The feeling is special
The buzzword at B-schools today is specialisation. But is it just a fad?
T
he Hamburger University is located in
Oak Brook, Illinois. It has branches in
Australia, Germany, the UK, Japan,
Hong Kong and Brazil. McDonald’s
invested $40 million in the 80-acre
campus in 1983, a good sum in those days. Today,
more than 5,000 students attend Hamburger Uni-
versity every year; some 80,000 have graduated
since it was first set up.
The Hamburger University doesn’t produce
McMBAs. In fact, the reverse is true: it is a spe-
cialised, short-term course. There is debate too on
whether what it teaches can at all be called busi-
ness administration. But, in a way, it epitomises
the soul searching that is going on in Indian B-
schools today: is general business administration
the need of the hour or are sharply-focussed
courses more important in today’s context?
This is a replay of the debate in the eighties
when MBAs began making their mark in Indian
industry. At that time, there was only a handful of
established B-schools – the three Indian Institutes
of Management (IIMs) at Ahmedabad, Bangalore
and Calcutta, Xavier Labour Relations Institute
(XLRI) at Jamshedpur, the Faculty of Management
Studies (FMS) in Delhi and Jamnalal Bajaj Institute
of Management Studies in Mumbai. There were
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other institutes, no doubt. But they didn’t take up
any mindspace and their students had an identity
problem.
Industry saw MBAs as generalists – Jacks of all
trades and masters of none. “Indian B-schools did
not innovate because the markets were insu-
lated,” says K.P. Kumar, executive director of the
Hyderabad-based infrastructure major Lanco.
Many preferred the specialist – the engineer or the
CA, who knew what he was and what he would be.
Add to this the chip on the shoulder which IIM
grads even then displayed, and MBAs were
nowhere near the stature they enjoy today.
“Whoever had heard of an MBA,” says K.K.
Nohria, former chairman of Crompton Greaves.
“What mattered was a good degree in engineer-
ing. It was a matter of pride to be an engineer.”
Nohria is perhaps being a shade chauvinistic
about his own discipline; he is an engineer. In the
seventies and the eighties, engineers from the top
colleges were very familiar with the IIMs. Second
only to going abroad for further education, it was
an escape route from the perceived dead-end of
engineering. Some 80-90 per cent of any batch at
IIM would be from an engineering background,
most of them from the Indian Institutes of Tech-
nology (IITs). The trend continues. For the IIM-B
B U S I N E S S I N D I A u October 19, 2008 B-schools Survey

graduating batch of 2008, 91 per cent had an engi- Then there are the “centres of excellence”.
neering background, 4 per cent commerce, 2 per Whatever they are supposed to be on paper, in
cent arts and 3 per cent others. When engineers many places they are glorified departments. It
join an MBA course, they leave all their technical helps, however, to be a “centre”; it focuses atten-
baggage behind and prepare to become bankers or tion. Among the prominent – and working – cen-
sell banana chips – no-brainers both. tres of excellence are the Leadership, Innovation
If engineers are still becoming MBAs in droves – & Change centre at the Hyderabad-based Indian
expanding their narrow focus to a larger horizon – School of Business (ISB), the fifth at the campus.
is it an exaggeration to call this an era of speciali- IIM-C has a Centre for Management Accounting in
sation? Look at the evidence on the other side of partnership with the Chartered Institute of Man-
the fence. agement Accountants (CIMA), London. Centres of
The reality on the ground is that specialist Excellence for entrepreneurship are the flavour of
courses and colleges have become ubiquitous. On the month and are sprouting everywhere. “Many
the one hand, you have institutes of some vintage schools are either floating dedicated courses
like the 29-year-old Indian Institute of Rural Man- or opening centres of excellence,” says N.M.
agement (IIRM) at Anand and the 45-year-old Kondap, vice-chancellor Narsee Monjee.
Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) in New
Delhi. There are several not so well known. The Failed motive?
Institute of Forest Management at Bhopal has Specialisation is a development one cannot deny.
been offering a two-year post graduate (PG) pro- But does it work? If you look back at the IIMs, they
gramme in forestry management for some two too were started with some lofty motives. IIM-A was
decade now. The Institute of Rural Management to produce managers for the farm sector. There
in Jaipur was set up in 1994. Also in Jaipur, the were admission quotas (there still are) for graduates
Institute of Health Management Research was set in agricultural sciences and engineering. IIM-B was
in 1984. There are dozens of such academies dot- designed for the public sector. Both these ideals
ted around the country. remained on paper. BTechs in Agricultural
“There has been a visible and fundamental Engineering, considered a somewhat downmarket
shift in MBA campuses across the country that
needs to be recognised,” says C.V. Baxi, acting Top Ten B-schools
director of Management Development Institute
(MDI), Gurgaon. MDI has flagged off a 15-month Rank Institute Rank Institute
programme (along with the ministry of power) at
1 IIM Ahmedabad 6 IIM Lucknow
its School of Energy Management. The MDI
School of Public Policy and Governance offers a 2 IIM Bangalore 7 IBS Hyderabad
21-month PG diploma. The course is sponsored by 3 ISB Hyderabad 8 MDI Gurgaon
the Union government’s department of person-
nel and training. 4 IIM Calcutta 9 IMT Ghaziabad
There is considerable blurring of lines between 5 XLRI Jamshedpur 10 S P Jain Mumbai
specialist institutes and general institutes (like MDI)
offering specialist courses. Narsee Monjee Institute Learning Intellectual Brand Growth
of Management Studies has a course on Mergers & ambience capital
Acquisitions, every second B-school has climbed
on the retail bandwagon with specialised courses, IIM Ahmedabad IIM Ahmedabad IIM Ahmedabad IIM Ahmedabad
Bhartidasan Institute of Management at Trichy
IIM Bangalore IIM Calcutta XLRI Jamshedpur ISB Hyderabad
offers Cross-Cultural Management, and SIES Col-
lege of Management Studies in Mumbai has Non- ISB Hyderabad ISB Hyderabad ISB Hyderabad IIM Bangalore
governmental Organisation (NGO) Management
Great Lakes Institute in Chennai, which has IIM Calcutta IIM Bangalore IIM Bangalore IIM Calcutta
been climbing up our rankings, is teaching its stu-
IIM Lucknow XLRI Jamshedpur IIM Calcutta XLRI Jamshedpur
dents Chinese language and culture. In its book,
Beijing will increasingly beckon Indian managers; XLRI Jamshedpur IIM Lucknow IIM Lucknow IMT Ghaziabad
there is already an IIM alumni association
in Shanghai. Says Anil Somani, executive MDI Gurgaon IMT Ghaziabad IBS Hyderabad IIM Lucknow
chairman of the Delhi-based Fostiima Business IBS Hyderabad IBS Hyderabad MDI Gurgaon IBS Hyderabad
School, started by a group of IIM-A alumni: “As
our USP, we have made Japanese compulsory IMT Ghaziabad MDI Gurgaon S P Jain Mumbai S P Jain Mumbai
for our seniors and French for our juniors.”
S P Jain Mumbai S P Jain Mumbai IMT Ghaziabad MDI Gurgaon
JK Business School, also in Delhi, has a Mandarin
instructor.

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 B U S I N E S S I N D I A u October 19, 2008 B-schools Survey

discipline at the Indian Institutes of Technology
(IITs), used the IIM-A stamp as a stepping stone to a
marketing or finance job. Where they were
expected to focus on bullocks, they served instead
the bulls. At IIM-B, very few public sector organisa-
tions ever figured among the top recruiters. To start
with, they couldn’t pay private sector salaries.
One way of checking on the credentials of the
specialist academies and specialist courses is to
analyse where the students are heading for and
the sort of salaries they command.
Take IIM-A’s new one-year PG programme in
Public Management & Policy. The objective of the
course is “to develop professionals in policy for-
mulation, policy execution, and enterprise
management”. In its maiden year, the pro-
gramme attracted 33 participants, average work
experience 11 years.
Where did they come from? Government ser-
vice contributed 58 per cent, and public sector
undertakings (PSUs), banks, non-governmental
organisations (NGOs) and the private sector
accounted for the remaining 42 per cent.
Where did they go to? Nine returned to their
parent organisation; they were sponsored for the
course and had given an undertaking they would
do so. The other 24 joined companies like Price-
waterhouseCoopers, Ernst & Young, McKinsey,
GMR, Reliance ADAG, DLF, IL&FS, the RPG group, ICICI
Foundation, SBI Caps, the Essel group, and ICICI
Lombard. Their salary: 15-40 lakh per annum at
an average Rs26 lakh.
The second batch (2008-09) has 39 partici-
pants. The average work experience has gone up
to 12 years. Government service now contributes
67 per cent. We will have to wait for next year to
see where they end up. But the babus are obvi-
ously on the move to greener pastures and – hope-
fully – greenbacks. The first batch is, however, at
home. “It is significant that all the placements
with reasonably high salaries in a year with reces-
sionary beginnings are all in India,” says IIM-A.
Little impact
At the Indian Institute of Forest Management, the
2008 placement saw participation from Olam
International, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, the Aditya
Birla group, IMRB International, SKS Microfinance.
Indian Oil, and Development Credit Bank. The
highest international package offered was
$55,000 by Olam International and the highest
domestic salary package Rs7.5 lakh by SKS Microfi-
nance. The average salary worked out to Rs7.2
lakh per annum.
IIFT – which is into foreign trade, mind you –

Next Ten B-schools makes much of the fact that the big boys hiring its
grads included Lehman Brothers (before the melt-
Rank Institute Rank Institute down, of course), Morgan Stanley, UBS, Kotak,
ICICI, ICRA, Citibank, Barclays, HSBC, HDFC, Reckitt
1 FMS, University of Delhi 6 IIFT New Delhi Benckiser, ITC, Colgate… On its placement site,
2 Jamnalal Bajaj Mumbai 7 IIM Kozhikode almost as an after thought is the line “Trade
majors like Cargill, Olam International and SRS
3 NITIE Mumbai 8 IIM Indore reaffirmed their belief in IIFT students.”
4 IMI New Delhi 9 Great Lakes Chennai At IIFT, the average compensation package this
year rose to Rs10.11 lakh from Rs9.3 lakh last year.
5 NMIMS University Mumbai 10 XIM Bhubaneshwar The highest domestic salary was Rs25 lakh com-
pared to Rs19.2 lakh per annum last year. The
Learning Intellectual Brand Growth
ambience capital highest international package was $110,000 per
annum.
NITIE Mumbai FMS Delhi JBIMS Mumbai FMS Delhi Where were the offers from? Some 39 per cent
were from sales & marketing, 30 per cent from
FMS Delhi JBIMS Mumbai IMI New Delhi NITIE Mumbai finance, 25 per cent from IT, and 3 per cent apiece
for strategy & consulting and trade.
JBIMS Mumbai Great Lakes Chennai NMIMS University NMIMS University
Take one more example: the Pune-based Balaji
IIM Kozhikode IMI New Delhi NITIE Mumbai JBIMS Mumbai Institute of Telecom & Management (formerly
the Indian Centre for Telecom & Management). It
IIFT New Delhi NMIMS University IIFT New Delhi IMI New Delhi has been around since 2002 and offers “an addi-
IMI New Delhi IIFT New Delhi IIM Kozhikode IIFT New Delhi
tional emphasis on the telecom industry along
with the backbone of information technology”.
IIM Indore IIM Indore FMS Delhi IIM Kozhikode Where are its students headed for? Here is an
abridged laundry list: Bajaj Allianz Insurance,
XIM Bhubaneshwar NITIE Mumbai IIM Indore Great Lakes Chennai Bharat Bijlee, Bharti Telesoft, Centurion Bank,
NMIMS University IIM Kozhikode XIM Bhubaneshwar IIM Indore Citibank, Club Mahindra, GE Money, Emami,
Motilal Oswal, Voltas… There is no BSNL, no MTNL,
Great Lakes Chennai XIM Bhubaneshwar Great Lakes Chennai XIM Bhubaneshwar no Vodafone. Telecom has a different connota-
tion in a Balaji universe.

