My Experience with the Embassy of India in Manila

Are you a Filipino going to India?

Be warned. You may be in for a great deal of frustration.

I've been spending the past week arranging my visa for my Action Consultancy (AC) in India. (The AC is equivalent to AIM's industry internship for its MBA students; I'll blog more about this in future posts). The frustration has really been mounting because of the very confusing and Byzantine system of the Indian embassy here in the Philippines.

First point of frustration: the customer service. I initially called the embassy to clarify the requirements and procedures. The embassy has an automated answering system that has a selection where a caller can get an itemized list of requirements. That's all. No information of procedures, steps or guidelines. I selected the option to talk to a staff member and when I asked my query, she told me I'll find everything I need at the Indian Embassy website. If you look at the site, there are some information, but not the ones I'm looking for.

The second point of frustration is the "appointment system" instituted by the private subdivision where the office is located and the consulate. Here's my experience: I entered the area where there are several guard checkpoints and they inquired what's my business. I told them that I'm going to the Indian embassy to apply for a visa. They barred me from entering because I do not have an official appointment with the embassy. I told the security personnel to give me a minute to call the embassy to set up an appointment.

Immediately, I called the embassy on my mobile phone and was able to talk to a Visa Office staff. I asked to be scheduled for an appointment and to my surprise, she said the embassy DOES NOT schedule appointments. To my agitation, I asked the staff how could I apply if I couldn't even get in their office. The embassy officer told me that I had to PAY for a courier service to submit my requirements and visa payments. The courier fees add an additional 30% to the fees a person pays for the visa.

A few days later, I learned that after calling the embassy and visiting the site, I still had missed a requirement. I failed to add PhP200.00 for the courier fee for their end. I immediately remitted the amount but that translated to a total of two days delay in processing. There was nowhere in the website that there was a PhP200 fee, not even on the application form. So much for finding everything on the Indian embassy website.

I've already paid extra and suffered some delays because of the lack of updated information from ANY source. My classmates who are processing their visas or have had their visas processed before have gone through the same frustrating experience with the Indian embassy here in Manila. I'm sure the Indian embassy policies are grounded on control, but if they are going to subject visa applicants to a run-around, there has to be a balance between security and convenience.

My Learning Team (aka Can Group)

"You live and die with your Can Group."

I heard this advice during my first days in AIM and I really didn't give that much attention because I didn't know what the heck a Can Group was. But after eight months in the MBA program, I pretty much have an idea what a Can Group is and how important it is-- you basically live and die with it.

A Learning Team, what the Can Group is officially called, is composed of 6-8 students and is the "official" grouping of students for the first eight months of core MBA subjects. The MBA program administrators scientifically configure each team to have a balanced composition, whether it is by gender, professional background, or personality type. (I don't know if they consider IQ and EQ, but that's a different story :P) Being your designation for a good portion of your MBA life, you will work exclusively with your Learning Team on group assignments and projects 95% of the time. This means your grade and performance will hinge so much on how well you work together.

The Learning Team also serves a purpose beyond the default groups for projects. It can also be a support group for adjustments in class, a study group for those darned Language of Business (LOB) topics, and could even be your circle of friends in AIM. Heck, romantic relationships have also blossomed from Learning Teams, so it's really relevant in more than one ways.

I belong to Learning Team 2B (groups are segregated by section) and we are eight in our group. Here's a snapshot of us in our very first Can Group meeting, circa August 2007:

Our group is composed of (left to right from the photo):

1. Arpita "CP Blooper" Maity - Arpita was voted the "CP Blooper" award by our section during last Diwali for her "quality" class participation. But she has gone a long way from that point, even sporting a new look that would rival Aishwarya Rai and Madhuri Dixit. I wonder why... :P
2. Cheska "Beowulf" Herrera - Smart and articulate, except when she busts out the occasional Filipino expression in her English. :P She's the group's panic button-- she always has the sense of urgency when it comes to group work. Why "Beowulf"? Ask Paolo.
3. Paolo "Polar Bear" Tomas - He's always likened to a certain Filipino actor, but Paolo always shrugs it off. He's silent and introspective, but he's deep as well. Our group's resident athlete, he's a member of AIM's badminton and basketball team. Why "Polar Bear"? Ask Cheska.
4. Kanishka "Voldemort" Bhargava - Man, can this guy dance! He's one of the sensible guys in the group, who's not afraid to share his opinion. Once you get to be with Kanishka in class, you will remember two things: his deep baritone voice and the "karate chop" movements he makes whenever he intelligently recites in class.
5. Pankaj "Harry Potter" Dhawan - Our very own Commendation Lister. Pankaj may be soft-spoken and low key, but he's definitely a whiz. I remember during the first few months of the MBA program, Pankaj would always get "knocked on" or be asked to speak louder; but he always made people hear him out with his insightful contributions. It may not be evident in the picture above, but Pankaj bears quite a resemblance to Daniel Radcliffe.
6. John "Johnny Ray Sunshine" Ray - The only guy in our class with a British accent-- our Marketing Manager (MM) professor Joe Miranda loves it whenever John speaks. He's also one of the very few entrepreneurs in the MBA program. John's very funny and creative that's why we usually handle the marketing and/or creative tasks in the group. He got his nickname from his dorm room mates when they were thinking of a nice adult movie star name for John.
7. Me - Just read this blog. :P
8. Mahdu "The Face that could be described by a Thousand Metaphors" Ponnuveetil - Prof. Ricky Lim gave Madhu this nickname, but I think a thousand metaphors is too little. He's the type of person who makes you think and give you nice little thought nuggets to chew on during class. He's also one of the best presenters in the whole batch. Trivia: Madhu is the only married person in our learning team.

