Ten Suggestions for Educational Entrepreneurs

The profile of the edupreneurs and investors in education is fast changing. In the last five decades of my association with school education I have seen a variety of challenges faced by them in the management of educational institutions. With deeper penetration of technology into the educational infrastructures and systems, there is a strong demand for greater visibility, openness, transparency, and integrity in the issues relating to the institutional administration. This indeed means that their awareness, sensitivity, understanding and skills of management about the entire universe of educational operations must increase. They are often put to decisive tests on several vulnerabilities relating to educational management. Here are ten suggestions which they need to address:

Many investors and entrepreneurs in education often think that their role is strictly restricted to providing the infrastructure and related facilitations for the smooth management of the institutions. They think that the rest of the services could be hired and delegated. They often tend to engage one at the supervisory level who is powerful, who is a go-getter, who is strong administrator and one who implements the listed needs of the investors. Consequently, they do not have the feel of the institution and its dynamics. They depend on the reports and opinions passed on to them, thus staying away from realities. This really kills the growth profile of the institution and promotes an elevated level of mediocrity. They need to trust the academic visionaries and experts who could be mentors and guides for the growth.

Several of the investors and edupreneurs feel they have nothing to do with educational policies, programs and processes being implemented in the institutions. Every investor and edupreneurs must be fully conversant with the changing dynamics of education and should be able to respond meaningfully to the emerging needs of infrastructure and other support systems. They have a significant role in ensuring optimization of the use of the infrastructure and other resources of the institution. Many institutions have a disproportionate space, infrastructure and resources which lay either unused or underutilised for years. Only an aware and sensitive edupreneurs with a deep understanding of the educational dynamics can address this issue.

The authority and arrogance of investment often makes a few of the investors treat the institutional dynamics as a business proposition. They tend to impart practices from corporate and trade backgrounds to institutional management. Some of them may work and others may not. Educational administration calls for diverse sensitivities as it relates to several stakeholders like students, parents, community, and the industry. The investors should avoid micromanagement of the institutions and delegate the responsibilities to educational administrators with responsibility and accountability. Drawing a pragmatic organogram is essential for effective educational administration.

Several managements tend to circumvent or subvert the rules and regulations detailed for running the institutions either to save the cost and make quick profits or for other reasons. Most successful institutions who have demonstrated excellence and measurable growth in their profile have been those who respected and followed the prescribed rules. That helps in avoiding a lot of challenge that would subsequently arise through legal proceedings. Professional management of educational organizations calls for them to be run by think tanks who are passionate and progressive about the objectives of the educational processes. Edupreneurs who have intervened with the admissions of the students in one way or the other have met with uncomfortable situations in implementing institutional disciplines over a period.

Several institutions are run on the whims and fancies of people who matter. The concept of ‘show me the man and I will show you the rules’ operate. Such irregularities lead to a lot of disorder and infuse a sense of insecurity and lack of trust among the employees. In such institutions there is a huge percentage of staff migration year on year. Investors and edupreneurs need to put in place standard operating procedures for every aspect of the institutional administration, be it infrastructure, finances, or human resources. This would help the investors in saving a lot of their time for addressing to other activities and growth. Further, the mobility of the staff suddenly would not disrupt the system.

A major contribution the investors need to make is to ensure the professional competence of the staff. Selection of the staff must be entrusted to a competent team of selectors while the management either keeps a distance or is a witness to the process just offering professional suggestions. The quality of the staff members of the institution is fundamental to the growth and pursuit of excellence. Further that helps in empowering the learners who engage with their work with better discipline. The investors need to allocate adequate funds for the continuous improvement of the teacher’s competence as that helps in successful management of professional competition in the market. Institutions with better qualified and competent staff have also gravitated the attention of the communities and corporates to support the institutions for career or other considerations.

Though the ownership of the institution is vested with a few or with a core team, the development of a shared vision of all the stakeholders is important for not only smooth running of the institution but for its long=term developmental profile. Periodic meetings, conversations, open houses and invites for negotiations would help in the design of a shared vision. Institutions who have distanced from community and stakeholders have faced multiple challenges over a period. The stakeholders start questioning the proprietary nature of the investors and their contribution to a community relevant social consciousness.

Proverbially it is said that ‘the ship is safe in the harbour; but that is what it is not meant for.” This is true for the educational institutions also. They need to be inclusive to various growth profiles of the community, industry, science, and technology. Joining hands with other players in the system on a level playing ground helps in formulating better vision and policies. Investors and edupreneurs need to be proactive in this domain and encourage their team to seek avenues and opportunities for purposeful and meaningful learning experiences from others. Such efforts help in expanding the iron curtains that hold recruitment of new knowledge and experience available elsewhere.

Investors might start on a small investment but need to grow big. It calls for self-confidence and continuous learning. However, in the absence of big dreams and a deep insight into what is happening in the same field will deprive the institution of its concurrency. Patting one's back may be pleasant for some time based on the current results, but in a dynamic system that leads to inertia. I am aware of several institutions who have gasped on their past glory of decades or a century and have denied themselves the opportunities for learning. They get lost in the race despite the treasure of wisdom and experience they have on their shoulders.

Though growth is not necessarily linked to brand, it is important to hoist one’s flag of their brand. In educational parlance, brand is not reflected only by the demand for admissions or its populist moves, but it rests on the confidence of the customers and the community on the deliverables. The deliverables include all facets of age-appropriate human development in terms of knowledge, skills, culture, and contribution. This would indeed mean that the investors should seek, forge and work for an ‘institutional culture’ which speaks volumes of the thought architecture of the investors and edupreneurs.