Convocation Speech of the Chief Guest Dr. Bakul Dholakia, Advisor, Adani Group
Delivered at the 14^th Convocation of Tolani Institute of Management Studies, Adipur May 01, 2010

Chairperson of TIMS Governing Council Mrs. Anjana Hazari, Director Mr. Bhambhani, Dr. Amar Kalro & other Members of the Governing Council, Faculty Members, administrative staff, distinguished invitees, Students of the Graduating Class and their proud Parents.

It is a great honour for me to be with you this evening to participate in the 14th Annual Convocation of Tolani Institute of Management Studies. I am very happy to learn that within a short span of 14 years, TIMS has succeeded in achieving the status of a highly rated and well reputed Business School in Gujarat. I would like to congratulate and compliment the Board of Governors, the faculty, the staff and the alumni of TIMS for this remarkable achievement. Given its track record of consistent high performance over the last decade, I am confident that TIMS will eventually succeed in achieving a greater recognition in the field of Management Education in India over the next decade.

I am grateful to the TIMS Governing Council for inviting me to be the Chief Guest at your 14th Convocation. It is a moment of great pleasure for me to be in your midst this evening. I am sure this day would be a memorable day in the lives of 111 students, who have graduated today from this great institution of management education. I take this opportunity to congratulate the graduating class. I am sure that you will soon become highly rated professional managers.

I consider the present generation of Indian youth, like the graduating class assembled here, quite fortunate especially in relation to the earlier generation of the elderly Indians like us, who witnessed unprecedented changes in the socio-economic environment in India. Though our generation grew up in Independent India, the domestic circumstances prevailing then and the development strategy adopted by the Government imposed several restrictions on our generation leading to a significant sacrifice of their basic economic freedom. It was only around mid-eighties that the nation reconsidered its strategy and embarked on the path of economic liberalization. This led to a sea-change in the economic environment, opened our economy to both internal and external competition and enlarged our options in consumption of goods and services. For the first time, people were empowered as consumers, and the producers of goods & services started feeling the pressing need for technological leadership, productivity improvements and the consequent skill formation among workers.

Our generation has seen the wide range of changes in the nation’s economic life on a scale that is truly mind boggling. In the past, we had seen our country struggling with the overall GDP growth of only around 3% per annum translating into less than 1% annual growth of per capita income. As against this, we have achieved 9% GDP growth over a four year period in the recent past resulting in 7.5% growth of per capita income in real terms and we have ambitious targets for the next decade. In the process of achieving this massive transformation of Indian economy, our generation now looks forward to passing on the baton to the young generation comprising of all of you to sustain the tempo and momentum of this spectacular growth and help India win the global race of economic development. While we do have the satisfaction of contributing to the process of major transformation of Indian Economy, all of us know that a lot more remains to be done.

Today it is widely recognised that the 21st century belongs to India and China. Both countries are expected to emerge as leading economic super powers over the next two to three decades. For this to happen, Indian economy has to grow at an average annual rate of around 9% and the major thrust of the accelerated growth has to come from the knowledge-based sectors and industries. Currently, among all major economies of the world, the main competitive advantage that India enjoys is the favourable demographic structure of its large population. Today, India has a relatively much younger population as compared to the rapidly ageing population in most other countries including those in Western Europe and North America and Asian countries like Japan & China. However, the enormous strength of our young population could be an asset or a liability depending on the nature of education, training and skills imparted to millions of young Indian men & women. It is evident that the scale & quality of higher education will play the most critical role in effectively tapping our growth potential and achieving our goal of emerging as an economic super power. While all of you should feel happy and proud for successfully completing the post graduation from a reputed institution like TIMS, let me tell you that there are many young boys & girls who are not as fortunate as the graduating class of 2010.

In the emerging global scenario, we must view higher education as a long-term social investment for achieving as well as sustaining high rate of economic growth. The globalized era has necessitated inculcation of competitiveness. This can be achieved only by bringing highest quality standards in every sphere of work. Therefore, the quality of higher education has now emerged as a major concern. Needs and expectations of the society are changing very fast and the quality of higher education needs to be sustained at the desired level.