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 B U S I N E S S I N D I A u October 19, 2008 B-schools Survey

The obvious conclusion from these examples is finance companies, banks and consultancies.
that what you “specialise” in doesn’t seem to (How long that will hold now that the titans of
make a difference in your eventual destination. Wall Street have joined the ranks of ordinary mor-
For instance, you will find ICICI Bank across the tals remains to be seen.) Within an organisation,
spectrum. It matters little whether it is IIFT, the however, jobs for different functions attract simi-
Mumbai-based National Institute of Industrial lar starting pay.
Engineering, the Institute of Rural Management “Trainee salaries are fixed on the basis of the
at Jaipur or the Hyderabad campus of Badruka tier of the institute (the B-school) and the corre-
Institute of Foreign Trade. sponding MBA programme,” says Mandeep
If you look at the profile Maitra, human resources country head at HDFC
B-school core strength of the students at some of Bank. “Typically, all MBAs recruited in the bank
these institutes and the have one or two subject areas as specialisation –
Retail
2.36% salaries they command, for example marketing or finance — or dual spe-
Finance
Marketing 18.9% there is little reason why it cialisation. The difference in specialisation
30.45% should. Consider the num- doesn’t have any significant impact in most jobs.”
IT
25.98% ber of engineers in the total
HR
15.49% batch. Their predomi- Selling point
nance is an eye-opener. At Specialisation works in places that encourage peo-
IIFT, of the batch size of ple with work experience. The students know
Operations General International 180, as many as 120 were where they are coming from and where they want
2.10% 2.89% business
1.84%
engineers. At Xavier to go to. But, apart from ISB, few stress the impor-
Labour Relations Institute tance of experience. At the IIM-C class of 2008, 39
(XLRI) Jamshedpur, which per cent had 0-10 months work experience, 17 per
specialises in HR, it was 120/93. At the Nashik- cent 10-21 months and another 22 per cent 22-31
based Symbiosis Institute of Operations Manage- months. That could change for the better. “Many
ment the break up was 120/117, at Balaji 195/180. graduates joining B-schools today already
What you are getting in an MBA is really a pol- have three to five years of experience,” says
ished engineer, the degree of polish depending on P.T. Thomas, director of Xavier Institute of
the institute. The salaries also seem to be directly Management, Bhubaneshwar.
linked to the ranking of the institute and have lit- So why are the dons and deans so excited about
tle to do with specialisation. On the other hand, specialisation? There are several reasons. First, for
there is anecdotal evidence that within an insti- the second-rung schools, it gives a selling point. A
tute, the highest salaries offered come from course in retail attracts students when all the news-

Since the AICTE presides over the fate Schools, some established (Indian School
AICTE strong as ever of 600-odd business schools in the coun- of Business, Hyderabad; Indian Institute of
try and also impacts the working of an Planning and Management; ICFAI Business

L ast year the National Knowledge Com-

mission (NKC) had recommended that
the much-beleaguered All India Council of
Technical Education (AICTE) should be
replaced by a separate Higher Education
Council. The FICCI committee on higher
education, which went into the NKC report
also strongly favoured a separate agency
for fostering the growth of B-schools. The
National HRD Network has time and again
been pointing out that the capacity restric-
tions and poor quality of B-school educa-
tion is bound to affect talent availability and
severely hurt the industry in the long run.
However, AICTE continues to remain
restrictive, bureaucratic and corrupt,
despite the best intentions of its chairman
R.A. Yadav. The new boss’s appointment
to the chair, accomplished a few months
earlier, was a stormy one – and took place
after nearly a year of uncertainty.
equal number who work outside the sys-
tem, it is closely monitored by the B-
school community. “You may talk about
accreditation, aligning with the world,
industry being desperate about helping
to build talent at the B-schools, etc, but
with AICTE around, nothing much can be
done,” is the emphatic statement of a B-
school chairman, who had made nearly
10 trips to the AICTE headquarters to get
his seat expansion approved. “We are try-
ing our best to ease the difficulties of B-
schools. Application for new schools is
now on line,” says Yadav.
“We have been liberal in allowing B-
schools to retain their capacity, which they
had built earlier, without adhering to the
law of the land,” adds Yadav. “And, in the
process, we have been able to bring in a
bulk of the schools to national mainstream.
However, a lot more remains to be done.”
School, Hyderabad; Great Lakes, Chennai)
and some emerging (Chennai Business
School; FOSTIIMA, Delhi) among others,
remain outside the purview of AICTE,
because of which they are also growing in
size and strength.
“It is a tragedy that it pays to remain
outside the AICTE system if one has to
grow in higher education,” comments
another B-school chairman, having a clus-
ter of institutions in Delhi NCR. He
laments the fact that he opted to be an
AICTE adherent. “There are far too many
restrictions, unnecessary harassment and
meaningless paper work,” he points out.
The issue is not so much about right to
B-school governance, but the terms
under which it is done. These definitely
need to change, if B-schools are to grow
in strength and stature.
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 B U S I N E S S I N D I A u October 19, 2008 B-schools Survey

papers are talking about the coming retail boom. Part of the specialisation drive is, therefore,
Some of our B-schools are essentially money-mak- born of other reasons. “Post-reform the time and
ing institutes; they need ways to gild the lily. need to get an industrial licence in the country
There is a positive spin to that too. Industry is has diminished drastically,” says Jerry Rao, one of
starved of effective managers, IT companies, for the promoters of Fostiima Business School. “The
instance, would welcome MBAs who have been tai- institutions that supply trained manpower to the
lored to their needs. (The National Association of MNCs and businesses are unfortunately still under
Software & Service Companies is opening finish- the Licence Raj.”
ing schools for IT aspirants.) So they too welcome Rao straddles both sides of the fence. As a for-
specialisation. mer Citibanker and IT entrepreneur, he knows
Centres of excellence The B-school commu- that industry too shares part of the blame for the
nity has begun hard-selling state of the B-schools. Specialised B-schools, in
2006-07 2007-08 (No.) the idea that they are creat- particular, need specialised faculty. A telecom
ing made-to-order MBAs. school must have a regular stream of telecom
Centres of
270 “We are completely industry guest lecturers. Industry in India has not
excellence focussed on the market,” been particularly cooperative.
382
says Uday Salunkhe, direc-
tor of the Mumbai-based Enter industry
Corporate 20
grant Welingkar Institute of Some effort is being made. Business houses are
for centres 28 Management. Adds Dilip funding chairs at leading institutes. They are
Kumar Bandyopadhyay, offering scholarships. Maitra of HDFC Bank gives
director of the Indian Insti- an example of cooperation. His bank has tied up
tute of Forest Management: with 36 B-schools to offer joint certification pro-
Faculty corporate connections “We run highly-successful grammes. “These tie-ups facilitate better interac-
short courses on carbon tion and exchange of know-how between
Faculty on 105 (No.) credit, environmental Industry and academia,” says Maitra. Every bit
corporate
boards 272 2006-07 accounting and climate helps. But it is clearly not enough.
2007-08 change that are of interest It makes sense for both the B-schools and indus-
Faculty as 494
advisors to to industry.” Elaborates try to prefer specialisation. But what about that
corporates 627 M.L. Shrikant, dean of the largely ignored community in all such debates –
Faculty Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan’s the students? They lose in terms of options avail-
associated with 169
state planning 193
S.P. Jain School of Manage- able. But, if the education and training is up to the
bodies ment in Mumbai: “The mark, they can hit the ground running.
Corporate
1,617 focus is not just in match- The western experience shows that specialist
research
projects 1,128 ing industry’s needs but MBAs are doing well. A report by TopMBA, a web-
by faculty also in matching the site for MBA applicants, students and the World
changed ethos of the coun- MBA Tour, says that in 2007 in the European
try. We have done some Union, there were 2,500 candidates doing a spe-
pioneering work here.” cialised MBA – normally a one-year course – against
Industry seems to feel that the B-schools are on 200 a decade ago. The most popular MBA speciali-
the right track. But they are not yet prepared to sation today is international management. In the
give them full marks. “Industry needs are chang- US, the Ivy League schools are maintaining their
ing by the day and matching these is not easy,” lead “although a few smaller specialist pro-
says Aquil Busrai, vice-president of IMB. Adds N.S. grammes are breaking through”.
Iyer, chief manager (HR) of Asian Paints: “There is Beware of the intensity of specialisation, how-
a reasonable chance (that B-schools will adapt to ever. The University of Liverpool’s MBA (Football
industry’s needs) because they are now operating Industries) has been going strong for a decade.
in a highly competitive environment where the The MBA in media & entertainment being offered
choices are huge.” Indeed, Business India looked at by the Mumbai-based and filmmaker Subhash
a universe of 1,700 B-schools and there are many Ghai-promoted Whistling Woods International
more operating on the fringes. (and Manipal University) may also prove a block-
Competition has inspired specialisation. But buster. You may even want to join the Indian
there is another reason. Thanks to the antedilu- Institute of Vine and Wine. Champagne Indage
vian norms of the All India Council for Technical Ltd has signed a memorandum of understanding
Education (AICTE), which has been imposed by the with the University of Adelaide to set up this spe-
government on the B-schools and engineering cialised B-school at Narayangaon near Pune. If
colleges as some sort of a watchdog, it makes sense you find wine is your cup of tea, this is truly the
to open new specialised campuses if you want to specialisation for you!
expand. u A. THOTHATHRI RAMAN