With the core subjects done, our Learning Team probably has done its last activity during the Management Control Systems (MCS) paper submission a few days before the finals. We had our "last" group lunch at Chili's last April 17, and here's how we look like now (John is not in the picture):

I wasn't able to tell this to the group during our lunch , but I'm glad with how Learning Team 2B for our batch turned out to be-- we didn't have much problems and everyone was really cool in his or her own right. It's always fun to go out with the group because we rarely talk about school and almost always talk about someone's wedding. :P

So here's my little tribute to Learning Team 2B, with photos taken from Cheska's camera:


Do you have a nice little can group photo slideshow or video? Please do share 'em! Send me the link by commenting at this blog post. :P

A Dozen Links

Apart from myself, people from everywhere write stuff and talk about the school. Some interesting stuff I found on Google's news and blog searches:

1. Bok is doing a lot of contemplating, especially on his Action Consultancy (AC)
2. Another classmate, Pia shares there is more to life than being Number One
3. Ravi, one our finance gurus in class, started his investment portfolio
4. Inquirer.Net has an article about AIM's recent issues
5. A bit old, but I didn't know media giant GMA had a story on AIM
6. GMA's rival, ABS-CBN has a more "feel good" story related to AIM
   
7. Another old article (when I say old, it's more than two weeks old): A nasty rumor about AIM's move
8. Island Rose.net's blog has a post on the recent Corporate Blogging & Online Reputation Management Seminar I organized
9. MM 2008 Precy Chan celebrates her wedding anniversary
10. Very interesting post on an AIM student's learnings
11. MBM 93 Alumna Ruby Bernardo is happy AIM got her to share her testimonial for the AIM Preview in Davao
12. An Indian MBA applicant relates his excitement of being accepted to the MBA Program last month

Enjoy!

Term Papers

There should be an X-File case on the "Breaks in AIM" because this "break" season is really a mythical phenomenon.

Classes for our core subjects officially ended last week and usually, that would signal the start of the break right? Wrong. We still have three major papers due this coming week: Management Communication (MC) term paper on Monday, Asian Business Systems (ABS) term paper on Tuesday and Development of the Enterprise (DE) business plan on Friday.

Ideally, we should be using the next two weeks resting and finalizing our Action Consultancy (AC), or MBA internship, arrangements. Since we are grounded far from the ideal, I'm spending a good amount of the week writing term papers. As I write, I'm finalizing my MC paper on strategic storytelling with my dyad partner Sandeep Sharma. The tight schedule forced us to innovate our collaboration process by using Google Docs. So far, we've made the term paper writing and collaboration more efficient and equitable.

I'm ending this post now. I have to write my term paper.

Do you want to work at Yahoo? Read on.

I received a "tip" from a very reliable source that Yahoo! South East Asia is looking for people for a couple of their openings here in the Philippines. This makes perfect sense as Yahoo! is beefing up its search presence in the country and gearing up for aggressive partnerships in the local scene. I believe Yahoo! is the last of the Top 3 search engines (with Google and Microsoft being the other two) to establish a presence here in the Philippines.

What are the two openings? The first one is for a Search Editor who will be in charge of primarily building taxonomies, classifying online content and analyzing search behavior. The other opening is for a Partner Account Manager, who will be working closely with Yahoo's advertisers and resellers and tasked to implement plans to expand Yahoo's client base.

If any of the two positions appeal to you or if you have any questions on the full job descriptions, shoot an email to job_opportunities (at) yahoo.com.ph, with the position as the subject heading.

Gotta love em "tips." :P

Last Class Day

Officially, the first eight months of the MBA program is tomorrow April 18. But by virtue of my exemption (Thanks to my CAN group!) in the Management Control Systems (MCS) finals tomorrow, today is my last day of classes. Our classes for today were the last session for General Management & Ethics (GME) under Prof. Jess Gallegos and the Operations Management (OM) final exam.

Since it was the last class session for GME, Prof. Gallegos shared his "Tips To Go," life lessons on making a difference, leadership and your definition of success. It was really a feel-good topic since he was sharing more on his experiences, anecdotes about how some events in his life altered his career and his family life.

Speaking of family life, I find that a touchy topic. When Prof. Gallegos said that at some point in our careers we will have to make tough choices when it comes to family and career (I'm not married by the way), I reflected on it. It's probably because I think I have the tendency to focus on my activities at the expense of relationships. My classmate Bok more or less feels the same way.

I do hope I'll make the right choices.