In this context, I would like to stress that time has come for our policy makers to pay much greater attention to the higher education system with an utmost sense of urgency. Unfortunately, the recent trends in this field, both at the national as well as the regional level are not very encouraging. While the number of colleges & institutions of higher education has increased significantly over the last two decades, the number of professionally qualified teachers has not increased proportionately. As a result, the overall quality of teaching staff as well as the teacher-student ratio has deteriorated significantly and it has adversely affected the overall quality of higher education in India. For instance, in the case of post graduate management education, total number of institutions has increased from less than 200 in 1990 to around 2000 by now, with total intake of 180 thousand. But, in terms of overall quality of education, more than 80% of these institutions are operating at much lower than acceptable quality standards and their placement records have been consistently dismal. This scenario has to change rapidly & comprehensively. In the context of major economic and technological changes in the domestic and global markets, the system of higher education in the country has to be upgraded significantly so that it could equip lakhs of aspiring bright students with the required skills to enable them to effectively contribute in the emerging socio-economic scenario. Our Universities will have to undergo a sea-change in their outlook and perspective and introduce fundamental changes in the structure, management and mode of delivery to upgrade the entire higher educational system in the country. In fact, such changes are required across the board in practically every state, especially in the realm of technical education.

It is a matter of pride for all of us present here that, in the field of economic growth, Gujarat has emerged as the undisputed leader in India. The high spirit of Gujarati enterprise and the unparalleled acumen of Gujarati business community could easily grab the opportunity offered by the national level changes in the development strategy from inward looking to outward looking, from import substitution to export promotion, from the complete public sector dominance to promotion of private initiative and from the license raj to global competition. The new era of liberalization and globalization made the Gujarati enterprise and business prosper and progress far more rapidly compared to most other parts in India. Gujarat’s political leadership was quick to recognize these undercurrents and it facilitated the private initiatives systematically and aggressively to convert Gujarat into the fastest growing state in the country. Now is the time when we have to consider seriously what needs to be done in future to sustain our position as a leader in the nation. We have to take a critical look at our weaknesses and covert the impending threats into effective opportunities. There are several immediate challenges that Gujarat will have to face and overcome, if it has to sustain and improve upon its glorious performance. I would like to elaborate on some of them.

While Gujarat has by now developed very good physical infrastructure, it lags significantly behind in human development indicators as compared to the best in the country. We must realize that the physical infrastructure is only one of the several drivers of economic development and sustained competitive advantage. It is now imperative for Gujarat to focus on human development, which has received much less attention so far.

Efforts at human development in the state can be stepped up by concentrating on the basic needs of the population in terms of primary healthcare, primary education, sanitation, drinking water, shelter and social security. The relative scores of Gujarat in the relevant indicators in most of these sectors, when compared to many other states in the country, are not at all impressive. There is an urgent need to devote resources, ensure public participation in the development efforts and implement appropriate policies for building effective public - private partnerships in these areas. Panchayatiraj Institutions need to be strengthened and an effective decentralization of governance with greater transparency and accountability also needs to be introduced at all levels in the state administration. Such determined actions, supplemented by allocation of additional budgetary resources, would go a long way to improve the basic human development indicators in the state.

Today, another disturbing weakness of Gujarat lies in the sphere of higher education. Unfortunately, over the last two decades, Gujarat has not been able to create many State Level Institutes of Excellence in higher education. The existing institutions of higher learning and research also could not grow in their stature and prestige during the same period. The lack of required emphasis on higher education, research and training for a long time has now created a situation where one finds a general lack of confidence among a large proportion of the young generation in Gujarat resulting in a lack of motivation to excel in national competitive examinations.

It is, however, encouraging to see that in the recent years there is a revival of academic institutions in the state with the establishment of the National Law University, IIT Gandhinagar, several new Technical and Medical Institutions, Fashion Design Institute and new Private Universities. But the intake and growth of such institutions in Gujarat has not been adequate, especially in relation to the spectacular economic growth of the state. On the whole, the growth of quality institutions of higher education during the last two decades is less than satisfactory as compared to the recent growth performance and future targets of the state. If we project the past trends over the next ten years, we find that we are heading towards a prolonged period of major shortage of well trained engineers, mechanics, doctors & para-medicals, consultants, accountants, administrators and competent managers and executives, who can work effectively and efficiently in globally competitive companies.

The acute shortage of high quality professionals will surface sooner than later as Gujarat has already started attracting global companies to tap its high growth potential. In fact, the spectacular success of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Investment Summit in 2009 and the successful showcasing of the achievements of the State during Swarnim Gujarat Celebrations will lead to a flood of new investments and mega projects in the State, but its ultimate success and sustainability will depend crucially on the availability of competent & skilled manpower in Gujarat. This situation actually offers a vast opportunity, but it also poses a major threat. The future growth of Gujarat now depends not only on its ability to attract large investments, but also on its willingness & ability to radically transform its higher education system. Hence, there is an urgent need to reform the system of higher education in the State.