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B U S I N E S S I N D I A u October 19, 2008
The age of MBA
Smaller towns discover MBA is the best bet for jobs
C
ollectively, the top 100 B-schools in our list
have a student strength of around 18,000,
including the 4,000-plus students from a
single school – IBS-Hyderabad. The number repre-
sents around 14 per cent of the total B-school
admissions, estimated at around 1,30,000. The
minimum size of a batch this year has been 30.
The top schools in India have everything going
for them in terms of large infrastructure, fair num-
ber of faculty, good placements and industry sup-
port. But, for the rest of the industry, running a
B-school is an adventure. “Taking students of
weaker backgrounds and polishing them into
industry-savvy MBAs is a challenge,” says Biswajeet
Mohanty, founder, BRM Institute of Management,
Bhubaneshwar.
Naveena Tavalkere from Chellalkere in North
Kanara district, Karnataka, is a student of a local
arts college, preparing for her final year exams in
commerce. Her dream is to join the Bapuji Institute
of Management at Davangere, a famous textile
town in the state. From Malappuram in Kerala to
Guwahati in Assam, business schools are flourish-
ing since the 1990s, when the government started
giving permission to start new B-schools.
During the past nine years’ annual surveys of B-
schools, Business India has found that the rate of
new schools being set up in distant towns has
always remained high.
Be it Mar Athanasius College for Advanced
Studies, Thiruvalla, Kerala; Pt Jawaharlal Nehru
Institute of Business at Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh;
Indraprastha College of Management at Jodhpur,
Rajasthan; or Dronacharya Institute of Manage-
ment & Technology at Kurukshetra, Uttar
Pradesh, the flavour of MBA is still the same. And
the dreams of landing big jobs with top compa-
nies is as vivid as in, say, a top A ++ category cam-
pus like SCMHRD, Pune. “They all want jobs at the
best of companies,” says S. Balasubramaniam,
director, GRG School of Management Studies.
“That is the MBA dream.” The media hype about
salaries of those recruited from top B-schools has
raised expectations everywhere, he adds.
“MBA has certainly caught the fascination of the
rural and semi-urban youth, as they see it as a pass-
port for a good job,” observes Omkar Nath
Mohanty, vice-chancellor, Biju Patnaik University
of Technology, Rourkela, who has supported over a
dozen affiliated colleges to set up MBA pro-
grammes. While the students’ expectations may be
the same and even the basic MBA curriculum may
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B-schools Survey
not vary to a great extent from that of the top
schools, it’s in pedagogy that these schools face
limitations. “Our first problem is finding faculty,
never mind their quality,” says Pankaj Gupta, exec-
utive director, Integrated Academy of Manage-
ment and Technology, Ghaziabad. Another
B-school expert, a director from Jansons School of
Business, Karumathampatti, Tamil Nadu, feels,
“We have to innovate a lot and try and involve
local institutions to teach at our classrooms.”
Even a local restaurateur or the branch man-
ager of a local bank can become a guest lecturer
for half a day. A faculty’s load in top schools is
around 20 hours a week, whereas in most of the
smaller schools around the country, it ranges
between 40 and 60 hours. Most of these schools
are promoted by local industrialists and philan-
thropists, who see profit in B-school ventures, but
they lose interest once the fee is collected at the
beginning of the year. It is left to the directors to
run the schools to the best of their ability. Fortu-
nately, student quality is high.
“While 2,50,000 students appear in the various
national tests, not more than 5 per cent of them
can get into top schools,” observes Naresh Deevi,
associate partner, HR, Husys, Hyderabad, which
assists big companies in recruiting from cam-
puses. “Some of the bright ones from smaller
towns later join better B-schools; but only if they
are really bright,” he adds.
Most of the schools in smaller towns are also
part of engineering colleges, as it makes more eco-
nomic sense to run them together, since both
streams compliment each other and utilise the fac-
ulty, infrastructure and networking resources more
efficiently. For instance, Lakshmi Narain College of
Technology, Bhopal, has a school of management
attached to it and B.C. Roy Engineering, Durgapur
has a faculty of management studies too. MBA edu-
cation also compliments general degree courses in
some universities and local arts colleges like Pragati
Maha Vidyalaya PG College, Hyderabad, and Parks
College, Tiruppur.
The National Knowledge Commission has
found that there is a severe shortage of talent and
recommended to almost double the present
capacity of MBAs. The number of seats at B-
schools, if NKC has its way, will be a quarter mil-
lion by 2015. With such numbers to chase,
finding newer B-schools in smaller towns will not
be a surprise at all anymore.
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B U S I N E S S I N D I A u October 19, 2008 B-schools Survey

Growth unfettered, but

gaps remain
B-schools might have moved forward a lot, but there is still much to be done

A
s we concluded our ninth round of the Best International Management Institute (IMI), Delhi,
Business Schools Survey, we found that the for instance, conducted six national conferences
B-schools were seen busy increasing capac- each this year; SVKM’s NMIMS University and MET,
ity in seat offerings, as well as opening new cam- Mumbai, opened campuses at Nagpur and Wel-
puses in India and abroad. One business school, ingkar Institute went to Bangalore. Even IIMs
TASMAC, Pune, even opened a campus in London expanded, with their newest addition, the seventh
(see Teaching the raj on page 128). A newcomer one, being located at Shillong in the Northeast,
from Orissa, Centurion School of Rural Enterprise also the first big B-school to
Management, reported that it is finalising its plans be set up in the region this
B-school growth
to enter the Australian market. “Our campus will year (see box: Teeing off).
Schools set up Schools set up
open soon in Australia,” declares D.N. Rao, profes- The executive MBA pro- before 1980
from 1995 to 2000
sor and director of the school. There has been a grammes also have gained Schools set up
sharp increase in fees being charged by the B- fresh momentum, with after 2000
schools across the system, with the IIMs which many more B-schools, 28.81% 25.99%
doubled the fees during the just concluded acade- including some IIMs, enter- 7.34%
Schools set up
mic year, causing much anguish among the stu- ing the distance education from 1980 to 1995
dents. MBA and e-learning space – 37.85%
A number of schools, including SVKM’s NMIMS an area that is expected to
University, Mumbai, Indian Institute of Foreign grow significantly in the
Trade (IIFT), Delhi, and Welingkar Institute of coming years.
Management, Mumbai, were seen opening new Campus spread
campuses or were moving into their own high- Balancing quality and Overseas
campus
quality, state-of-the-art campuses. Great Lakes, capacity 3.95%
Chennai, reported working on its platinum-rated Also, the schools are showing
More than one
green campus, the first such campus for any B- sure signs of balancing campus Single campus
26.55% 69.5%
school in India, while T.A. Pai Management Insti- growth with quality, without
tute, Manipal was moving into its own modern compromising one for the
campus, as had the Alliance Business Academy, other – something that was a
Bangalore earlier in the year. Even a relatively new- given at our campuses over
comer like Asian School of Business Management the years. “IIMs represent the
(ASBM), Bhubaneshwar, announced its second classic case of keeping the
campus at Hyderabad barely within two years of seat capacity low in order to
setting up shop (see Business India, October 22, ensure high quality, a factor that was cited even
2006). “It is an era of high growth for business recently when the pressure was on the IIMs to
schools,” declares Biswajeet Pattanayak, founder increase their seats for providing reserved quota for
director, ASBM. backward classes,” says Pritam Singh, professor
Across the 270-odd business schools we have emeritus, MDI, Gurgaon.
listed, there has been hyperactivity on many “Quality is certainly the big differentiator,”
counts, chief among them being getting closer to declares S.P. Parashar, former director, IIM,
the industry by matching their needs with spe- Indore, who did some pioneering work in intro-
cialised courses. There was also heightened activity ducing quality consciousness. The result of his
in opening new campuses, signing international efforts is evident in the way IIM-I has grown in a
collaborations for faculty and student exchanges, short span of time, getting into our ‘Top 20’ list-
inviting more corporate honchos to campuses and ing of B-schools. Its counterpart, IIM-Kozhikode,
conducting large number of seminars and confer- too seems to have grown by keeping quality in
ences focussed on specific areas of interest to indus- focus, says Krishna Kumar, its director. “Creative
try. IMT, Ghaziabad, for instance, signed six new use of available resources, both physical and the
international agreements, taking the total of intellectual, along with a focussed business
its global collaborations to 25. Both IMT and strategy to raise revenue from training and

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Faculty blues a restriction that does not bind schools like essential parameters of managerial acu-