--

A couple of hours after our GME class, the OM finals exam was given to the students who were not exempted (my congratulations to those who got exempted, by the way). I wasn't so fortunate in OM not to get exempted, but hey, that's OM life.

The exam was a 2-hour test-- pretty short by our standards. The reason why it was timed as such is because the case was quite short and Prof. Nani Roxas pulled a fast one on us. He actually asked a question regarding something the class experienced. I don't want to spoil that stumper of a question because Prof. Roxas might pull it off again on future MBA classes. :P

Google Day in AIM

Today is Google Day in AIM!

Thanks to Prof. Titos Ortigas' initiative, Google is coming here to give a series of talks to the students, faculty and staff on Google's services that will soon be rolled out in AIM. Google Consultant for the Philippines Aileen Apolo will be speaking on various topics the whole day, from using Internet Marketing to job opportunities in Google.

Here is the Google Day in AIM agenda:

• 8:00am-9:30am - Google University (MBA students)
• 9:30am-11:00am - Google Apps for Education (AIM Staff)
• 11:00am-12:30pm - Break
• 12:30pm-2:00pm - Putting your business online (All students)
• 2:00pm-3:30pm - Google Apps for Education (AIM Faculty)

Here are the topics covered for each talk for the students:

Google University:

• Google 101
• Google for Students
• Google Search
• Blogger
• Job Opportunities at Google

Putting Your Business Online:

• Internet Marketing 101
• How to Put Your Business Online through Google (Google Apps for Your Domain)
• Google Adwords
• Search Engine Optimization
• Blogging for Your Business

I've coordinating with Ms. Apolo and leading the organization of Google Day in AIM so I hope the event will be a success.

--

The first session was actually a Development of the Enterprise (DE) session for my MBA class. We started around 8:15am and Aileen first gave the Google University talk. Since almost everyone in the class was quite familiar with the Google's services, Aileen skipped most of the services overview and went to the features that will be rolled out in AIM. Similar to what Arizona State University did, online student services will be powered by Google-- from the email service, collaboration to the scheduling of classes. The session concluded with a Q & A session on the specifics of the new services and, of course, placement in Google.

The second session was for AIM staff and it was more of a troubleshooting session as the staff went straight to implementation issues like calendar importing and sharing, email contacts and collaboration tools. Unfortunately, the third session, "Putting Your Business Online" had to be canceled due scheduling conflicts. I was only able to attend the last session partially because we had our last class session for Management Control Systems (MCS).

I also was interviewed by Aileen for her video blog before the second session started. We talked about my walkabout project-- Corporate Communications 2.0: Corporate Blogging. I shared how I conceptualized the project and the motivations behind it. I'll let everyone know if the vlog post is up. :D

Google Day in AIM, in my opinion, was a partial success. The attendance on the first session was good because it was a requirement, but the staff and faculty sessions drew a paltry number of people. Perhaps next time, I'd be more aggressive in promoting the event to them.

MBA 2008 (December) Commendation List

Now for some good news. :D

The MBA Program released the list of top students who obtained the highest grade point averages for the first set of completed subjects (Language of Business, Quantitative Analysis, Economics, Financial Management 1 and Management of Cost & Profit).

The Commendation List (in alphabetical order):

• Ena Liza Ang
• Nitin Bhagnari
• Riteesh Bhargava
• Pankaj Dhawan
  
• Wendy Lim
• Russ Lo
• Anton Ng
  
• Kumar Ray
• Sandeep Sharma
  
• Vijay Suryanarayanan
• Bingo Tongco
  
• Amit Kumar Vijay

There was a very simple recognition rite headed by MBA Program Director Mau Bolante and Ms. Tess Magdaleno, our program's secretary. Here are the pics:

Congratulations to everyone who made the Commendation List! :D

Prof. Ricky Lim's reply to the "Concerned Alumnus"

The whole saga our MBA batch is going through seems to be almost drawing to a close as Prof. Ricky Lim tackles point by point the issues raised by a "Concerned Alumus." He emailed me his reply, along with the points he is answering:

Concerned Alumnus: Prestigious accreditations carry a hefty price. Given the various accreditations that AIM has, it is obvious that a slight tuition increase would have been imposed. Since AIM has lost EQUIS (I hear their logo will not be on the new diplomas and transcripts), will the current students be given a refund? Will the incoming students be given a discount from their fees as well?

RAL: The EQUIS and AACSB logos were never in the transcripts or diplomas--just the AIM seal. This goes for all diplomas since 1968, degree or certificate. And as for tution increases since accreditation--and in some years there were none--these were for other cost increases and revaluations of the peso, and not due to paying for accreditations.

CA: You said that the removal of the logos from the school's website was due to "style considerations." What exactly are "style considerations"?

RAL: We had placed them in calling cards and stationery, initially proud when we got accredited. When we looked at the collaterals of other EQUIS and AACSB schools during conferences, we noticed that hardly any of them used this, or the least used them more discreetly. We were a little embarrassed, for example, that during our conferences we were the only ones with the obvious logos on the cards. We felt we might be showing off, so we removed them.

