MBA department history

The genesis of the MBA department at Christ University (CU), earlier known as Christ College, was the result of AICTE's purpose to promote management education. In 1997, AICTE permitted Christ college to offer the MBA course under Bangalore University. The programme was offered by the Department of Commerce with dual specialization. The first batch began with about 20 students and the student number doubled in the following year. From the start, the department focused on making the programme unique by initiating activities such as Organization Structure Training (OST), Book Review and Dissertation apart from the mandatory Summer Internship Project. The OST was the first glimpse of an organization for an incumbent in the MBA programme. Since the class was a diverse mix of students from different educational background streams, it was pertinent to orient them to management thinking and philiosophy and this led to the launch of another important co-curricular activity, the book review. These flagship activities continue to make the MBA programme unique.

Over the years the student strength increased gradually and the MBA programme was managed by its own department. One of the first strategic shifts occurred in 2007 when Christ College was granted the autonomy to design its own curriculum. The department also initiated the single specialization programme by offering a choice of Finance, Marketing and Human Resources specialization courses. During the same year the MBA department signed an MOU with FHWS, Germany for a twinning programme.

Another turning point in the department was in 2009 when Christ College (Autonomous) was granted the deemed university status. There were several other key events that contributed to the growth of the department. The department signed another MOU with Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), USA for a twinning programme. The university launched MBA programme in another campus in the city of Bangalore. The following year one more specialization stream, Lean Operations and Management was offered to the students. In 2013, General Management was offered as another specialization stream.

Over the years the student numbers grew exponentially which also made it vital to increase the faculty strength. The demand for the MBA programme offered by the University is a testimonial that the brand has established itself in the market. The brand started as an unknown entity and in a decade and half, it became a brand that was reckoned by several companies from across industries for prospective employees.

By 2015, the university offered the regular MBA programme and the PGDM programmes of FHWS and VCU under the deanery of management. The deanery continued its journey by aligning itself to the university's goal to achieve excellence and emerge as a world class institution by reengineering its courses, launching new activities, forging alliances with industry partners, emphasizing on research and striving to offer quality management education.

Compiled by Bharathi Gopal