F aculty availability apart, the salary paid

to them has also been a bone of con-
tention, with the IIMs calling their own
salary a ‘joke’, while schools like IMI, Delhi,
use their ability to pay a higher compensa-
tion to their faculty as one of their unique
selling propositions (USP). While the IIMs
pay an average of Rs6 lakh per annum to
their faculty, IMI paid nearly double the
amount and Institute for Financial Man-
agement and Research offered top salaries
of Rs25 lakh for their professors. IMT also
emerged as a big paymaster for their fac-
ulty. “It is a question of supply and demand
and ability to pay,” says B.S. Sahay of IMT,
Ghaziabad. While IIMs are limited by
finance to pay their faculty higher com-
pensation, they had to abide by the com-
pensation policy set by the ministry of HRD,
IFMR, IMT and IMI.
There is serious dearth of PhD faculty
members across the industry. The student
to faculty ratio is quite adverse (sometimes
as high as 20-25:1) compared to the inter-
national standard/norm of around 8:1. In
the absence of good quality teachers, the
process is often facilitated by persons who
are not well-equipped and this causes one
of the major areas of dissatisfaction among
students. The other serious problem has
been ‘partial disconnectivity’ with the cor-
porate world in the content of teaching. In
a recent survey conducted by SIES, Navi
Mumbai, among a large number of HR pro-
fessionals, the major finding has been that
many of the MBAs produced do not have
either ‘academic depth’ or ‘corporate per-
spective’. Therefore, they lack in all three
men – knowledge, skill, and attitude -
which a B-school education is supposed to
provide. “The problem lies as much with
the students as with the faculty who are
just not available in number or quality in
our B-schools,” laments Sengupta, direc-
tor, SIES, who initiated the study.
“Faculty resource cannot be attracted
with the low compensation prevailing in
the campuses, especially when compared
with the massive pay packets the students
take away every year, which often acts as a
disincentive for the faculty’s giving their
best,” adds Pawan Agarwal, a senior
bureaucrat, who has done pioneering
work in business schools, through the
Indian Council for Research on Interna-
tional Economic Relations (ICRIER).
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consultancy programmes, has put our IIM right
on top,” Kumar observes. IIM-K is also a new
entrant into our list of top 20 institutes.
After resisting for years the introduction of the
globally popular one-year MBA model, the IIMs
have now compromised and introduced their own
version of one-year MBA, called post graduate pro-
gramme for executives (PGPX). The programme
seems to be a runaway hit, with great demand for
the students. The entry level industry experience
of its candidates has surpassed even the best global
B-schools.
“What we are seeing here is a fundamental shift
in MBA education in India. Many mistakes of the
past are now getting corrected, which may result in
a better student mix, faculty quality, basket of
courses and a more healthy bottomline, resulting
in a better branding for Indian B-schools,” assures
Pritam Singh, who took some of the initiatives he is
talking about in IIM-B and IIM-L, along with MDI,
Gurgaon, with which he was associated in the past.
Elusive quality benchmarks
After nearly a decade of research into 1,700 odd B-
schools of India, it is still difficult to get a fix on
‘What drives these schools?’, ‘What are the com-
mon elements that will help measure their
progress?’, and ‘What could be the most accept-
able benchmark of this progress?’ Though Busi-
ness India’s B-school survey questionnaire has
evolved with the help of B-schools’ feedback over
the years, to be the most comprehensive one win-
ning accolades from several B-schools, our quest
to get the best measure of growth of B-school still
continues.
“I have made sure that every faculty gets a copy
of the questionnaire, so that they can see what
makes a B-school work and, accordingly, identify
the gaps in our school’s working and come up with
a strategy to mend flaws,” says S.K. Singh, chair-
man, School of Management Sciences, Varanasi.
Our research has been able to uncover several
gaps in the B-schools’ working that are related to
faculty effectiveness; building effective learning
ambience, such as technology use at campus, web-
sites, journal publishing, etc; brand building
efforts, such as links with alumni, invitation to cor-
porate honchos to visit the campuses, floating of
national and international conferences; et al. We
have also been able to continuously identify and
bring into focus schools that have remained on the
periphery. Many of the B-schools in our A category
list had moved to that position owing to their
progress made in areas that we have been com-
menting on, based on our annual survey findings.
The phase of consolidation still continues, with
the B-schools working in closer collaboration with
their alumni and also expanding their faculty (see
faculty chart).
Being the pioneer in launching a comprehen-
sive empirical study to rate and rank business
schools in India, one of the significant challenges
we have been facing for the past nine years is how
to recognise new super league schools, after
accounting for the IIMs, which arguably still
remained unchallenged as B-school leaders. Since
the IIMs have decided to remain as separate enti-
ties four slots in the top 10 usually go to them.
This time too, even in ‘The next 10’ listing, we
had to provide two more slots for the newer IIMs,
leaving little breathing space at the top of the line
for others.

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It is for this reason, and not on any perfor- institutes had a fairly active and exciting year,
mance-related issues that three schools – Wel- with their executive post-graduate programme
ingkar’s, SCMHRD and Lal Bahadur Shastri Institute (PGPX) emerging as a global benchmark in terms
of Management (LBSIM) – had to be moved out of of entry level quality and placement perfor-
our list of ‘The next 10’, to give space to IIM, mance. IIM-A did one better by becoming the first
Kozikode, and IIM, Indore, along with Great Lakes B-school in the country to receive the global
Institute of Management, a new entrant. We had accreditation award of European Quality Systems
listed our schools based on the final scores they had (EQUIS). IIM-B had done extremely well in its
obtained across certain parameters: learning ambi- performance too.
ence, intellectual capital and brand spread; and 11 ISB, which featured as global No. 20 in the
sub-parameters (see Methodology on page 168). Busi- Financial Times’ ranking of B-schools this year,
ness India’s remains the largest survey, featuring moved to the third slot from its fourth position,
around 275 schools this year. upsetting the traditional position of the IIM-C in
Great Lakes Institute showed all-round progress the line-up of Top 10
and is poised to better itself with the opening of a schools. This is mainly on Different strokes
new campus. Some of its programmes, such as the account of larger growth of Nos.
two-year executive MBA, and the one-year regular intellectual capital and bet- B-schools with foreign tie-ups 46
MBA are popular. The school’s founder and a global ter performance of the
management guru Bala Balachandran is confident brand parameters. XLRI, Corporates conducting courses 44
that the school will emerge as one of the top B- Jamshedpur, IBS, Hyder-
schools in the world. abad, and IMT, Ghaziabad
Our survey shows that the B-schools showed a also moved one notch
tendency to invest in faculty by paying more. IFMR, higher, mainly on account
Too little too late
Nos.
Chennai, IMT, Ghaziabad, and IMI, Delhi, almost of placement performance
Schools offering PhD 71
matched the industry grades for their faculty - nearly and intellectual capital, dis-
two-to-three times what a similar IIM faculty may turbing the positions held No. of seats 1,202
get. Though the dependence on fee income contin- by IIM-L and MDI. IBS,
ues, through a series of innovative steps to cut down Hyderabad, too has gone Doctorates awarded 831
costs and increase revenue through MDPs and con- through one of its best
Current batch 998
sultancy, the schools were able to rework their com- years, with a massive 4,800-
pensation for faculty, which had remained low. odd students being placed
Overseas exchange programme is also being seen as on an average salary of Rs5.7 lakh – no mean
not just a junket for students any longer. achievement. IBS, Hyderabad, is the lead institu-
tion of a 14 member-strong IBS network, which
Performance scorecard included two other heavyweights – IBS, Bangalore,
We have made a departure this year, dropping the and IBS, Delhi. In our ranking, IBS had always
marks being assigned to our top 20 ranked institu- reported combined information relating to the
tions, as they distract attention from the actual performance of its national network of institu-
performance of the school (see Survey tions that share the common brand. “It has been a
Methodology). In our Top 10 ranking, significantly, spectacular year for us, belying even our own
IIM-A continues to remain in the first position, expectations on most counts of our performance,”
with the second slot going to IIM-B. Both these says S.K. Sharma, director, IBS, Hyderabad.

IIM Shillong teeing off management courses, one more first for
any IIM.

W ant to play golf in a B-school? Go to

IIM, the newest and the seventh
one, located in the north-eastern region
at Shillong and set up with a Rs500 crore
budget. Ashoke K. Dutta, director, Rajiv
Gandhi Indian Institute of Management
(RGIIM), as the new IIM is called, has just
announced an inter B-school golf tourna-
ment! The Shillong B-school is also the
first IIM to be named differently, which
may help build its brand, while avoiding
the usual confusion over the IIMs and their
standalone brand presence.
The institute was cleared in 2004 by
the ministry of development of the north-
eastern region (DONER) and the chief
ministers of the states of the region and
started its classes with the first batch of 60
students. The school expects to reach a
capacity of 120 seats in three years time
and 180 seats in its sixth year. Apart from
the flagship PGDBM, the institute will also
offer a fellowship programme in manage-
ment and a series of management devel-
opment programmes. It also plans to
offer short-term tourism and hospitality
The Meghalaya government has pro-
vided 120 acres of land free of cost in the
new satellite township of Mawdiangdi-
ang, 20 km from Shillong, for RGIIM’s per-
manent campus. The institute is the only
one to tee off among the seven IIMs
cleared by the ministry of HRD, one each
in the states of Jammu & Kashmir, Tamil
Nadu, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Uttarak-
hand and Haryana. Talking of golf at
Indian B-schools, the only institute having
a golf course now is MDI, Gurgaon.
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IMT, Ghaziabad had improved its intellectual having more than one campus and 4 per cent said
capital and learning ambience scores over SPJIMR, they had overseas campuses, mainly in the Gulf
Mumbai, though SP Jain had remained ahead of region. Despite the AICTE crackdown on the
IMT, in terms of brand and growth. Overall, the schools, nearly 13 per cent of the B-schools in our
school reported much better performance in list did not have official approval.
intellectual capital building through faculty sup- Among the A, B and C category schools, there
port, establishment of centres of excellence, and was considerable activity in terms of new course
an increased tendency for publishing books and introductions, involvement of corporates in cur-
holding conferences of significance. There was riculum building, setting up of alumni clubs and
also a considerable increase in number of one- new strategies for admissions.
year MBA programmes. How does the prospect appear for the B-schools
in the coming year? According to the B-school
Intellectual capital goes up bosses, the prospect is not bright, at least from the
We have been constantly monitoring the contribu- placement perspective, which will also affect the
tion of members of the faculty towards building branding of the B-schools. Also, owing to slack
intellectual capital, which demand expected for manpower from retail, bank-
Faculty details included publishing in ing, consulting and IT, the mainstay of B-schools,
national and international there may be pressure on expanding seats. How-
For 177 schools Nos. journals, participation in ever, owing to the strong growth of the domestic
Full time faculty 10,524 international conferences, industry, specialised courses in manufacturing,
Visiting faculty 4,369 going abroad for teaching, entertainment, logistics and supply chain and
aspects that have come such others may remain in focus at the campuses.
International faculty at campus 383
into sharp focus in leading “I see the coming years to be the period of consoli-
Faculty teaching abroad 348 B-school campuses. This dation for a faster growth,” comments D.P. Goyal,
Faculty with PhD 1,841 year, the B-schools director, Institute of Management Education,
Less than 2 years experience 1,116
reported a much higher Ghaziabad. Concurs Suresh Ghai, director, KJ
percentage of faculty – 20 Somaiya, “We have to get used to the markets as B-
2 to 5 years experience 1,058 per cent more than last schools are no longer in the suppliers’ market and
More than 5 years experience 1,952 year – publishing in inter- they have to work with the industry and learn to
national journals. A larger adjust to the ups and downs in external business.”
number of B-schools also
B-school journals reported entering into for- The future
eign tie-ups and also woo- Our research has been focussing heavily on indus-
Quarterly
ing corporates to conduct try contacts – not just visiting faculty from indus-
Biannual 24.29% courses. For instance, XIMB try and increased placement interaction, but also
33.33% has a course on insurance on the corporate participation in teaching in the
Annual
19.77% taught by executives from B-schools, installation of chairs by them, their
Not at all
22.03% ICICI Prudential. participation in consultancy live projects, etc. We
In a bid to expand the have also been checking to see whether faculty
seats within the parame- members were on the boards of companies,
Bimonthly
0.58%
ters laid down by the whether the faculty conducted management
AICTE, the B-schools seem training programmes, etc, and, this year, we could
to have taken to launch see that more schools were reporting progress in
executive MBA programmes, graduate pro- all these fronts. Our list of schools reported a total
grammes and also more MBA and MMS pro- 248 faculty members having joined the corporate
grammes in collaboration with universities, as boards. We have however not asked or collated
can be seen from our list. Postgraduate Diploma data on reciprocal participation of corporates on
in Management (PGDM) continues to remain pop- school-governing councils.
ular with the B-schools. The coming year would mark the decadal com-
Our survey also showed that the traditional pletion of our annual survey and hopefully we
B-school courses of marketing, finance and HR would see a phase of consolidation and strength-
remained on the high side, while IT continued to ening of the B-schools, which usually happens
hold its own, with one-fourth of the schools when the economy takes a hit, sending more peo-
offering MBA in IT. ple to campuses. In case such a pressure mounts,
In terms of business expansion, there was con- unfortunately our B-school campuses would not
siderable progress with more B-schools reporting be able to cope with their small size and inability
expansion of their seats and opening of newer to grow. A lot remains to be accomplished, over
campuses. At the present reckoning, about 27 which the B-schools have little say.
per cent of the B-schools in our survey reported u A. THOTHATHRI RAMAN