CA: Most of the questions from this Q&A session have come from your external "clients" (i.e. incoming students). When do you plan to speak to your internal "clients" (i.e. existing students)? I am under the impression that they have been clamoring for answers to a lot of concerns. I know that AIM has their money already but they are just as important as the ones coming in. Right?

RAL: The internal clients are just as important. Unfortunately the execution of our announcements was not good. The external stakeholders, e.g. alumni, got the news first. This was our fault and we apologize. Dean Licuanan spoke to MDM first last week, and we have since spoken to the MBA classes and to officers of the MM class.

CA: I have been comparing my AIM experiences with those of my friends from the current and previous batches. Casual comparisons say that the 16-month program was not well thought and planned out. They are experiencing problems - scheduling, professors, no books, cheating incidents, transparency in grading, lack of student mentoring, etc. In short: low quality input = low quality output, garbage in = garbage out. I am sad to admit to the current batch and the incoming ones, most of these concerns we had never experienced in our time.

So when you say that the current December 2008 batch agrees with you on the terms of maintained quality, did you put out a survey for them or even ask for a show of hands? Because that is not the feedback I am hearing from some of them.

RAL: There was hardly any year in the last 40 years at AIM where MBA students did not complain about uneven grades, tough schedules, unfair professors, plagiarism, etc. Perhaps you remember AIM with fondness, but please also remember that when you were with us, you must have complained about a number of things. This year is no different. We nevertheless do not discount comments like these, and we are concerned about all dips in quality. We will try to work out the kinks.

Like you my conclusions about quality are also casual, taken not from formal polls but from students' conversations. I look for overall learning, students' progress in their individual journeys, and many little cues about what they picked up, their changes in attitudes, etc. This was by no means a formal survey. In my talks I do hear complaints about the program, but I hear good things as well.

We do take feedback not from formal surveys but in other ways: through class and faculty ratings; through mentor feedback; through our Program Director, in this case, Mau Bolante.

CA: I heard that six students were taken out the current MBA program without prior notice of their "academic positions." And even more cuts are expected in the coming weeks. Since quality was not seemingly maintained and the concerns of the students have not been answered (see previous question), were you not being a bit harsh and unfair?

RAL: We were following a set of standards and a grading system that was announced to students at the start. The AIM system might seem harsh, but we try not to be unfair. We treat all students fairly, whether it is the standard that each has to attain, or the way we grade each one. As to quality, to answer your previous question, we reiterate we are concerned, and we will try to work out the kinks and err in favor of students. We will not compromise on students' learning.

CA: A newspaper article (http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=business5_april4_2008) is questioning the qualifications of AIM Dean Victoria Licuanan. It says that she "lacks a doctoral degree for having failed to finish the required thesis," a requirement to become insitute dean. Is this true?

RAL: Two years ago a search committee carefully put several candidates through manifold tests of teaching and research accomplishments, management and administrative experience, and business networking capabilities. Vickie Licuanan passed these tests, more than other candidates. FYI Vickie completed her doctoral academics in Harvard, the equivalent of a Masters Degree. If you go back several AIM Deans, only one (Gasty Ortigas) had a doctorate before taking the Dean's office. (FYI, the current Dean of INSEAD, J. Frank Brown, is a CPA but does not have an MA or MBA. The former Dean of the Darden School and subsequent president of two large East Coast universities, Leo Higdon, has an MBA, but has no Ph.D.) In short, while a doctorate is a positive qualification to be Dean, it is not the only one.

CA: And lastly, will it ever be possible to separate politics from academics in AIM? Please refer to the following newsbits:

http://www.cocktales.com.ph/short-of-aim/
http://www.cocktales.com.ph/aim-for-more-firings/
http://www.cocktales.com.ph/aim-less-wonders/

How I wish politics would go away! But honestly, I do not think that academics and politics can truly be separated. For that matter, politics are present in most human endeavors. To answer your upcoming comment, AIM faculty are passionate people, and we all truly love to be educators--I can speak for myself and even for people who oppose me. I think the politics tend to get worse when people are passionate about their causes.

It was a problem when I was there, I cannot believe that it is still a problem now. The infighting and the stubbornness will never end until both sides realize that AIM is an educational institution, first and foremost. Secondary to being a business and a source of income, being an educator is both a vocation and a calling.

Has AIM strayed from the path set by its founding fathers? Are we witnessing the slow death of an iconic Asian institution?

RAL: We continue to be guided by a long term vision of a practitioner, Asian management ethos. But we hit bumps in the road, and we experiment with new paths. It is imperative for an academic institution to overcome inertia. We have to try new things in order to renew. This is why we had to do an MBA 16, to answer the needs of new business. We will continue to experiment with new learning modes and new topics. We are not dying; we are changing.

A farmer had a favorite axe, one he swore never to replace. He said, "Why, this axe has been in my family six generations now! In fact, we've replaced its head seven times and its handle five times!" AIM is like that axe. The idea of AIM will not die; but we need to change in order to move to better places.

CA: Readers should understand that this was not meant to put people or the school down. I just put forth issues and concerns that I think the institution should recognize, so that they can make the necessary corrections. If the school goes under, I and the others in its history who have invested their time and money and have benefited from an AIM education will also go down with it.

