The field of management studies has spread its wings, encompassing more management subjects while keeping pace with changing and evolving avenues of employment and need for better well-honed professionals and experts.

Therefore, a string of new courses and subject combinations has emerged that takes students through specific subjects designed for a certain industry that benefits both the industry and students in multiple ways, by providing skilled workforce and defined career paths.

Increasing employability, lucrative salary packages, and a clear vision are some of the other things which students gain through these courses. Despite the growth of many subject combinations, courses, which cater to core industries are still the most reliable and stable options for management students.

Of these, courses related to Pharmaceutical Management, Rural Management, and Health & Hospital Management open the gateway to some of the best career paths that show growth potential in industries which will continue to provide employment for years to come.

Eligibility criteria for interested candidates: Students wanting to pursue pharmaceutical management need to be a graduate in Pharma, Science, or Life Sciences. One usually has to qualify various entrance examinations such as Pharma Management Admission Test by IIHMR University, Common MAT, GMAT, and Narsee Monjee Aptitude test (NMAT).

Interested candidates for Rural Management and Hospital and Health Management courses need to hold a Bachelor’s degree with at least 50 per cent marks in aggregate. They also need to have either of the MAT, CAT, CMAT, ATMA, XAT, or GMAT scores or qualify the IIHMR-U MAT exam conducted by the university.

Qualified candidates thereafter undergo group discussions and personal interview, where they are tested for their ideas, aptitude, decision making, and critical thinking.

Careers in Pharmaceutical Management: Only few other sectors are providing as lucrative opportunities as pharmaceutical industry. Students can enter the pharma industry in diverse roles like pharmaceutical sales, R&D, marketing, management, and related fields in capacity of quality assurance manager, drug distribution manager, business development manager, sales manager, and so on.

The starting salary for an MBA (Pharmaceutical Management) is around Rs 4.5 to 10 lakh per annum. Good experience in this field can easily lead to a highly-paid job.

Careers in Rural Management

The rural landscape provides a wide space for fulfilling expansion interests of established competitors as well as for new entrepreneurs looking for a strong footing. With many companies across the board wanting to expand in rural areas, experts who understand the pulse of rural economy are high in demand.

The course Rural Management provides diversified portfolios and fields as employment opportunities for a candidate to find their true calling. These include positions of manager or general manager in rural banking, rural programme or business manager, rural project consultant among others.

MBA in Rural Management graduates can expect a package of Rs 4 lakh per annum and above which can go way past 10 lakhs, depending upon the performance of the candidate.

Careers in Health and Hospital Management

The course of Hospital and Health Management is not only a gateway to a host of employment opportunities at a national level but also at a global level.

Over 40 million new jobs is expected to be created in healthcare ‘industry’ by 2020, with a USD 200 billion increase in revenue generation. With wide regions in India still untouched by secondary and tertiary care, the job opportunities in this sector are increasing by volumes.

With the subject covering managerial functions such as planning, implementation, hospital services, operations, quality controlling, and so on, a wide spectrum of job prospects open up, from being a nursing officer to chief operating office to hospital planning adviser.

MBA in Health and Hospital Management graduates can expect a median package of Rs 4.5 lakh per annum and above while those bagging the top jobs begin their careers with packages of up to 12 lakhs.

The writer is president, IIHMR University, Jaipur