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B U S I N E S S I N D I A ◆ October 19, 2008
Feeling the tremors
Campus fear placement crisis owing to global meltdown
I
n the aftermath of the global meltdown, busi-
ness schools were among the first to react. “A
huge amount of business school resources is
being poured into the crisis,” BusinessWeek
reported, to explain how the crises occurred and
what the B-schools could learn from it. To be fair,
several readers of the magazine commented that
the business school efforts are a little too late, and
were asking, what role business schools might have
played in helping foster the financial excesses that
led to the meltdown.
In India, the IIMs were the worst hit as a bulk of
their students were picked up by both Lehman
Brothers and Merrill Lynch, the key players in the
unprecedented financial crises. In a statement,
IIM-A said, “We would like to express our solidar-
ity with two of our long-standing recruiting part-
ners and we wish them well in their hour of
distress.” Saral Mukherjee, placement chairman,
IIM-A says, “We are receiving feedback from our
alumni and everyone is trying to cope.” He admits
that “future hiring by these two companies is
uncertain at this point even though, owing to our
diverse pool of recruiters, the placements are
unlikely to be affected.” The combined number of
PGP students hired by these two firms was 11 last
year, while the numbers were 28 for 2007 and 20
for 2006. “I am not sure what impact the melt-
down might have on the B-schools in India, but
the aftershocks are sure to be felt by them in terms
of low placement turnout by corporates,” predicts
A.K. Sengupta of SIES.
The HR community as well as the B-schools are
closely watching the situation though the mood at
present is gloom. “We are watching the situation
and things may turn for the better,” hopes Aquil
Busrai, president, National HRD Network. At the B-
schools, a sharp slide in placement salaries is defi-
nite but what is worse is the possibility of many
B-schools not being able to place all their students,
something that has not happened at least in the
first 100 B-schools in the past five to six years,
experts predict. “I expect that the IT, investment
banking, consulting and retailing companies – the
largest recruiters at the campuses – may not show
up this year, as we are already experiencing. It
would be a major achievement if we could place all
the students,” admits a top-ranking B-school boss,
who did not want to be quoted, obviously to avoid
hurting his own school’s placement prospects.
Enquiries with some top HR heads reveal that
the pall of gloom has already set in, as the compa-
nies are looking to roll back their recruitments this
B-schools Survey
year and campus would be the first causality. No
one wants to be on record at this stage. “One thing
is for sure; the average salaries which buoyed up the
B-school rankings certainly are not easy this year,”
the director admits.
Are the B-schools planning any strategy to stem
the crises? “I can’t say we have any plan B in place
yet. But, certainly, it would help to think of one,”
says B.S. Sahay, director, IMT Ghaziabad, who has
to place close to 300 students in this season. B-
school bosses fear that campuses, which have a
large contingent of students to place, are the ones
who will feel the pinch more. S.K. Sharma, director,
ICFAI Business School (IBS), Hyderabad, who had to
place close to 1,800 students every year, is confi-
dent he could still do it. “Our student mix matches
with the recruiters’ profile we have chosen,” he
says. Even though a fair number of global compa-
nies visited the IBS, the bulk of the jobs were being
offered by Indian mid-size companies which the
school hopes will not roll back.
The other big campuses like that of Indian B-school alumni:
School of Business and the IIMs and Great Lakes, watching and
where MNCs recruited from, the mood is that of waiting
caution though no one is predicting doomsday yet.
“I am confident that we will go through the place-
ment season well,” says S. Sriram, dean, Great
Lakes, Chennai.
Will the global meltdown become a case for
discussion at the classrooms? “It has become one
already,” says D.P. Goyal of Institute of Manage-
ment Education, Ghaziabad. “The students
have been encouraged to present papers on
the subject.” There is a lesson to be learnt from
every crisis.
◆ T H OT HA T HR I RAM AN
◆ 83 ◆
◆
 B U S I N E S S I N D I A u October 19, 2008
Where all roads go
Accreditation is the new route to global branding
I
ndian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmed-
abad, the acknowledged leader of B-schools in
India, created history of sorts by becoming the
first IIM to be globally accredited and also the only
school to obtain the prestigious EQUIS (European
Quality Systems) among the 1,700 strong B-
school community in the country. The three-year
conditional accreditation which IIM-A got,
marked a new beginning for the Indian B-schools
who work hard to obtain global benchmarks from
top rated accreditation agencies.
Accreditation is seen globally as not just the
best means to build a B-school brand, but also a
way to rework the priorities and streamline the
operations of B-schools. In India, the IIM-A claims
in its Website that “The EQUIS accreditation has
ensured IIM-A’s place as the first and the only
business school in India to obtain international
accreditation”. But at least two other
B-schools – MDI Gurgaon and Alliance Business
Academy (ABA), Bangalore – have bagged accredi-
tation titles from Associa-
tion of MBAs (popularly
Accreditation benchmark
known as AMBA) in 2005
and International Assem-
NBA
20.92% ISO bly for Collegiate Business
31.07% Education (IACBE) 2007.
NAAC
16.38% Global
“We have been working
Not
benchmarked 14.12% with MDI since 2005 and
17.51% all its postgraduate pro-
grammes are now accred-
ited by us,” explains Mark
Stoddard, accreditation
manager of the UK-based
AMBA. IIM-A joins the list of 112 EQUIS accredited
schools, spread over 33 countries. MDI is in the
company of 152 business schools, located in 69
countries, which are accredited by AMBA. AACSB
(Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of
Business) had pioneered the B-school accredita-
tion process way back in 1916, with ACBSP (Asso-
ciation of Collegiate Business Schools and
Programmes) following suit in 1988. IACBE, an
offshoot of AACSB founded in 1996, is the latest
entrant. EQUIS, managed by EFMD (European
Foundation for Management Development) and
AMBA were founded in the mid-1990s.
Accreditation is not something that excites the
industry in India as yet, though this is a big differ-
entiator internationally. Companies like TCS have
their own ‘accreditation’ system to gauge the
quality of business schools, which they consider
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B-schools Survey
before visiting campuses for recruitment.
“Obtaining all the three accreditations
together is a tough task, which only around 30 B-
schools in the country have done so far,” explains
Bijoy K. Sahoo, assistant vice-chancellor of North
Carolina Central University in Durham, US.
Sahoo was responsible for his school getting three
global accreditations from AACSB, EQUIS and
ACBSP, the last being one of the most aggressive
accreditation agencies in the field. ACBSP was
started two decades ago and has on its list 403
schools that have achieved accreditation. “We
would expect Indian B-schools to start looking at
international accreditation soon,” hopes Douglas
G. Viehland, executive director, ACBSP, who was
on a promotional visit to India.
Accreditation fall-out
With over 1,00,000 Indian students migrating
abroad for studies (those going for MBA constitute
about 22 per cent of this lot), spending close to $6
billion, reversing the flow would have massive
business opportunities for India’s B-school brand.
Benchmarking the Indian B-school quality as the
best in the world through globally accepted
accreditation process would be a small step
towards reversing the flow.
“Accreditation being a self-assessment bench-
mark is also endorsed by an outside agency of
experts, giving it utmost credibility and superiority
over any other form of regulation for quality of a B-
school,” says Robert Owen, executive director,
Accreditation Services, AMBA. Jim Herbolich, pro-
fessor and director, Network Services, department
of European Foundation for Management Develop-
ment, says, “Accreditation gives a long-term view
to the school about its strengths and weaknesses.
The self-assessment process brings all these out.”
It is not that accreditation is new to India as
two government-led accreditation programmes
have been running in the country – National
Board for Accreditation (NBA), run by AICTE, and
the National Accreditation and Assessment Coun-
cil (NAAC), run by the University Grants Commis-
sion (UGC), which looks at courses being offered
by the B-schools. Though the B-schools did not
take to these accreditation assessments initially,
they do so now, as a UGC mandate has made
accreditation certification a pre-condition for the
schools to apply for grants or loans. “Accredita-
tion of this kind is no longer voluntary and beats
its very purpose.
B U S I N E S S I N D I A u October 19, 2008 B-schools Survey

