Students don’t know much about ERM

The survey ‘Enterprise Risk Management and the Indian Higher Education System’ drew responses from over 1,000 Indian institutions.

Enterprise risk management (ERM) intelligence is a critical requirement for both organisational and individual success. However, a survey conducted by the IRM’s India Regional Group in collaboration with the AICTE found that education institutions in India still have a long way to go when it comes to delivering ERM education.

The survey ‘Enterprise Risk Management and the Indian Higher Education System’ drew responses from over 1,000 Indian institutions.

Nearly 96% of the responding institutions considered risk literacy as critical for both organisational and personal success. Yet only 27% believe ERM courses should be offered at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Not surprisingly, only 19% of these institutes thought that their students had high risk literacy.

Given that 60% of the responding institutions were affiliated with universities that exercised control over their course framework, there was a general consensus on the need for regulations that emphasise better risk education, for improving risk literacy amongst students. This was evident as 82% of the study participants believe that academic regulators mandating a formal ERM framework would help the teaching-learning process. The lack of risk preparedness extends to the institutional level, with only 37% employing a dedicated risk officer or faculty to advise the school’s leadership team on institutional risks.

Hersh Shah, chairman, IRM India Regional Group, said: “Our survey reveals a worrying gap between the need for ERM and the risk literacy of India’s graduate and postgraduate students. To build a robust and resilient economy, we must address the gap in the system by strengthening the curriculum framework to promote ERM education across our higher educational institutions.”

Anil D Sahasrabudhe, chairman, AICTE, added: “Although the corporate world is taking a proactive approach towards strengthening their risk management frameworks, academia is still, unfortunately, lagging behind.”