Corporate Interface has taken a new direction and when it comes to the demand of professionals in the market, one with the industry knowledge is at an edge as compared to others. Let’s see how relevant is the industry exposure and how B schools are preparing their students for the outside world.

Today, the definition of a good management school is largely dependent on its ability to offer industry interface to its students that helps them enhancing their practical knowledge and make them ready for the corporate world. The focus of a B-School is entirely to create industry ready employable candidates. In times of cut-throat competition where everyone strives hard for a successful career, industry interface is of prime importance.

The Academia-Industry Collaboration

The academia-industry collaboration or the corporate interface program is designed for the students in which the student is required to work with a corporate for some part of their course.

The need for highly skilled professionals is going up each day. The initiative of academia-industry collaboration is the idea of management schools to prepare their students for the corporate world outside and help them sustain in this highly competitive world. The urgent need of making the students employable or in other terms industry ready has compelled the management schools to redefine their curriculum and make industry interface as an important part of the course. The concept of ‘classroom to industry’ is gaining popularity and with more number of fresh students enrolling themselves for management studies, this concept helps them in being at par with the experienced students.

How the Students can Benefit?

When studying in an MBA college and looking forward for a bright future, gaining practical knowledge other than lectures and theories becomes important.  In order to be at par with the rapidly changing scenarios of the job market, it is important for the student to be industry ready. A company looking for a candidate will want him to have some practical knowledge about the industry, what are the latest trends and happenings in the industry.  Anyone who wants to pursue higher education in the field of management should make a thorough research about the colleges. The decision should definitely be based on corporate interface tie ups of the colleges.  

Other student benefit includes:

• Builds confidence and instils a positive attitude towards the work culture
• Provides equal opportunity to the students who have zero work experience
• It nurtures skills as well as knowledge
• Creates better employment prospects

What are the types

Exposure to the corporate world is widely related to working in an organization. The industry interface has various types through which it can be included in the curriculum. These are:

• Internship Opportunities: A big chance to gain experience, learn about the industry and polish your skills. A management student can find an internship of its choice as number of MNC’s offer summer internship to management students.  MBA colleges with the help of corporate tie ups can also help their student to get the best internships.
• Seminars and Forums: The industries today organize a lot of seminars, forums, trade shows and interactive sessions where students can gain core knowledge about the industry, its working culture and more.
• Guest Lectures: The management schools keenly organize guest lectures that are industry specific which helps the students learn from someone who is already a part of the industry.

How the corporates can benefit?

It is always a two sided game. The industry interface program does not only benefit the students, but also helps the corporates to find the ‘right one’.  The corporates are equally gaining a lot of benefits. Some include:

• Minimizing training cost as the students have already been trained under the internship program that they undertook
• Increased association with the educational institutes that can help the organizations build courses that require specializations in a particular field
• A more efficient workforce that will require minimum training
• Reducing hiring costs as campus placements will go up
• Opportunity to pick sustainable candidates

Other than building a student industry relationship, the industry interface program also helps the B Schools build a brand name for themselves. These programs are an effective way of preparing the students with the best industrial practices that help them to connect to the outside world.  Hence in a nut shell, the industry interface for management students enhances their practical knowledge, provides a secured future to the applicants, and minimizes the time and capital invested on grooming the candidates.

Author Bio: Akansha Arora is a professional writer and blogger. She is happy to pen down her views for various domains like career advice, real estate, matrimony and more that interest her.

Thank you Akansha for your valuable contribution: The Importance of Corporate Interface for Management Students