Also, the whole process is as bureaucratic as gaps before the report is prepared for the accredi-
applying to AICTE for its permission to start a new tation assessment team, which will ultimately
course,” comments a top B-school director, who give the accreditation,” he adds.
only weeks ago entertained an NBA team in his Indian accreditation agencies NBA and NAAC
campus. “What is being assessed is our past per- made slow progress till last year (despite help
formance. No attempt is made to mentor or hand- from the state mandate on accreditation), when
hold the school for rectifying the gaps in quality, the total percentage of schools covered by the NBA
as is done in international accreditation assessment process had not crossed even 30 per
processes,” the director points out. cent of the total schools registered with the AICTE.
International accreditation process in contrast However, thanks to a sudden revival of interest in
is more proactive to the needs of the B-school, international accreditation, the total number of
though the exercise is not easy and, of course, car- schools planning to take up accreditation has
ries a fee! “A typical international accreditation gone up significantly, say NBA officials.
effort would cost the B-school a minimum of International accreditation awareness has
$10,000, not to mention nearly $2,000-plus for increased dramatically after a two-day interna-
maintaining the accreditation certification year tional conference at Mumbai in March, organised
after year,” comments Panduranga Rao, vice- by Narsee Monjee University of Mumbai and
chancellor, ICFAI University, who oversaw the attended by the top three accreditation agencies.
college’s AACSB and South Asian
Quality Systems (SAQS) accredi-
tation efforts. SAQS was set up as
a joint venture between Associa-
tion of Management Develop-
ment Institutions of South Asia
(AMDISA), an Indian agency, and
the European Quality Systems.
It took nearly two years for
PSG Institute of Management
(PSGIM) to become the first
school in the country to cross the
first stage of accreditation of
AACSB, when a mentor was
appointed to the school. “This is
only the beginning; there are
many stages before we could get
the accreditation,” acknowledges
N. Nandagopal, director of the B-
school. About 20 business
schools, including the top three,
are in the process of taking up
membership of three or four
international accreditation agen-
cies. “We received the accredita-
tion from IACBE (International
Assembly for Collegiate Business
Education). IACBE and we are going in for the A sequel to this conference will be held in Delhi
AACSB accreditation,” says A. Krishnamurthy, on 10 and 11 November, this time spearheaded by
director, Alliance Business Academy (ABA), Banga- AMBA. “The idea is to bring awareness and hands-
lore. on working knowledge about international
accreditation,” insists Robert Owen. Even AICTE
Slow progress acknowledges the global accreditation bench-
“We have an elaborate system pre-accreditation mark as a pre-condition before allowing Indian B-
assessment, leading to a self-assessment applica- schools to enter into tie-ups with any foreign
tion, which would be scrutinised by an indepen- university or B-school. “I think it is time the gov-
dent committee for appointing a mentor,” ernment tied up with international accreditation
explains AMBA’s Stoddard about its accreditation agencies to bring their quality norms to India,”
process. “The mentor will help the B-school pre- says Pritam Singh, member of the National Board
pare its accreditation assessment report; he will of Accreditation.
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 B U S I N E S S I N D I A u October 19, 2008
Admissions on the ramp
The choice of entrance tests is widening
I t is the globalisation of entrance tests! After
years of dabbling with homespun tests, insti-
tutes are veering towards the GMAT, or the Gradu-
ate Management Aptitude Test, administered by
the Educational Testing Service (ETS), Princeton,
USA. GMAT is mostly mandatory for admissions to
B-Schools in the US and in many other institu-
tions across the world. The question now upper-
most in the minds of B-school administrators in
India is whether the GMAT’s popularity will eat
into the Common Admission Test (CAT), adminis-
tered by the IIMs for their own admissions.
Interestingly, the IIMs
What is your test? already use GMAT for
admissions to their one-
year MBA programme
Others along with their own tests.
CAT
20%
22%
“Interest in CAT is going up
by the year,” comments N.
Krishnakumar, director of
XAT
19% IIM-K, whose turn it was to
MAT administer CAT last year.
32%
GMAT The six IIMs take turns
7% handling the massive work
relating to the test every
year even though the oper-
ational headquarters for the test has always been
at IIM-C. The test, however, does not have a dedi-
cated corporate or institutional representation
unlike the GMAT, which is administered by the
Graduate Management Admissions Council
(GMAC) of the US.
Globally, the GMAT is one of the strongest indi-
cators of a student’s desire to go to business
Campus mismatch
A ttitudes, value systems and human response are
factors that the modern enterprises demand as the
given for the MBAs, industry veterans like Rajeev
Dubey from the Mahendra group, a large B-school
recruiter emphasizes (see his column, page 108). Ironi-
cally these are the only factors that are missing in
Indian B-school education an ongoing study by
Venkat R. Krishnan former XLRI professor and currently
a senior faculty with Great Lakes Institutes Chennai
finds. By polling successive batches of b-school stu-
dents in the past five years, Krishnan finds that “man-
agement education appears to make people more
selfish and less concerned with others, a trait that may
be least acceptable to corporate”.
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B-schools Survey
school. A record number of students took the
GMAT this year, with the test having been admin-
istered almost 2.5 lakh times this year (some stu-
dents take the test more than once). It is the
fourth straight year of growth for the exam, says
the GMAC. Incidentally, some 2.6 lakh students
took the CAT, making it India’s largest manage-
ment entrance test.
IIM-K, which conducted CAT this year, reported
that it was offered in more cities and the number of
institutes seeking CAT results for admissions had
gone up to more than 100. None of the tests being
administered in India are online yet, except the
GMAT, though both XAT and CAT are planning to
go online soon. But unlike the GMAT, these tests
would not be available throughout the year. One
lone attempt has been made, successfully, by a rela-
tive newcomer to the admissions test business, the
Education Promotion Society of India (EPSI) which
conducted its EPSI National Admission Test (ENAT)
with the help of Manipal Education last year. “We
have plans to take ENAT to a new high this year,”
says Manohar Chellani, secretary general, EPSI.
“I am not surprised at the surge in the demand
for B-school admissions because an MBA qualifica-
tion has emerged as a significant differentiator in
building careers,” says Prasoon Parijit, head, gov-
ernment and institutional alliances of Manipal
Education, a multi-locational educational group.
In the current year’s survey, Business India
sought details from business schools as to
which test they adopted as their ‘official’ test for
admissions.
The resulting details made interesting reading
The trend seem to across the MBA system with little
being done about it by the campuses, he feels. Even
Indian institutes (including IIMs) have never tried to
integrate Indian values, thoughts, learning of the
Indian scripture, etc. into the mainstream curriculum
of management education resulting in the Indian
MBAs remaining a copycat of their western counter-
parts, points of A K Sengupta, director of South India
Education Society (SIES). Venkat Krishnan's research is
still on. His solution “The objective of the manage-
ment education should be to take students to a higher
plane by transforming their value systems and lifting
them to their better selves”, Krishnan observes.
According to him the b-schools are doing just the
opposite. A lesson for b-schools.
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B U S I N E S S I N D I A u October 19, 2008 B-schools Survey

and put the CAT, despite its immense popularity, the expenses involved in shuttling from one city
well behind the Management Aptitude Test (MAT) to the other. “What is worse and unethical is the
administered by the All India Management Asso- sale of applications to a large number of students
ciation (AIMA) and just three points above the without any relation to the number of seats with
Xavier Admission Test (XAT) conducted by XLRI the institution,” comments Prof. Balasubrama-
Jamshedpur. XAT had nearly as many students niam, chairman, Balaji Society, which runs four
attempting it as CAT while over 500 B-Schools business schools in Pune. “We sell a maximum of
have adopted it as their entrance test. In compari- ten times the number of applications to the num-
son, CAT has been adopted by 100 B-Schools (the ber of seats,” he adds. Contrast it to the two lakh
total number of B-Schools is 1,700). applications being sold by the IIMs each year
AIMA’s MAT test has been
around since 1988, and it has the
unique distinction of being the
first to be awarded with ISO certi-
fication. GMAT has remained
elitist being accepted or insisted
upon by the Indian School of
Business (ISB), which inciden-
tally, was the first one to for-
mally adopt the test as its
entrance criteria right from the
admission to the first batch of
the college. “Apart from GMAT,
we have a strong interview sys-
tem to choose students,” says P.
Rammohan Rao, Dean of ISB
Hyderabad. Great Lakes Institute
Chennai’s Dean, S Sriram, con-
curs, adding, “Marks are not
everything, attitudes matter,
which can come out only from
active engagement with the
prospective student by a panel of
experts.” Business schools across
the country have been actively
reducing the incidence of tests in
the overall score for admission to
an MBA. “In our case, admission
tests account for less then 40 per
cent of the weightage,” insists M.
L. Raina, director of Lalbahadur
Shastry Institute of Management, New Delhi. while, between them, they hold a little less than Students at
However, not everyone is happy with the con- 2,000 seats. IIM-L will they
tinuing popularity of admission tests. “The only Our responses from the B-school survey be giving GMAT
beneficiaries of this sort of admission process are showed that there had been a 10 to 14 per cent in future
coaching classes, which often brings their own increase in the number of admission applications
angularities. What you might find at the inter- sold this year than last year, attributed to a fresh
view is ‘coached’ behaviour and response in the demand for MBA qualifications. There has been a
student not a real one, which will come out later sharp 20 to 22 per cent increase across our top
and it would be too late by then,” warns Prof. D. twenty super league schools. In contrast, even
Acharya, former chairman, All India Council for top-ranked business schools, like MIT’s Sloan
Technical Education (AICTE). School of Management, were seeing sharp
increases in application volumes. Applications
Applications vs admissions were up 28 per cent in 2008, from about a 10 per
Whatever the merit of the admission tests, it is has cent increase in the previous year. At NYU’s Stern
emerged as a multi-crore business. Students pay School of Business, the school received its second-
for the admission tests, for the coaching classes, highest number of applications on record this
and finally for the multiple applications they year, with a 20 per cent increase.
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 B U S I N E S S I N D I A u October 19, 2008 B-schools Survey