RAL: You have every right. As an alumnus (or alumna), you own AIM. Not professors, not administrators. Not even La Salle or Ateneo, or the Lopezes or Ayalas, who continue to give us useful advice, but in the end--you are the rightful owners. So please keep talking, keep riasing red flags and make us hear your voice. We will do our best to protect your "property."

CA: So for the AIM "powers that be": before it is too late, please do something for the sake of your past, present and future students, and for those individuals who have their names and their portraits emblazoned on AIM's hallowed halls.

RAL: You have my promise.

Live Blogging at the WSGSB Dean's Forum

I'm blogging at the forum hosted by the MBA Program Administrators with W. SyCip Graduate School of Business Dean Victoria Licuanan and Associate Dean Ricky Lim. The forum is meant to address the current students' concerns on current burning issues.

Prof. Licuanan started the event and Prof. Lim then proceeded to shed some light on the EQUIS accreditation issue. Prof. Lim outlined the points in which AIM faced with the EMFD. The points were primarily grounded on the faculty, diversity and governance. The final issue was centered on the AIM Faculty Association tiff and Prof. Lim said the school is not entirely agreeable with the findings on that point.

Prof. Licuanan just shared the number of schools with the EQUIS, AMBA and AACSB. She pointed out that the accrediting bodies do give recommendations for constant improvement. She also said that the EQUIS accreditation leans towards academic research, something AIM is not doing much of. She relates that AIM's thrust have always been practitioner-based research and developing competent managers. The biggest point, according to Prof. Licuanan, that AIM had disagreements with was the governance issue. She said that the governance issue prompted the school to withdraw the application and pursue the accreditation in two years.

In terms of other items, Prof. Lim said that the exchange programs and placement efforts would not be affected much by the EQUIS application withdrawal. He said that the last thing companies look at in the MBA graduate is the accreditation. As for the style considerations on removing the AACSB plaque on the school's main lobby, Prof. Lim clarified that accredited schools do not actually place the plaques and certifications prominently.

--

Prof. Lim opened the floor to questions from our class and I was able to catch some of the first few questions:

• "Why it took long to talk to MBA students?" - Prof. Licuanan apologized for the delay, and she pointed out timing problems. She said that they should have held a forum earlier.
• "Are we set to lose the AACSB?" - Prof. Licuanan said that they are launching initiatives to avoid that from happening, such as beefing up the research front.
• "How can we deal with the external community's impression of the accreditation withdrawal?" - Prof. Lim said that they would be launching public relations campaigns to soften the blow. He also shifted to the issue of placement and said that the school would be more interested in enhancing its image on that respect.
• "What is the value of the EQUIS accreditation?" - Prof. Lim said it's a seal of approval and a way of telling the school what to improve on. Prof. Licuanan said she appreciated the feedback the EMFD gave, because 'it makes you look and the mirror and see your warts and pimples," and lets you know what you need to work on.

After those questions, I chimed in and brought up the issues raised by a "Concerned Alumnus" from this blog. Frank Shrope, one of the members of the MBA class, read most of the points put forward. Prof. Licuanan and Prof. Lim addressed the points one by one, even saying that the "alumnus'" comparison of batches is like comparing apples to oranges. They assured the batch that they acknowledge the points and they will act on them.

My blog post started a string of tough questions, and in my opinion, Professors Licuanan and Lim are now more aware of the internal issues our class is contending with every day. The forum evolved to a more constructive activity when the class offered suggestions on how things could be improved. I personally feel that the forum brought closure to a great majority of internal and external issues.

While it took our school's leaders some time to hold this forum, I appreciate our the Deans' efforts in confronting the issues head on and I trust that they will do their best in acting on issues and keeping WSGSB competitive.

--

With five days left before the last official day of our core subjects, I find it fitting that many of the issues have been laid to rest. If there is one lesson I could see from the events in the past week, it is that AIM needs all stakeholders-- the leadership, faculty, students and alumni-- to continue to improve and remain in Asia's top echelon of business schools. Issues and problems will always spring up in a lot of places and it is the having the courage to question, confront and act on the big and small issues will be the key to staying relevant in today's competitive global environment.

--

As always, feel free to email me at regnard (at) raquedan.com for questions.

A "Concerned Alumnus" Speaks

A few days back, Prof. Ricky Lim, Associate Dean of AIM's W. SyCip Graduate School of Business, answered burning questions from this blog readers in an open Q & A session. His replies were able allay some of the concerns of a good number of people, which delved on placement and education quality. Judging from the people's comments on that post, people were satisfied with the reply.

Except one person.

I received a comment on the post about Prof. Lim's replies from a person who posted under the handle "Concerned Alumnus." His comment was very provocative that I have decide to devote a post on his comment alone. I shall present his thoughts in verbatim:

I believe in AIM. I have faculty friends, past and existing. I have student friends, past and existing. I keep in touch with them. Because I believe in AIM.

I have a lot of questions. I am looking in from the outside. There is lack of official information. I will just make do with what I have and make my questions as factual as possible.

