Time to make Academia SYSTEMatic is NOW!
Education in India today is a bigger sector than domestic IT industry as per reports
published by HRD Ministry. With hundreds of thousand graduates and post-
graduates passing out every year, no wonder India has become one of biggest
resource hubs in the world. For the same reasons, global corporate look at India to
exploit the rich resources in one way or other.
With all such advantages India as a country enjoying for past more than a couple
of decades, one needs to ponder upon the changing scenario in education sector as
far as its management is considered. No doubt education can be compared with
any other domestic industry today as a whole. Then, need for professionalism,
performance review, results, competitiveness etc. certainly should be applied to
academia too.
This article is an effort to shed some light on some of these aspects that should be
applied to academia in India.
Student as a Customer
If we focus on a typical educational institution in India, we realize – students are
the most ignored constituent in this sector! Student is in real-terms a customer of
an institution and certainly deserves all the attention that a customer of any other
industry receives (and especially service industry). Customer Relationship
Management or CRM in terms of System Jargon, is a must in academia. Every
engagement point or contact point should capture student needs, complaints,
grievances enabling institution serve him better. A consistent and complete
communication through electronic, paper or mobile media can be applied and
should be implemented in academia. Unless your customer is satisfied, one can not
expect any thing in return – that could be repeat business (may be second degree)
or word of mouth (that is the most potent promotion for academia). And time has
come, academia realize this and now!
Academia Process Management
There are departments in any academic institution, like, Enquiry, Admissions,
Counseling, Examination, Training & Placements, Library, Cultural, Research,
Accounts etc. that are as big as and as good as typical departments in any
corporate. But hardly we find process management as far as standardization is
concerned. Agreed, academia follow certain norms, rules set by AICTE or
University, but when it comes to standard practices or process flow, it’s haywire.
One needs to sit back and design process flow. It’s high time that institutions

implement some software systems that are integrated ones and not standalone, to
carry out functions more effectively. An academia ERP can fix many problems
arising out of data duplication or paper work.
E-Learning
Internet has revolutionized every aspect of our life including the way we learn.
More and more academic institutions worldwide are adopting online education and
learning tools as an alternative to class-room learning. Many programs and courses
are designed to suit to the requirements of their target markets and common
feature in all is Online aspect of learning. Today, Virtual Learning Environment
(VLE) takes care of common processes – right from Online form submission to
fee payment and attending examination to participating in classrooms virtually.
Moreover, institutions get obvious benefits of internet including wider reach and
long-term savings as you need not invest in classroom infrastructure or print
material. Now this does not mean one must have Distance Education programs to
adopt VLE. But certain learning sessions in regular programs and diploma courses
too can always be carried out virtually.
Promotion
Quality is the utmost parameter that can well be projected by institutions in
attracting new and better students. At the same time, innovative practices and
techniques too can be used to reach out to the target markets. This could be a
simple online advertisement or sponsoring certain events and social causes.
Academia in the western world conduct college tours for parents and prospective
students during the whole year. And most of such activities are carried out by
student-volunteers, thereby making it simple and economical too. Publishing
research or project work, recent event news or recognitions on the institution
website and updating the same too can be very effective. Many institutions world-
wide have discussion forums on the website, allowing even the visitors to
contribute.
Alumni Network
Alumni happen to be the past customers of the institute. The way corporate values
importance of keeping in touch with old and new customers alike, academic
institutions too need to maintain and update alumni list. It’s much important to
keep them updated of events, progress etc. of the institutions as they are the
harbingers who can good mouth the institution outside. Besides, alumni always
help one in training programs, events, corporate placements, fund raising etc. How
can any institution not pay heed to them!

Network of Partners
It could be any corporate entity or a government body, academia should develop
its own network through associations or JVs or MOUs. Especially, when it comes
to placing students in the corporate, it’s all about past association with the
companies in a way or another, which becomes much important. Companies prefer
visiting institutions with whom they are already associated with – for summer
projects or through syllabus design or by inviting company officials for events or
as key-note speakers etc. Many times, institutions should proactively work by
approaching such entities to help them in some research work or help them carry
out some social projects (especially government entities), which would surely
strengthen ties and the all important network.
There are many such similarities that can be drawn between academia and a
typical organized industry or a sector in India. Education in India is no doubt
different than in the west as far as motive and methodologies are concerned.
Nevertheless, with boundaries getting vanished world-over, time has come to
systematize this sector. There are many cases of institutions / universities that have
already adopted the systems practices. And they are much reaping its benefits.
Right from the promoters to governing bodies and students, staff to corporate and
society, everyone is benefited with the quality output that comes from a
SYSTEMatized academic institution. Hence for academia sector as a whole, it’s a
need of time to consider it as any other organized sector while delivering the
output.
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