IIMs' tryst with Chinese: Mandarin emerges as popular course at IIMs
BANGALORE/NEW DELHI: As India plays catch-up with its bigger Asian neighbour China, Mandarin has emerged as a popular course at some of the IIMs. One of them, IIM Bangalore (IIMB), says Indian students cannot afford to be left behind as the two countries compete in every sphere of economic activity. "Realisation has dawned that our future business lies with China and we cannot be left behind if we have to make a mark on the world economic stage," said professor S Swaminathan who teaches Business Chinese — Language Course at IIM-B. :china:
The Chinese business course helps students carry out day-to-day conversations on a vocabulary base of 550 words. The teaching lays stress on pronunciation of syllables as Chinese is a tonal language and is taught through the medium of PINYIN (Romanised way of learning Chinese). "The onus is on India to compete with China in every sphere of economic activity. We have a lot to learn from the Chinese module of economic growth and become really competitive in world business activity. :china: In fact, neighboring countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Myanmar have more Chinese participation in their respective economies, whereas we have been slow," said the professor.
Spoken Chinese (Mandarin) was first introduced for the batch of 2011-2013 in the second year. It is a letter-grading course, where the professor uses 'Excellent', 'Good' and 'Unsatisfactory'. Scores are added to the student's CGPA (Cumulative Grade Point Average).
Around 44 students from the 2013 batch opted for Mandarin, said Swaminathan, out of a class of 381. This year's numbers are not available as the second year students (batch 2012-2014) are yet to pick their 5th semester electives. IIM Ahmedabad, too, has included Mandarin in the 5th semester but a response from the institute is awaited. IIM Calcutta has begun offering Mandarin in the last two years along with courses in French, Spanish or German. Students are awarded a certificate of completion on clearing tests and a final exam, but no scores are added to the CGPA. In the last three years, IIM Calcutta has seen its peak batch sizes doubling from 40-45 three years ago to 80-85 in January 2013 for foreign languages.
NOT MANY TAKERS
But not all IIMs agree that introducing a language course as an elective will have many takers. Specially, if it is a language like Mandarin which is tough to learn, forget master. "During a downturn, a student would rather take another marketing or finance course than a language course as an elective. In 30 hours, one cannot learn Mandarin which requires learning how to speak, write and read to gain enough fluency, unlike many Western languages," said G Venkat Raman, professor, business ethics at IIM Kozhikode who learnt Mandarin from Peking University a few years ago.
Two years ago, he floated the idea of a course titled 'Doing Business In Emerging Markets — Insights from China' but it had no takers. But IIM Bangalore justifies the course saying software professionals, engineering graduates and businessmen looking to improve business opportunities have started learning Chinese. "Month-on-month, the trade traffic between India and China has been growing steadily and appreciably. Hence the need to effectively communicate in Chinese," said Swaminathan.
Knowing a language helps during placements — the final goal for many students. Vinod Babu Sangana, a student of IIM Indore, had taken up French for a year, although it was not part of his curriculum. He got placed with Capgemini as a senior consultant and says it will help him during his onsite operations. "In the interview, I was asked how well versed I am with the language and how much I can interact in it," said Sangana.
Some of the IIMs have attempted tie-ups with colleges in China through student exchange programmes. For its one-year executive MBA programme, IIM Shillong has formed an alliance with Ocean University China though a programme called "Understanding China — Business and Culture". :thumb: For companies, a candidate knowing a foreign language is always a plus. "At Bain, a working knowledge of the relevant foreign language can indeed be a big leg-up for a consultant to succeed away from his or her home market," said Nikhil Prasad Ojha, a consulting partner who oversees HR for Bain India.
BANGALORE/NEW DELHI: As India plays catch-up with its bigger Asian neighbour China, Mandarin has emerged as a popular course at some of the IIMs. One of them, IIM Bangalore (IIMB), says Indian students cannot afford to be left behind as the two countries compete in every sphere of economic activity. "Realisation has dawned that our future business lies with China and we cannot be left behind if we have to make a mark on the world economic stage," said professor S Swaminathan who teaches Business Chinese — Language Course at IIM-B. :china:
The Chinese business course helps students carry out day-to-day conversations on a vocabulary base of 550 words. The teaching lays stress on pronunciation of syllables as Chinese is a tonal language and is taught through the medium of PINYIN (Romanised way of learning Chinese). "The onus is on India to compete with China in every sphere of economic activity. We have a lot to learn from the Chinese module of economic growth and become really competitive in world business activity. :china: In fact, neighboring countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Myanmar have more Chinese participation in their respective economies, whereas we have been slow," said the professor.
Spoken Chinese (Mandarin) was first introduced for the batch of 2011-2013 in the second year. It is a letter-grading course, where the professor uses 'Excellent', 'Good' and 'Unsatisfactory'. Scores are added to the student's CGPA (Cumulative Grade Point Average).
Around 44 students from the 2013 batch opted for Mandarin, said Swaminathan, out of a class of 381. This year's numbers are not available as the second year students (batch 2012-2014) are yet to pick their 5th semester electives. IIM Ahmedabad, too, has included Mandarin in the 5th semester but a response from the institute is awaited. IIM Calcutta has begun offering Mandarin in the last two years along with courses in French, Spanish or German. Students are awarded a certificate of completion on clearing tests and a final exam, but no scores are added to the CGPA. In the last three years, IIM Calcutta has seen its peak batch sizes doubling from 40-45 three years ago to 80-85 in January 2013 for foreign languages.
NOT MANY TAKERS
But not all IIMs agree that introducing a language course as an elective will have many takers. Specially, if it is a language like Mandarin which is tough to learn, forget master. "During a downturn, a student would rather take another marketing or finance course than a language course as an elective. In 30 hours, one cannot learn Mandarin which requires learning how to speak, write and read to gain enough fluency, unlike many Western languages," said G Venkat Raman, professor, business ethics at IIM Kozhikode who learnt Mandarin from Peking University a few years ago.
Two years ago, he floated the idea of a course titled 'Doing Business In Emerging Markets — Insights from China' but it had no takers. But IIM Bangalore justifies the course saying software professionals, engineering graduates and businessmen looking to improve business opportunities have started learning Chinese. "Month-on-month, the trade traffic between India and China has been growing steadily and appreciably. Hence the need to effectively communicate in Chinese," said Swaminathan.
Knowing a language helps during placements — the final goal for many students. Vinod Babu Sangana, a student of IIM Indore, had taken up French for a year, although it was not part of his curriculum. He got placed with Capgemini as a senior consultant and says it will help him during his onsite operations. "In the interview, I was asked how well versed I am with the language and how much I can interact in it," said Sangana.
Some of the IIMs have attempted tie-ups with colleges in China through student exchange programmes. For its one-year executive MBA programme, IIM Shillong has formed an alliance with Ocean University China though a programme called "Understanding China — Business and Culture". :thumb: For companies, a candidate knowing a foreign language is always a plus. "At Bain, a working knowledge of the relevant foreign language can indeed be a big leg-up for a consultant to succeed away from his or her home market," said Nikhil Prasad Ojha, a consulting partner who oversees HR for Bain India.
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