Here you go, Professor Lim:

1. Prestigious accreditations carry a hefty price. Given the various accreditations that AIM has, it is obvious that a slight tuition increase would have been imposed. Since AIM has lost EQUIS (I hear their logo will not be on the new diplomas and transcripts), will the current students be given a refund? Will the incoming students be given a discount from their fees as well?

2. You said that the removal of the logos from the school's website was due to "style considerations." What exactly are "style considerations"?

3. Most of the questions from this Q&A session have come from your external "clients" (i.e. incoming students). When do you plan to speak to your internal "clients" (i.e. existing students)? I am under the impression that they have been clamoring for answers to a lot of concerns. I know that AIM has their money already but they are just as important as the ones coming in. Right?

4. I have been comparing my AIM experiences with those of my friends from the current and previous batches. Casual comparisons say that the 16-month program was not well thought and planned out. They are experiencing problems - scheduling, professors, no books, cheating incidents, transparency in grading, lack of student mentoring, etc. In short: low quality input = low quality output, garbage in = garbage out. I am sad to admit to the current batch and the incoming ones, most of these concerns we had never experienced in our time.

So when you say that the current December 2008 batch agrees with you on the terms of maintained quality, did you put out a survey for them or even ask for a show of hands? Because that is not the feedback I am hearing from some of them.

5. I heard that six students were taken out the current MBA program without prior notice of their "academic positions." And even more cuts are expected in the coming weeks. Since quality was not seemingly maintained and the concerns of the students have not been answered (see previous question), were you not being a bit harsh and unfair?

6. A newspaper article (http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=business5_april4_2008) is questioning the qualifications of AIM Dean Victoria Licuanan. It says that she "lacks a doctoral degree for having failed to finish the required thesis," a requirement to become insitute dean. Is this true?

7. And lastly, will it ever be possible to separate politics from academics in AIM? Please refer to the following newsbits:

http://www.cocktales.com.ph/short-of-aim/
http://www.cocktales.com.ph/aim-for-more-firings/
http://www.cocktales.com.ph/aim-less-wonders/

It was a problem when I was there, I cannot believe that it is still a problem now. The infighting and the stubbornness will never end until both sides realize that AIM is an educational institution, first and foremost. Secondary to being a business and a source of income, being an educator is both a vocation and a calling.

Has AIM strayed from the path set by its founding fathers? Are we witnessing the slow death of an iconic Asian institution?


Readers should understand that this was not meant to put people or the school down. I just put forth issues and concerns that I think the institution should recognize, so that they can make the necessary corrections. If the school goes under, I and the others in its history who have invested their time and money and have benefited from an AIM education will also go down with it.

So for the AIM "powers that be": before it is too late, please do something for the sake of your past, present and future students, and for those individuals who have their names and their portraits emblazoned on AIM's hallowed halls.

Please do not let us down.


NOTE: Thanks to Regnard for giving us a forum to read, experience and discuss the AIM campus life from his able eyes. You may publish this into a separate entry, if you wish to do so. Good luck with your studies!

Wow. That comment packed a wallop. While I'm not sure if I would expect a reply from Prof. Lim or the school, one thing is certain: this issue is far from over.

The Night Before the Financial Management 2 Finals

On the night before the dreaded Financial Management 2 (FM2) Finals, I posed a simple question to the MBA class over various instant messengers: "How's your FM2 preparation?"

"drifting through a morass of molass-consistency of quicksand"
- Bingo Tongco

"messed up"
- Dilip Mansukhani

"i have resolved that to exert effort in aim is useless... the degree of effort you exert is not proportional to the grades that you get... it's just not worth it anymore... just kiss your professors' ass"
- Anonymous (1)

"No problem, just another sleepless night and I'll be okay tomorrow as long as I don't fall asleep during the exam."
- Liberto Siahaan

"not prepared at all; there's no indication where to start or what really to study"
- Anonymous (2)

"what's there to prepare?"
- Phuong Lan Yu

"too much to do, dont know vot to refer to. no standard book provided. had too many profs, which made learning all the more complex"
- Anonymous (3)

"Good. I am all set to crack it."
- Ashoo Advani

"I want to believe in in miracles! ;-)"
- Kshitij Shrivastava

UPDATE:

The finals exam is over and people are still sharing their thoughts on the exam:

FM2 preparation? it's high investment and you will definitely f*ck up even if you calculated the risks of failing.
- Anonymous (4)

The exam was that easy. {insert sarcasm here}
- Neil Risos

If I had half the desire I had 6 years ago for school, maybe I would have passed the FM exam... YEAH RIGHT!!! finance exams, F-(e)M!!!
- Frank Shrope

I prepared for the FM2 Final Exam with one thing in mind: Study my ass off so I can decrease the risk of failing and increase my market value as an AIM student.
- Maya Perez

Home Stretch

You know that feeling when you know you're about to finish something? That feeling where you just want things to speed up so that you're done already? Or that feeling something is within your grasp and it's a matter of time before you get it?

