Susan, the CLO at one of India’s Top MNCs wakes up every morning troubled with the same issue - she has been breathing down the necks of some of her organization’s Senior Managers to go attend the Management Development Programs they signed up for but they are not budging. Do they take a sabbatical from work to sharpen their leadership skills or do they try to achieve their sales targets?

This Catch-22 situation is commonplace in Corporate India today. But this situation is fast changing, thanks in no small way to the online revolution that is taking the education industry by storm. While the Khan Academy is leading the way in elementary school education, movements like the Mass Online Open Courses (MOOCs), which have attracted more than 100,000 students, are creating waves in higher education. Corporates too are increasingly going the online way. We live in times when time is money and more so, for busy executives for whom every minute counts. In such a scenario, Online education works well, given that one doesn’t have to travel to attend classes.

In the last couple of months, we at the AVAGMAH Jack Welch Management Institute (AJWMI) – India have seen a surge in interest from large organisations in our Online Leadership Programs. As an Online School based in India offering Online Education to Executives for the past decade, we were pleasantly surprised at the increased numbers in which India Inc. has started nominating its Senior employees for the AJWMI programs, given that the programs are designed for leaders who understandably are hard pressed for time and cannot afford to take time out from their workplace for academic pursuits.

With increased demand to nurture high performers for leadership roles, organisations now have the opportunity to provide education to their employees, as per their convenience. Evolved technology in online education allows students to participate in virtual classes run by some of the best faculty in the world - even if the student is constantly on the move or based out of some remote location. This means managers continue to work and pursue their education at the same time.
While some are still delivering ancient standard format lectures to bored students, India Inc. seems to have rightly embraced online education and has started reaping its benefits.

Karthik KS is CEO, AVAGMAH Online School (A division of 24x7 Learning)