PEDAGOGY OR ANDRAGOGY? VIEWS OF INDIAN GRADUATE BUSINESS STUDENTS

The rapid growth of the Indian economy demands educated and trained human resources, including business graduates. Indian business schools are the major suppliers of business graduates. These graduates are mostly educated in traditional pedagogical fashion. Against this backdrop, this paper examines Indian postgraduate business students’ perceptions of pedagogy and andragogy. Prior research has addressed the issue of matching the appropriate instruction methodology to the learners’ learning style, but research examining the relative effectiveness of andragogy and pedagogy as instruction methodologies in teaching management courses is limited.  The current study is based on the premise that the better the fit between the learning style of the learner and the instructional methodology adopted by the instructor, the more favourable the learning outcomes. The study examines the prevalent methodologies and aims to identify the most effective instruction methodology for management education as perceived by the learners, more specifically for courses offered as management education in Indian business schools. Data were collected from the participants in management programmes of different institutes of higher learning in India. The maturity level of the learners was ascertained to examine the dynamics of the preferred learning styles of participants. The dataset comprised responses of a sample of 313 Indian postgraduate business students. The data were analysed using sample t-tests. The results reveal that learners prefer andragogy, which can be met only by business education providers shifting to learner-centred teaching and curricula. The students’ preference for andragogical methods reflects the changing needs of Indian employers. Employers prefer to recruit business graduates with practical knowledge and education who can independently apply their knowledge and skills in real business situations. The findings of the study have strategic implications for the development of student-centred teaching methods and curricula in the Indian higher education sector, and have been highlighted in the paper.