Having a strong and active alumni network is a win-win for all.

Riaz Haq said...

Wharton, Berkeley, NYU Offering Online M.B.A.s for the First Time
More elite business schools try virtual degrees to lure graduate students

https://www.wsj.com/articles/online-mba-wharton-berkeley-nyu-georgetown-11667343552


Starting next year, executive M.B.A. students at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania can earn the $223,500 degree from their living rooms.

After years of resistance, some of the country’s top business schools are starting virtual M.B.A. programs that require only a few days of in-person instruction. Wharton and Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business said they would include options for executive and part-time M.B.A. students to take most coursework online in 2023.


This fall, part-time M.B.A. students at New York University’s Stern School of Business and the University of California, Berkeley’s Haas School of Business were given an online option for most of their classes. All of the programs will charge online students the same tuition as those who attend in person, and those online students will get the same degree and credential as on-campus counterparts.

The move to give students flexible location options comes as demand for two-year, full-time traditional M.B.A. programs has been dropping amid a competitive job market and growing concern about the cost of college.

“The pandemic definitely accelerated this in every industry,” said Brian Bushee, who leads teaching and learning at Wharton and also teaches accounting. “I would be surprised in 10 or 20 years if there were schools that only did in-person and did nothing online.”

Between 2009 and 2020 the number of online M.B.A.s at accredited business schools in the U.S. more than doubled, and schools added more fully online M.B.A. degrees over the past two years during the pandemic, according to the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. Recent announcements by Wharton and others mark a turning point for adoption of the degrees even at highly ranked campuses, school leaders say.

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At Stern, even the students who choose online courses are required to take nine in-person credits, which can be completed on nights or weekends, or by doing an intensive weeklong session.

Boston University’s Questrom School of Business, which announced its online M.B.A. in 2019, graduated its first online M.B.A. students in August. The degree, which costs $24,000, follows a completely separate curriculum and costs far less than the traditional M.B.A. program. Online M.B.A students watch live broadcasts of professors and talk in small groups or on a virtual online forum. A 2021 survey of students found that 35% received a promotion since enrolling.

Many schools are still reluctant to make a reduced-price online degree because they fear such a product might eat up demand for their traditional M.B.A. programs, said Paul Carlile, who leads online learning at Questrom.

Halley Kamerkar, 36 years old, finished her online Questrom coursework in August and said hearing from fellow M.B.A. candidates in South Africa, Ireland and Miami was valuable.

Ms. Kamerkar, of Salem, Mass., said she thought about graduate school for a long time, but a study guide she bought for the Graduate Management Admission Test gathered dust until she learned about Questrom’s program with its $24,000 price tag. Ms. Kamerkar works in the nonprofit sector and only recently paid back her undergraduate loans.

“I did not want to give up my full-time career to take a step back and pursue education,” she said.

Riaz Haq said...

Two Titan submersible passengers were prominent science philanthropists in Pakistan

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-02100-y

Two of the passengers who died when the Titansubmersible imploded on its way to explore the wreckage of the Titanic in the North Atlantic belonged to a family that are prominent philanthropic funders of science in Pakistan.

Shahzada Dawood, and his son, Suleman Dawood, were part of the Dawood Foundation, which set up a university, girls’ school and museum, all with major focuses on science.

“The tragic loss of father and son is, first and foremost, a human tragedy and a tragedy for the family,” says environmental scientist Adil Najam, who also studies philanthropic giving in Pakistan. “We have also lost someone with a real, personal and abiding interest in science. It is a tremendous loss of a champion for science.”

“This is a huge tragedy for Pakistan,” adds Atta-ur-Rahman, a chemist at the University of Karachi and a former minister for science. “The [Dawood] family has made enormous contributions to education and science during the last five or six decades.”

The Dawood family’s foundation established the Dawood University of Engineering and Technology in Karachi; the Karachi School of Business and Leadership; the MagnifiScience Centre, Pakistan's first contemporary science museum also in Karachi. Dawood public school provides high quality science education for girls, Najam says.

Members of the Dawood family posted a statement to the foundation website about the deaths of Shahzada and Suleman. “We are truly grateful to all those involved in the rescue operations. The immense love and support we receive continues to help us endure this unimagineable loss.” The statement also said: “At this time, we are unable to receive calls and request that support, condolences and prayers be messaged instead.”

Both Rahman and physicist Pervez Hoodbhoy of the Black Hole Institute, a science and cultural centre in Islamabad, say that the Dawood Foundation is a rare example of much-needed science-philanthropy. Many young people are trying to leave Pakistan because of an economic crisis and a lack of opportunities. Around 800,000 people left in 2022 to seek work abroad. Between 400 and 750 people from Pakistan, as well as Egypt and Syria died last week when a boat capsized off the Mediterranean Sea on its way from Libya to Europe, according to media reports.

The Dawood family foundation has tried to address these problems by creating opportunities for science education. Rahman adds that there is much more that needs to be done. “We need to rethink our national policies, so that we can use this huge pool of talent for our own socio-economic development,” he says.

Riaz Haq said...

Family of Pakistani father and son who died in Titan submersible shares memories and gratitude

https://apnews.com/article/titanic-submersible-implosion-pakistan-dawood-22067e1f8fced4b9df8ec2d463d94d8f

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The family of two Pakistani men who died in the implosion of a submersible as it descended to the wreckage of the Titanic held a virtual memorial service Tuesday and thanked everyone who tried to rescue the father and son or sent condolences from around the world.

The prayer service was arranged by the family of Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son, Suleman, days after authorities confirmed that everyone on the Titan died. The submersible carrying five people imploded near the site of the shipwrecked Titanic and killed everyone on board.

Shahzada Dawood’s widow, Christina Dawood, was in tears as she shared memories of her husband and son. She was on board a support vessel on June 18 when she got word that communications with the Titan submersible had been lost during its voyage to the ocean floor.

In her remarks, she thanked those who had helped the family in its time of grief. The service was broadcast on YouTube through the family’s charity, the Dawood Foundation.

Shahzada and Suleman Dawood were members of one of Pakistan’s most prominent families. The elder man’s father, Hussain Dawood, said during Tuesday’s service that his son and grandson were gifts of God that had been taken back by God.

He also described the two as martyrs and said “martyrs go straight to paradise.”

“What does the father say” when he faces such a tragedy, he asked.

Hussain Dawood, said Suleman and Shahzada were very excited about going to see the Titanic and before leaving for their voyage convinced him that“we should go to Antarctica, too” next winter.

“I’m actually convinced they have enriched our lives beyond measure,” Dawood said, vowing, “We will take forward their legacy.”


Christina Dawood shared memories of when she first met her husband and their wedding in Pakistan’s eastern city of Lahore.

When Suleman was born, her husband was happy like other fathers but “when he held his son for the first time, I just knew these two belong together,” the wife and mother said. She sensed then that he had “found a long-lost companion for his adventures to come.”