It is an established fact that the corporate scenario is undergoing incredible transformation since the last decade, which has been marked by changes, challenges and opportunities. The expectations of the corporates are surging in terms of employee efforts and achievement. Employees need to be creative, proactive and outgoing to avail of the opportunities thrown open by the vibrant corporate world. This rising corporate expectation has challenged the very mode of functioning of most of the management institutions as they still focus on mere academic learning. The need of the hour today is, academic advancement with personality development to make students' placements in tune with the requirements of business corporations. This article dwells on contemporary challenges before the management institutions and reflects on some of the initiatives to align the institutes with the industry expectations.

It is a widely accepted fact that the changes in the industrial scenario have an immense impact on the academic initiatives of educational institutes. This is more applicable to educational institutions imparting management education as they are often dubbed as "factories churning out future managers". The recent unprecedented global recession has forced companies to rethink and redesign their policies on employee recruitment and selection. The surging and more demanding employer expectations on employee work and productivity has made companies to scout for people who are more knowledgeable, multi-skilled and prepared for multi-tasking. Furthermore, there is heightened competition as the job market is overcrowded as a result of the recent lay off exercise by many companies. The fresh graduates have to compete with experienced talents to begin their career in the corporate world. The pace of hiring is still weak in all sectors of the economy as most of the companies have not resumed fresh recruitments. These soaring corporate expectations and challenges have a tremendous bearing on a wide spectrum of issues like course content, academic delivery, industry interaction and placement activities of management institutions. The institutions have to embark on the task of anticipating changes in the corporate expectations and groom the students accordingly to make them live up to those expectations. In this backdrop, management institutions have to ponder deeply over the issue, "Is routine classroom teaching enough?". However, the answer to this question is very simple. These institutions have to emphasize on academic advancement coupled with personality development by designing innovative training activities. This article examines the challenges currently being faced by the management institutions and what they need to ensure in terms of curriculum planning, pedagogical changes, teaching methodology, etc. If this is ensured on an ongoing basis with objectivity and commitment, it should be possible for the management institutions to remain attuned to the challenges of changes in the business world and thus become capable of meeting the industry expectations.

As stated earlier, it is crystal clear that there is a dire need to rework and revamp the conventional practices followed at management institutes in the light of changing and rising expectations of the corporate world. There are many management institutes even today which are not alive to the corporate realities. They still work with the curriculum which is `myopic' in nature, as it fails to produce the best future managers as anticipated by the industry. The contents are outmoded and scope for the development of skills, attitude and competencies are grossly sidelined. Most curriculum inputs dwell only on knowledge acquisition and lack a pragmatic approach. The dictum, `Knowledge is Power' seems to be forgotten, given the present corporate dynamics. In fact, the knowledge acquired shall be transformed into skills, skills into competency and competency into confidence so as to make a person `placement worthy', suiting the needs of the corporate world. People with a positive work attitude, multi-skilled and prepared for multi-tasking can easily make an entry into the corporate world. But as outlined earlier, it is disheartening to mention that most of the institutes have failed to produce students who are competent enough in terms of knowledge, skills, attitude, values and habits to survive and succeed in the corporate world. Therefore, it has become imperative for the management institutions to scan the business environment, discern the changes and challenges, fine-tune the curriculum and make it `market driven' to meet the pressing needs of the corporate. Some of the expectations and challenges emanating from the present ongoing changes in the industrial scenario are discussed below.

Business undertakings, especially in industries like banking, financial services, insurance and retailing, look for students with sound conceptual knowledge. Therefore, students need to be fully conversant with the contemporary concepts which are in wide usage in these industries. For instance, students aspiring to start their career in banking industry should be familiar with basic terminologies as NPA, PLR, CAR, CRR, etc. Usage of these terminologies without sound understanding may spell problems for the students in their work life. Therefore, the challenge before the academic institutions is to cover those topics in the curriculum and narrate or interpret these concepts with a pragmatic approach.

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