The government must act fast in introducing necessary reforms in the existing procedures and formalities for granting approvals to start new institutions for imparting good quality professional education. Otherwise, Gujarat will have to bear a tremendous social cost of its dependence on other states for the supply of the skilled manpower and its attendant problems. Moreover, the lack of sufficient openings at the higher educational level would act as a disincentive for achieving excellence in secondary education institutions. Thus, the inadequacy of good tertiary and secondary educational institutions in Gujarat can prove to be a major deterrent to the future growth and investment in the state. In this respect, higher education, both qualitatively and quantitatively, needs to be viewed in the same perspective as the physical infrastructure for the purpose of attracting business and enterprise on a larger scale in the state.

In this context, I would like to emphasize the need for quality certifications by the national and international accreditation agencies. Government should rely on such agencies to improve the quality of higher education provided by the existing state level institutions. The accreditation can be made compulsory for all institutions of higher education, which have completed five years. You will be surprised to know that less than 10% of the management institutions currently operating in India are accredited by a national accreditation body. Participation in a reputed accreditation process would help domestic institutions to significantly improve their overall quality. We must also recognize in this context that there are major concerns about the availability of competent faculty resources in most institutions. It is feared that the entry of foreign institutions in the country and the state would lure away competent and good faculty resources from the premier domestic institutions by offering them higher salaries and better working environment. This fear is based on the explicit recognition that the existing salaries and the working environment in our domestic institutions are inadequate and need a serious review.

The solution of this problem lies in creating better academic environment in our institutions, providing greater autonomy to public as well as private sector institutions and introducing performance linked pay structure rather than a flat pay irrespective of productivity and performance. There are well established indicators, criteria and measures to implement a well formulated system of performance linked pay in the academic institutions. One of the obvious outcomes of globalization is equalization of pay for equal quality and quantity of work. We must, however, recognize that the problems of higher education in Gujarat, persisting now for the past two decades, have adversely affected the morale of teachers and professors. Hence, there is an urgent need to examine this situation and take quick remedial measures so that the ultimate benefit of globalization actually accrue to all good students of Gujarat. I sincerely hope that Gujarat will take a lead in introducing reforms in higher education.

Before I conclude, I would like to say a few words to the graduating class. I congratulate all of you on successfully completing your education at Tolani Institute of Management Studies. You are entering into the management profession in an era which will place very high demands on your capacity to work effectively in multi-disciplinary teams and your ability to manage diverse groups of people. As I interacted with the Board Members & Faculty of TIMS, I was very happy to learn that the mission of your institute is to develop ethical & humane professional leaders who are capable of facing the challenges of a fiercely competitive business environment. However, as you pursue this goal in future as a true professional, you must be aware of the enormous responsibility you will have to face on both these counts in the corporate world. I must caution you that today you are stepping out of the protective environment of this Institute into the external world which is in turmoil. Every institution seems to be crumbling. Working under such conditions is going to be an extremely difficult task. You will have to not only apply all the knowledge and skills that you have acquired during your stay in this Institute, but you will also have to continuously strive to upgrade your knowledge and skills and show exemplary courage to effectively deal with the challenges you will be facing during the years to come. You will also have to learn to cope with failures & frustration. The era of globalization has created vast opportunities as well as formidable challenges for new budding managers like you. In fact, the key issue facing Indian managers today is how to deal with the immense pressure of the ever changing competitive environment, while maintaining acceptable standards of ethical conduct and humane approach to problem solving.

As we all know, the performance and success of each Batch shapes the future of their Alma Mater. If you excel in whatever you do, TIMS will sustain & enhance the reputation of being an excellent institution imparting high quality education. This was the vision of the Founders and the Trustees of TIMS. It is up to you to now do your best and thereby contribute to the fulfillment of their dreams.

As all of you graduate and leave the Institute, I would like to wish each one of you sustained happiness and success in whatever you choose to do in pursuing your goals. You have a long journey ahead of you. Remember that all of us have great expectations from you. The youth of Gujarat will have a lot to contribute in the national endeavor of rapid growth and development. The goals pursued by this year’s graduating class will have lasting impact in shaping the future of Gujarat and the Nation. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all those who have won medals for their scholastic performance. All of us are proud of you.

My best wishes to the 14th batch of young graduates of Tolani Institute of Management Studies for a highly successful & rewarding career.

God bless you.