Looking beyond placements

Placement has been phenomenal across the system

I
n her book Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish, Rashmi that summer jobs, apart from teaching the ways of
Bansal, an alumnus of IIM-A, compliments her industry hands on to their candidates, is also sup-
25 alumni colleagues who were ‘foolish’ posed to pave the way for the ‘final placements’. In
enough to spurn lucrative pay packets and plunge reality, however, there was a huge gap in compa-
into the uncertain world of entrepreneurship. nies offering ‘final’ and ‘summer’ jobs. A closer
Every year, the number of such adventure seekers is look at the figures also revealed that there was little
going up. IIM-A had seven in 2007 and now nine, connection between the summer projects offered
who opted out of placements, galvanising the insti- and final job offers. The average stipend also varied
tute to actually announce a ‘placement holiday’ as from school to school, with Edelweiss, for instance,
a sort of olive branch promising that it was willing offering Rs1 lakh for a summer intern from IIM-K
to allow the students to sit in placements after a and HCL and Microsoft offering an average of
two-year gap, if they decide to opt for a regular cor- Rs60,000 to summer interns at SP Jain. But across
porate job. “Students’ option to go on their own is a the system, a bulk of students went without sum-
positive development to say the least, and MBA mer internships and most received less than
education was meant to encourage just such a ten- Rs5,000 stipend or, in a large number of cases, none
dency,” comments B.S. at all.
Sahay of IMT Ghaziabad. Another amusing aspect of the placement was
Placement grid
Is placement losing its that MNCs were not showing too much interest in
Placement survey
sheen? Not exactly, if you summer interns and hardly any showed up at the
2008 2007 go by the large pay campuses. “The reason is not far to seek; recruit-
No. of Indian 49 43 cheques and the scores of ments by MNCs are usually at the top and they need
company visits
companies returning dis- not have to test out many candidates from the
No. of international 9 6 appointed from the top schools in addition their recruitment costs are also
company visits campuses without being fairly substantial, whether it is for summer or
No. of jobs offered 82 78 able to bag the desirable final,” explains N.S. Rajan, partner, human capital,
number of candidates. Ernst & Young.
Average salary (Rs lakh) 9.7 8.5 Statistics show that at least When does the placements jamboree start? For
Average summer 15,000 13,000 one out of every five com- most of the top schools, it is November, while a few
stipend (Rs/month) panies canvassing from start in August and some offer placements through
No. of students opting 4 2 super league schools come the year. With rare exceptions, every school
for entrepreneurship away empty-handed, acknowledged that they had full-time placement
while just a handful could secretariats, an aspect which has become almost
acquire the originally synonymous with the main job of teaching MBA.
planned number. “A sud- The schools also had two to five members of the
den and sharp increase in the number of experi- faculty dedicated to placement work, along with
enced candidates joining the classrooms, and a their teaching assignments.
wider option for starting own businesses, has Not only the faculty and permanent staff, but
skewed the placement prospects for both the stu- even students are responsible for placements.
dents and the companies,” observes Mukul Gupta, Many B-school bosses openly state that placement
professor, MDI Gurgaon. is an effective way of teaching leadership and
The third consecutive placement survey of Busi- responsibility to students. “Placement work
ness India endorsed this fact with 220 companies exposes students to the real world, which even a
returning our detailed questionnaire, reporting a summer internship in a company cannot provide,”
much larger number of companies visiting cam- explains Dimple Saini, director, corporate affairs,
puses and making a much bigger tranche of jobs. Balaji Society, Pune, which runs four B-schools.
On an average, two to four jobs were offered by Pre-placement is another new trend among cor-
every company that visited the campus. The aver- porates, as it saves them a considerable amount of
age salary went up marginally from Rs8.5 lakh to energy and time and also enables them to pick the
Rs9 lakh across the system, with the peak average right candidates at leisure. Among the schools that
salary of around Rs17 lakh across the top three IIMs. responded to our placement survey, as many as 22
Our survey showed that companies were more per cent of the students were pre-placed. The gravy
keen on final placements rather than summer jobs, train still chugs along pretty fine.
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 B U S I N E S S I N D I A u October 19, 2008
Coming closer
Distance learning has emerged on its own in a growing market for MBAs
V
N. Rajasekharan Pillai, vice-chancellor,
Indira Gandhi National Open University
(IGNOU), New Delhi, is a happy man, hav-
ing turned the distance learning behemoth he runs
to be a highly market-focussed, technology-savvy
institution, touching nearly a million students in
the short time he has been at the helm of affairs of
the university. The quarter-century-old open learn-
ing university is also the leader in distance learning
MBA, having more than 10,000 on its roll. “You
can’t imagine the numbers possible in distance
mode, it is mind-boggling,” says Omprakash
Mishra, professor and pro-vice chancellor, IGNOU.
Agrees a spokesman from U21 Global, arguably the
largest and fastest growing virtual university in the
world: “The future of education is not so much at
the class-rooms; it has to move to the virtual mode”.
“Growth of our programmes is in tune with the
times, where more middle-order executives want
to improve their qualifications and more home-
makers want to pick up
degrees to get into lost
Distance education comes of age careers or start one first
Offering E-learning time,” explains Srilatha,
distance programmes
MBA 15.25% professor, School of Man-
15.82% agement studies, IGNOU.
“Our strength is tech-
nology,” says Mishra. Tech-
nological progress is such
Not offering that IGNOU is launching
68.93%
even B Tech programmes
on distance mode. In a tie-
up with Pune-based Aero-
nautical Engineering
Research Organisation (AERO), IGNOU plans to offer
B Tech in Aeronautical Engineering from next year.
“We are excited about the project and are putting all
our efforts to bring it fruition,” says Anshul Sharma,
chairman, AERO. Sharma has also launched ASMA
College of Management, a regular MBA college, in
Pune from the current academic year.
The distance learning MBA market is getting
highly crowded at present, though quality is a big
question mark. Despite having a regulator for
quality in distance education, namely Distance
Education Council (DEC, which Pillai himself
heads as chairman), the quality continues to poor
in distance mode. DEC is mandated with the
responsibility of enduring quality in distance edu-
cation, but it has not made a dent so far on the
ensuring quality of distance MBAs. “We are trying
our best to rectify the situation by making it
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B-schools Survey
mandatory for all the distance learning institu-
tions to be registered with the DEC for doing
business,” says Pillai.
It is a common practice among the business
schools to admit regular students and make them
sit for distance education degree, to avoid capacity
restrictions imposed by All India Council for Tech-
nical Education (AICTE). “Such practices are ram-
pant and we want to put a stop to it,” Pillai says.
The practice of some of the distance education
providers in opening number of centres around
the country, without any infrastructure or faculty
support was stopped two years ago by the Supreme
Court, which forbade any school from operating
outside the area defined as its jurisdiction by the
University Grants Commission (UGC) at the time
of granting the institution university status.
“We are working to give a completely new pro-
file to distance education MBA to bring it on a par
with the regular classroom MBA,” says Pillai. But
the B-school community is not impressed. “Take
the instance of the DEC approval for distance edu-
cation courses. It has only made things more com-
plicated,” says the director of a Pune-based
distance education provider. “I can’t see any logic
behind the B-schools being asked to take individ-
ual permission from UGC and AICTE, after a com-
mittee comprising DEC, UGC and AICTE have
visited the B-school for granting their approval,”
says a director from the eastern region.
DEC also came out with advertisements asking
all the schools running distance programmes to
apply for approval. “The DEC directive is arbitrary,
as we have been in the business of distance educa-
tion for over two decades and have our own qual-
ity norms recognised by the government,” says a
senior professor of a distance education university
from the south. Pillai’s defence is that “DEC’s
approval has been mandated to stop unprofes-
sional practices and no school would be
penalised, if it follows quality norms and has a
track record of running the courses well”.
Despite controversies, distance learning is a
flourishing industry. Even IIMs which are slow to
go with the trends have taken to distance educa-
tion with gusto, tying up with Hughes or with the
NIIT Imperia Centre for Advanced Learning, to
offer short certification programmes and diplo-
mas. Distance learning may have moved to the
fast track, but a lot more ground is yet to be
covered.
u A. THOTHATHRI RAMAN
 B U S I N E S S I N D I A u October 19, 2008
The next big thing
B-schools are finding a gold mine in executive MBAs
N
armada college from Baruch in Gujarat,
Taxila Institute of Jaipur, Sambaram Col-
lege in Bangalore, International Institute
of Special Education, Lucknow, Institute of Man-
agement education and Institute of Technology
and Science from Ghaziabad, Amrapali Institute of
Haldwani, Uttarakhand, Velammal College,
Chennai, SGRRITS Dehradhun and PESIM PES of
Bangalore are some of the unlikely names that
share something in common with MDI, XLRI and
the IIMs. These are colleges that have discovered
merit in executive education, much the same way
the B-school heavyweights have done in recent
years. “Executive education is the next big thing in
B-schools,” declares A.K. Kapoor, chairman, exec-
utive education, MDI, Gurgaon.
The one year post-graduate programme for
executives (PGPX) of Indian Institutes of Manage-
ment is in its third year and it has already become
popular with its admission criteria, one of the
toughest in the world. One would need a mini-
mum of 10 years of work experience and 750 GMAT
scores to get into the course, which also would cost
Rs15-20 lakh, depending on the IIM of one’s
choice. For the executives who would already be
earning not less than Rs12-15 lakh per year, such
long years of experience,
the opportunity cost can
Executive MBA* be massive and the pay-
2007-08 2006-07 back has to match. IIM-C
reported that six of its
No. of B-schools 32 17
offering MBA* PGPX executives last year
were offered an average
Corporate teachers 17 9 $121,000 abroad, while
Average batch strength 65 54 the Indian average salary
was around Rs20 lakh.
Average fee (Rs lakh) 4.5 4
Along with the PGPX,
another one-year pro-
*Normalised in relation to 2006-0 7 results for comparison
gramme on public policy
is also getting popular at
the IIMs, the MDI and XLRI, which attracts execu-
tives from the public sector and the government
institutions. “I am finding the programme highly
rewarding. There is so much we could learn in a
short time and I am looking forward to visiting
campuses abroad as part of the course offering,”
says Vinayalatha Sagar, a senior executive from
Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, undergoing the
public policy PG programme at MDI, Gurgaon.
Executive MBA comes in different flavours.
Apart from the popular one-year model of the
IIMs, there exist variations like the three-year,
part-time course (as in XLRI, Jamshedpur) the
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B-schools Survey
two-year part-time model (like that of Great
Lakes, Chennai), as well as the two-year classroom
pattern (at Symbiosis Centre for Information
Technology). The most popular route for execu-
tive MBA is through the distance education mode,
adopted by top institutes like Symbiosis and IMT,
Ghaziabad.
Many B-schools around the country are dis-
covering the merits of executive MBA due to a sud-
den increase in demand from working executives.
“We started executive education, owing to a
tremendous pressure from executives working in
over 500 small and medium firms around our
campus,” says D.P. Goyal, director, IME, Ghazi-
abad, who has a 120-strong batch doing executive
education. “The demand for executive education
has been phenomenal and we had to increase our
seats from 120 to 240; but our applications are at
least six times the number of seats,” informs
Kapoor of MDI.
Executive education has caught the fancy of B-
schools in mini-metros like Lucknow, Coimbat-
ore, Tiruchirapalli, Dhanbad, Dehradun too.
“Executive education is more challenging and
rewarding, as students come from diverse back-
ground and different industries,” explains
Kalyani Rangarajan of PESIM PES, Bangalore.
While most institutes prefer the three-year,
part-time model, one-year executive education
and two-year regular classroom model are also
catching up fast. “Executive education as offered
by Indian B-schools is different from the model
most of the Western schools have adopted,” says
R. Nandagopal, director, PSG Institute of Manage-
ment, Coimbatore, who has an evening-time,
three-year executive programme going in his
institute.
The popularity of executive MBA among the
students is not surprising, as it helps them look for
a quick change in profession or even a fighting
chance for a fast-track growth within the same
organisation. Lekshmi Mahadevan, an executive
with an ITC group company, finds the distance
education MBA from IMT tailor-made.
For B-schools, executive MBA is a sure-fire route
for expanding their seats without the All India
Council for Technical Education (AICTE) breath-
ing down their neck, restricting seat expansion.
For some like IIM, Lucknow, it also meant a chance
to move closer to Delhi; it now has a campus at
Noida, where it offers a one-year international
programme in management for executives.
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 B U S I N E S S I N D I A ◆ October 19, 2008 B-schools Survey

‘A sea change in quality’

One of the top 50 influential figures in the US, Bala V.
Balachandran, JL Kellogg distinguished professor of accounting
information and management, maintains his zeal in inspiring and
building top-of-the-quality management institutions in India. Apart
from his plans to make the Great Lakes Institute, Chennai (which he
founded four years ago), one of the top five management institutes
in the country, he has launched two cutting edge programmes in
the area of agriculture and energy at the University of Houston and
which may be brought to India soon. In an interview with
A. Thothathri Raman of Business India, ‘Uncle Bala’, as he is known
to his students at the Great Lakes, talks about management in India
and his plans for the Great Lakes Institute.

