BINOD GHIMIRE

Gone are the days when the Nepali society used to think management education had no career prospects. Today, management has become the second most sought-after stream after education.

As management education provides students with managerial and entrepreneurial skills, leadership qualities and problem solving abilities, the students are prepared to take up managerial responsibilities in almost every sector.

There are ample choices in the bachelors level for management education enthusiasts—ranging from Bachelors in Business Administration (BBA), Bachelors in Business Studies (BBS), Bachelor in Hotel Management, Bachelor in Information Management, Bachelor in Travels and Tourism Management to Bachelors in Event Management. However, BBA is the most preferred programme among students.

With the restoration of democracy in 1990, Nepal adopted liberal economic policies which accelerated the pace of establishment of commercial entities, including industries, banks, insurance companies and large business complexes. The increase in the number of such corporations also pushed up the demand for qualified managers who could lead both the administrative and business activities.

The increase in demand for managers instigated Kathmandu University (KU) to introduce BBA in 1997 for the first time in Nepal. The 120-credit programme was introduced keeping in mind the ever increasing demand for competent human resource in the banking and other commercial sectors.

The success gained by KU prompted Pokhara University to start the programme from the very beginning of its existence in 2000, followed by Tribhuvan University (TU) in 2002. As a matter of fact, BBA and MBA were the programmes Purbanchal University started its service with.

Currently, 79 colleges are offering BBA programme in affiliation with domestic universities, while there are a dozen more institutions that offer the programme in direct affiliation with American, British and Indian universities. There are 37 colleges affiliated with Pokhara University, four with KU, 17 with Purbanchal University, and 21 with the oldest university, TU.

The BBA programme aims at preparing students to become competent, skilled, confident and socially responsive professionals who can effectively support managerial, entrepreneurial and leadership roles in businesses and social organisations in today’s competitive environment. It offers a wide range of concentration and elective courses to match students’ individual interests in line with the demand in the employment market.

With proper academic and course planning, students can take advantages of specialisation in two functional areas (administration and business) of management during their four years of study. “Semester system in teaching and grading system of evaluation, in addition to strictly-followed academic calendar and internship make it (BBA) the most sought-after business course at present,” said Surendra Shrestha, chairman of Nobel Academy.

The programme also provides students with an opportunity to learn, gain exposure and network through internship programmes, which make them competent enough to land lucrative jobs. BBA students can easily get credits transferred to foreign colleges, which is not easy with other programmes.

It is an academic programme that offers job-oriented curriculum—an integration of various disciplines like social sciences, mathematics, management and information technology. The degree offers both practical management education and enough breadth in complementary academic subjects to prepare students to function effectively in complex organisations, small to medium enterprises or the public sector. Over 400,000 students are currently enrolled in BBA across the country.

Another major quality of the programme is students from any faculty can study the course. While the pass percentage for other faculties hovers around just 30-40 percent, the success rate of the BBA programme is above 80 percent across all universities.

“Apart from the easy availability of job opportunities, entrepreneurial skills imparted by the programme help student start their own business,” claimed Khagendra Ojha of Uniglobe Colleges.

According to college owners, BBA graduates never find it hard to sell themselves in the job market as there are 1,486 commercial bank branches, 7,064 development bank branches, and around 1,000 finance companies and hundreds of cooperatives, and they are expanding every year. The eight-semester programme costs from Rs 260,000 to Rs 500,000 in colleges affiliated with domestic universities, while colleges under foreign affiliation charge from Rs 0.6 to 1.5 million.

FEATURES
> Being a four-year course, it has global recognition
> Over 40 subjects to choose from covering diverse areas > Focuses on practical education rather than theoretical > Timely academic session and result publication
> Provides high job prospects
> Timely course revision
> As there are limited intakes, courses are taught efficiently > It also helps in personality development of students

source:Ghimire, Binod(2013),"BBA Education: A platform for successful management career",The Kathmandu post,15 Sep 2013
photo courtesy:Prakash Timilsena