Growing up, everybody around ran after MBBS degrees, became lawyers or tried their luck with MBAs. However, the recent past witnessed peculiar trends regarding BBA degrees in Pakistan.
Thanks to the majority of higher education institutions (HEIs) for exploiting students’ demand and contributing to developing an unemployed market.
The very argument may surely be debatable, as a part of this very lot has also been found serving the corporate sector and causing a stir in the job market. However, quality is a serious concern, which these business or BBA degrees have to comply with – especially vis-a-vis an economic turmoil.
Since quality is a continuous phenomenon that needs constant updating, and rightly so the HEIs must be burning the midnight oil to bring in radical reforms, it is pertinent to identify that these BBA degrees can still be counted as cash cows for established HEIs.
The way certain medical degrees stay associated with specific institutions, some education institutions will always be considered as the first choice for linguistics, and few would take a place for computer science specialists, it's high time that benchmark HEIs focus on conscious branding to glorify their association with BBA. It doesn’t require a lot, but the use of basic brand elements may serve the cause.
Continuing with the proposed strategies, the first would be the use of slogans/taglines depicting the institution's historic launch and association with BBA or business degrees.
Taglines like 'The HEI for generations', 'The pioneer in Business Studies', 'First business institute of Pakistan', 'The flagship BBA' etc, might add to the cause. Brand mantras can further be employed/replaced with taglines representing the organization’s ethos.
Other strategies might include a focus on established corporate linkages and the use of alumni – not only in testimonials for social network pages, but also for a solid link to gauge the HEIs about the job market and current skills needed.
Now comes the most important part. Learning from Nokia’s story of not keeping up with the trends, it is imperative to be agile and to make those necessary adjustments to the curriculum so as not to be outdated.
This may range from adding a market-driven curriculum, adjusting degree titles, offering relevant specializations, and bringing the mix of bona fide industry practitioners as guest lecturers or for co-teaching practices.
However, HEIs should make sure that stress is placed on the word “bona fide” for industry practitioners, who also possess some lecturing skills. This is to ensure the effective delivery of industry insights to students with the right mix of theoretical underpinnings as well.
It is time for benchmark institutes to appear as saviors of recognised degrees like BBA because of their international acceptance and relevance they carry. Obviously, BBA still acts as one of the base degrees for students to earn their future Masters/MS/MPhil in business-related domains.
The top institutes should join hands and both strategically and intellectually help the BBA degree keep its roots firm, as this is not just about being a profitable school or institute, but also about revitalising or maintaining the essence of business studies in all possible relevant ways, as again it can be fading for new entrants or emerging institutes but for pioneers, it can act as their USP.
The author holds a doctorate and works as an instructor in a higher education institution.
