Academia-Industry Interface in B-Schools: Challenges & Imperatives

There has been a lot of hue and cry about gloomy academia-industry interface in recent years. Louder voices for closer collaboration between academia and industry heard in a number of conferences, seminars and forums usually turn hollow and fade away on the ground. This perspective paper tries to explore why the higher education institutions and industry fail to develop lasting associations in spite of a fair understanding about concomitant benefits that may accrue as a result of such ties. The paper provides a critique of the current scenario vis-a-vis academia industry interface especially in the context of Indian B-schools and corporate houses operating in the country. Imperatives for strengthening academia-industry collaboration have also been discussed at length so as to inspire some real-time actions on the ground for benefit of all the stakeholders.