That has been the atmosphere in AIM. It's the homestretch for a good portion of the students here-- The Master in Management (MM) and the MBA seniors are graduating in a few weeks and us MBA juniors are nearing the midway of the program. While the the MM and MBA seniors will be taking their permanent break from AIM, for us it's a two week break that would lead to our Action Consultancy or AC (AC is more or less equivalent to our internship).

It's really nice to think that our classes for the first half of the program would be done in a week.

BUT

We still have to face the finals from Financial Management 2 (FM2), Operations Management (OM), and Management Control Systems (MCS) before we call this a term. The FM2 exam is killer from the looks of it: it's a 5-hour exam that covers the whole scope of the course (valuation, project finance, derivatives and risk management). I've learned a lot in the last couple of days from the resources I've found on the web, but I'm doubtful if it's going to be good enough for our tough finance profs.

Wish me luck. :D

Prof. Ricky Lim Answers

You asked and Prof. Ricky Lim has listened-- the W. SyCip Graduate School of Business has replied to the questions posed in the open Q & A in the last post. Issues like career placement, accreditation, education quality, the MBA program are some of the swirling issues that have hovered over this blog this past week.

I'm sure everyone has anticipated what Prof. Lim has to say so here are his replies to your queries:

RAL: First of all, thanks to everyone for waiting patiently. I was in Indonesia last week and teaching all this week. This is the first breather I have had.

I see many similar questions and I hope I can answer them without redundancy. I welcome all ongoing queries, but please bear with me if I am unable to answer right away. Salamat.

Q: does the management still plan to reaquire the equis accreditation? What's the real status of the aacsb accreditation? im just wondering 'coz when i checked the school's website, the two logos (equis and aacsb) were already gone.

RAL: Yes, AIM plans to re-acquire. Our Board of Trustees and Governors have in fact mandated us to re-apply after two years. AIM still has AACSB accreditation for at least one year. People might have gotten the impression that we lost AACSB as well, but we removed the logos because of style considerations--we decided to take the logos away from our collaterals, since most of our co-members in AACSB and EQUIS did not use them in such prominent positions.

Q: Why did AIM lose the accreditation in the first place?

RAL: We technically did not lose it--the AIM Board of Governors, Trustees, and Management decided not to re-apply for it this year. Instead we intend to improve key areas in the next two years and then re-apply.

The EQUIS accreditation normally lasts five years, upon which time the EFMD (the owners of EQUIS) sends an inspection team to check on compliance. In the last visit the EFMD-EQUIS team made a number of comments: education quality, student and alumni attitudes, outside relationships to the business community, and curricula content were judged to remain excellent. In a number of areas the team found that AIM would need improvement, such as faculty age, diversity of faculty (i.e.from non-Philippine countries), and refereed research. We agree on these recommendations and we are currently striving to improve these areas. On still other issues such as governance we had some disagreements with EFMD findings.

Q: Is the quality of education going down? Lack of good teachers and quality research? What is AIM doing about this?

RAL: No, the quality is not going down. Again the EFMD-EQUIS team found that our level of education remained excellent. There was no lack of good teachers; it was more that EFMD found the average age of teachers to be high, and that we did not have more non-Filipino professors. On research AIM has always seen itself as a practitioner, case-based institution. As a result we were not geared for the "normal" academic route of refereed publications. We are working on raising the number and quality of publications, as well as hiring and developing new, younger Filipino and non-Filipino faculty.

Q: How does the loss of accreditations affect the credibility of the college with the companies recruiting AIM students ..?

RAL: Accrediation is largely a non-issue for placement. Most recruiting companies come to AIM because of their good experience and memories of their previous hires. At the end of the day, while AIM represents a brand of education, companies will hire individuals based more on their work experience (CV) and fit to the company's salient needs.

Q: Does the college plan to renew the accreditations or not .. ?

RAL: Yes, we plan to re-acquire in two years. We are mandated by our own Boards of Governors and Trustees to do so.

Q: I would like to know what steps, if any, have been taken towards the issue. Will it affect the exchange programs with european/american schools in place?

RAL: Most of our European exchanges have been in place since the mid-1990s, even before we got the first EQUIS accrediation in 2004. For that matter, our exchanges with Wharton, Columbia, UCLA, Kenan-Flagler, McGill and other North American schools pre-date AACSB accreditation. We secured these exchanges through PIM, the Program for International Management, a multilateral exchange market. The experiences have been mutually beneficial: all our exchange schools compliment the quality of our students studying there; they are good models for behavior, and they get the best grades in some very tough quant courses. (In some cases our students found the workload in their exchange schools to be very light, compared to the rigor of AIM.) Students that come to AIM are also happy . They are impressed with the level of education and learning, the camaraderie with Asian students, and also with the cultural offerings of the Philippines. For these reasons--long relationships, good word of mouth--we believe we will have no problems with our current exchanges.

Cancellations in exchanges have historically been a result of resource or scheduling constraints. For example, we used to have an exchange with Ivey in Canada, but they backed away from exchange because they went on a 12-month MBA schedule. UCLA withdrew their exchange with us for a few years because of capacity problems, then re-joined two years ago. While our current sixteen-month MBA is shorter than North American MBAs, we are still synchronized with either the Winter or Fall terms of most schools.

FYI we currently have about 35 exchange schools. Please see our website for these.

Q: Will the loss of accreditation affect the exchange program of AIM MBA? Will exchanges to Wharton & Columbia still be offered?

RAL: Please see the explanations above.

Q: How will the loss of accreditation affect placements, student exchange and the brand name of the institute in the industry?

RAL: See some answers above--we do not believe accreditation are issues for placement or for exchanges.

Q: I am an admit into the 2008-09 MBA batch from India. I firstly wanted to confirm that along with the EQUIS accreditation whether AIM has also lost the AACSB Accd? Also I read somewhere that AIM had chosen to allow the AACSB accred. to expire and not re-apply for the same...... is that true? If yes, then can you please clarify, why?

RAL: Please see the answers above. We have not lost the AACSB; we merely removed the logos from our website for style considerations. We have decided to re-apply for EQUIS in two years.

Q: I also wanted to know whether AIM plans to reapply for these accreditations in the future? Finally, will loss of these acc. affect the image of the institute in the international educational community and also if it will affect the student exchange programme of AIM in any way?

RAL: Please see the answers above.

Q: For a long time now, the biggest concern for most indian students has been over the way campus placements are handled in the institute by the placement cell. From what we have heard, and we have heard quite a few things, the placement cell is not a very active part of the institute. Though I am sure the institute must be making all the efforts for increasing efforts in this area, specially for international students(most indian I believe), I would suggest we take a more aggresive stand and put a little bit of more horse power behind it. I am sure attracting companies for recruitment cannot be a problem taking in consideration the reputation of the institute which has only grown in the last 40 years of history.

RAL: We realize the pressures for students, esp. our Indians. You need ROI on your substantial education payments.

Yes, we are taking your ongoing suggestions to boost placement. Our current efforts are in the middle east, esp. Dubai and other Emirate countries. We continue to work with organizations in Singapore such as the EDB to set up more visits, as well as in Hong Kong for not only banking, but China-based manufacturing operations. We plan to utilize our alumni networks more actively, by getting them to open doors and refer our students, even help them with local business intelligence.

Indeed four years ago placement activities in AIM were passive. Placement was not a high priority for us, notwithstanding 40 years of existence. We have since changed that attitude: we have made quantum leaps. While we do not yet have the same level of placement sophistication as the IIMs in immediate placement, our past years' performances were heartening. In 2007 we placed almost 100% of our batch within a few months after graduation. Our average salaries, while not stratospheric, were not shabby, either--our MBAs placed in India earned in a range from Rs 8-17 lakhs annual, depending on experience and background. (This year one of our MM students received an offer of almost 28 lakhs)

For 2008 and beyond I must caution that no country will be unaffected.by the subprime crisis and potential world recession. The weak dollar has also hit exporting-BPO countries like India and the Philippines hard, and companies may be less expansive in hiring. Nevertheless we will keep plugging away. We have a good, full-time team and we are busy spreading the AIM word around all over Asia.

Q: Like everybody else I am yearning for any news on the accreditions, though I am not sure how big the impact is if what is said is true.

RAL: Please see answers above--we are re-applying for the EQUIS in two years; we have not lost the AACSB. We agree with EQUIS's findings on faculty ages, diversity, and research. We believe however that our exchanges and placement will go on without ill effect. We can certainly improve on placement and continue to court more exchange partners, but this is independent of EQUIS and AACSB.

Q: I hope that with the reduction of course period, which would obvisouly require reduction in the hours assigned for particular courses and may be deletion of some obsolete courses, the quality of education will not be compromised in any manner.

RAL: Quality is sine qua non. We were conscious when we cut the course from 22 to 16 months that quality was the first factor to be maintained.

The current December 2008 batch will agree with me--we might have even added more to their plates than even the past two-year batches. The rigor continues to be tough; the learning intense; the prodding and pushing constant.

We will not sit still, either. We continue to re-tool, re-work our curricula to be more current, better.

Whew. That was a lot of questions. I'd like to thank Prof. Ricky Lim for taking the time to answer the questions. :)

Ask Prof. Ricky Lim

In light of recent events pertaining to the EQUIS accreditation, I have asked Prof. Ricky Lim to hold an open Question and Answer session for The AIM Blogger. I'm thankful Prof. Lim accepted my invitation-- Given that he is the Associate Dean of AIM's W. SyCip Graduate School of Business, I think he is in a very good position to address the comments and concerns that have been raised lately.

Here are the ground rules for the Q & A:

1. Questions must be posted as a comment on THIS blog post only;
2. People may leave questions anonymously;
3. Please be clear with what question/s you want to be answered;
   
4. Please avoid foul or offensive language;

With that, I'm starting the thread with a few questions from the comments from the previous post:

As a recent admit, this is a very serious issue for me .What should i take from this news ? Could change my decision to join .

What else? the school is screwed! from the president, associate dean, all the way to the professors!.. They are politician minded not educators, they tell you what you want to hear then kill you along the way by not delivering what they say in actions. Isn't that what is happening in school now? they tell you that you are fine, the next day you are out?

The floor is now open to your questions.