Great Lakes As someone associated closely with management
movement in India, how do you find its future?
has been
I had personally interviewed and appointed the
experimenting first director of IIM Bangalore and also played a
with many key role in founding the Indian School of Business
firsts in India, at Hyderabad. My own school, Great Lakes, is now
including an set to enter its own platinum rated green campus.
initiative to I feel strongly that Indian B-schools will see a sea
change in their quality and offerings, provided
identify
they do something about the faculty availability
successful and quality. Lots of innovation is needed in new
women in course introduction and schools should also be
management ready to throw out redundant courses. The busi-
nesses of today require dynamic response from
campuses. Our one-year model, with its rigorous
academics and exposure to the best people in
management thought globally, has inspired
everyone. I understand the country well and have
participated in her progress from time to time.
Whenever the opportunity arose, I have never
failed to advise governments, including the cur-
rent one led by Manmohan Singh.
What do you think are immediate problems
facing India and how can the campuses help?
Like everyone else, India has serious problems
with its energy supplies, with the Gulf countries
holding everyone to ransom. Oil prices went up
from about $35 to a massive $135, a situation no
economy can cope up with. The well-known oil
industry expert T. Boone Pickens rightly said
that we are exporting cash to Saudi Arabia. But
India cannot be cowed down by such arm-twist-
ing and it has to find its alternative fuel supplies
and create a strategy to conserve energy
resources, which require leadership. In much the
same way, food sufficiency may have been
achieved but the future does not look bright in
agriculture and we should not be caught in a
trap. Once again, there is a need for leadership
here.
What are your specific plans to provide such
leadership?
I have started working with the University of
Houston after a break from my position with Kel-
logg for four months, to start two executive MBA
programmes in the area of energy and agriculture.
Both these programmes would be completely
research-based and would be developed with the
best of experts in the field. And as such, these
would produce the kind of leaders who would be
needed to steer the industries in the future. For
instance, I am planning to rope in people like M.S.
Swaminathan for the course in agriculture.
Will these courses be brought to India?
Why not? Once they are introduced and found
successful, these would be certainly brought to
India and Great Lakes already has plans to expand
its admissions and introduce new courses. These
revolutionary courses would also be introduced in
the foreseeable future in India. After all, the entire
effort is made keeping countries like India in
mind.
What are your plans for Great Lakes?
My immediate priority is to complete the campus
coming up on the outskirts of Chennai. The cam-
pus is a platinum rated green campus and, as such,
it would be the largest and the best in business. I
have committed all the resources needed for the
project and we would settle only for the very best.
Otherwise, Great Lakes has been experimenting
with many firsts in India, including the initiative
to identify successful women in management
(SWIM), an entrepreneur development forum. A
human resource conclave also was conceived as
our strong industry-institution interface, which
allows students to get a bird’s eye view of how the
corporate machinery operates in identifying, cap-
turing, compensating and retaining the best tal-
ent in the global market place. ◆

◆ 92 ◆
◆
 B U S I N E S S I N D I A u October 19, 2008 B-schools Survey

Teaching the Raj

TASMAC London unfolds a new chapter in Indian B-schools’ forays abroad

T
ight regulation at home, coupled with tan- students not just from Europe but from the rest of
talising student admissions abroad has the world, particularly India,” says Marshall Hall,
been driving Indian schools to seek their professor and head of the school. TASMAC joins
fortune overseas. Setting up a campus in the UK, the growing list of B-schools setting up campuses
an Indian B-school has broken new ground and overseas.
tops the list of foreign nations having educational The global forays had begun long ago, with
interest in India. A relatively low-profile, XLRI, SP Jain, Bhartiya Vidyapeeth, BITS Pilani,
Pune-based Training and Advanced Studies in IMT and Ghaziabad, among others, having set
shop overseas. But their cam-
puses are in the Gulf region,
mainly Dubai or, in the case
of SP Jain, in Singapore. Even
IIM Bangalore made an
aborted attempt to open its
branch in Singapore. TASMAC
is the first B-school to be set
up as an incorporated com-
pany from India in the UK.
Even in India, the institute
belongs to a rare breed of
‘for profit’ corporate B-
schools, which has caused the
government regulator AICTE
to slap a closure notice, which
it is fighting in the courts.
“Perhaps this is another rea-
son most Indian schools con-
sider going overseas,” says
D.N. Rao, former XIMB pro-
fessor and now a partner in an
engineering college and B-
school venture, with two
campuses in Orissa. Rao has
plans to open a similar corpo-
Dua and Management & Communications Limited (TAS- rate campus in Australia, another major educa-
Marshall Hall of MAC) achieved this feat this year, based on its tion partner, and also a totally new market option
TASMAC, nearly a decade-long association with leading for Indian B-schools strangled by the regulatory
London British universities. “We looked at an opportunity system.
in the Western world to grow as we are already “Going abroad is not easy,” informs Mukthi
familiar with the market for Indian students to Mishra, a colleague of Rao and the brain behind
study abroad,” explains Giri Dua, chairman, TAS- the venture. Though it was relatively easier to set
MAC, at his London campus. TASMAC with its five up corporate venture for education in the UK,
campuses spread across Australia and even in the US, the Indian schools
India, has also built find it hard to comply with the accreditation and
Destination UK a strong reputation for other rigorous academic standards.
Nos.
EU students Non-EU students marketing overseas “We had to go through a tough process to gain
courses to Indian stu- accreditation from the Dubai government, which
Post graduate 8,670 20,835
research
dents. is mandatory for setting up an independent cam-
“The UK has become pus of the school, explains B.S. Sahay, director,
Post graduate 17,360 63,670 almost an educational IMT, Ghaziabad, who has a four-year-old campus
courses capital of the world at Dubai. M.L. Shrikant, dean emeritus, SP Jain,
with massive inflow of which has a campus each in Dubai and Singapore,

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B U S I N E S S I N D I A u October 19, 2008 B-schools Survey

PSG, Who? five year accreditation process (see article on accredita-

A relatively obscure B-school from South India has

become the first B-school campus to cross first
stage two of the best global accreditation certification
processes including the coveted AACSB Association to
Advance Collegiate Schools of Business accreditation
process, considered as gold standard in global B-
school benchmarking. PSG Institute of Management
Coimbatore surpassed the much bigger and more well
known B-schools like Indian School of Business (ISB)
and ICFAI School of Business (IBS) both based at
Hyderabad who are also in the race for AACSB accredi-
tation and got a mentor appointed to oversee the
AACSB induction process. “We have also received the
mentor appointment for the Association of Collegiate
Business Schools ACBSP accreditation”, Dr N.
Nandagopal says proudly. Appointment of mentor
marked the crossing of the first stage of the rigorous
tion on page 110).
PSG's mentor, Dr Bijoy Sahoo, assistant vice chan-
cellor of North Carolina Central University, US, is satis-
fied that PSG has its processes in place. “PSG working
can be easily benchmarked with the global standards,
except that the school should scale up on the faculty
number and quality, infrastructure, new course intro-
ductions etc” Bijoy K. Sahoo, the mentor says. “our
biggest advantage is the legacy of the school being
part of the nearly eight decade old charity PSG which
runs a host of higher education institutions including
an arts college, engineering college and medical col-
lege”, explains C. R. Swaminathan, chief executive offi-
cer of PSG group. It is a sweet irony that the relatively
obscure B-school from south has emerged as the best
benchmark for a global business school in India.
u ATR

agrees with Sahay about the ‘tough quality Dua. “There would be tremendous saving on fees
norms’, which Indian schools need to adhere. But and also in living costs for the students, even
TASMAC’s breakthrough in the UK market has while they take an international degree.” Com-
changed everything. “In the Gulf and Singapore pleting education in the London campus would
markets, you also need to have a local partner. also offer a two-year job window for Indian stu-
There is no such restriction in the UK. Ours is a dents (permitted by the government), which oth-
100 per cent owned entity promoted by the erwise is not available to any immigrant student
Indian parent company,” Giri Dua says. studying in the UK campuses.
“Only the incorporation and ownership is rela- The school does not feel
tively less cumbersome, but the laws governing it would be difficult to get Students going global
the quality of the courses, its delivery and follow enough students for the
up are tough in these markets,” describes Sameer UK campus, as it is familiar 2006-07 2007-08 (No.)
Dua, who personally handled the entire process with the market by send-
Foreign 673
in the UK. For instance, the school needed to be ing Indian students to students
accredited even before it could begin admissions, study abroad through its on campus 786
a process which took nearly six months for the subsidiary company TAS-
Indian school. Now, the London campus is also MAC Abroad. The school Students on 699
globally accredited by British Accreditation had sent abroad close to international
exchange 810
Council (BAC). 1,700 students last year
Besides, its partner University of Wales had its and now intends to send
own set of standards, which were strictly applied 2,000, some of whom cer- Students sent 780
abroad
to the London campus before granting affiliation tainly would be choosing 912
to the school. “This is despite the nearly seven the London campus.
years of association the university had with our The cost of the project
Indian campuses in partnering to award its degree was close to Rs10 crore and it has been primarily
to Indian students,” says Dua. Both the university funded by Bank of India. Does the college hope to
and the BAC would continuously monitor the open another campus in London or elsewhere in
quality of curriculum, delivery, faculty quality the UK? “Not at the moment”, says Dua. “We
and students. want the London campus to succeed, which
Twice a year, the school will offer admission to would give us the impetus to take the experiment
its three-year graduate programme and a one-year forward,” he says.
MBA programme of University of Wales, with a His competitor at Pune, Balasubramaniam,
total intake of around 450 students, keeping in professor and secretary, Balaji Society, which runs
view the class room space and hostel tie-ups it has four B-schools, puts it succinctly. “I see TASMAC’s
committed to in London. “We will offer total flex- London breakthrough as a new opportunity for
ibility to Indian students to pursue their courses Indian B-schools to grow as home market is
seamlessly in India or in London, as the curricu- highly restricted.”
lum and pedagogy is fully streamlined,” explains u A. THOTHATHRI RAMAN

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 B U S I N E S S I N D I A ◆ October 19, 2008
Winsome twosome
A twinning programme not only awards two degrees, it does so at a fraction of the original fee
I
n this era of globalisation, it is important to step
out of your comfort zone, see the world for
yourself and learn how things work in a differ-
ent part of the globe. A business school degree
without such exposure may not prepare you for the
real world. The ‘twinning programmes’ attempts to
precisely achieve this and as such is now famous
with some top B-school campuses.
Schools like Mumbai Educational Trust (MET),
Manipal University, Institute for Technology and
Management (ITM), Welingkar Institute of Man-
agement, K.J. Somaiya College, Christ College, KC
College and many more are successfully experi-
menting with twinning degrees. At the end of such
a course, the students get an Indian degree and an
international degree.
Learning to win “It’s all about globalisation,” says Anil Rao
Paila, professor and dean, Welingkar. “Twinning
helps the student culturally, which is important.
Even universities abroad are encouraging students
to visit India and China as these are the emerging
markets.”
Adds his colleague, Uday Salunkhe, group direc-
tor, Welingkar: “Such programmes are a win-win
situation for both sides – the students as well as the
institutions.” Welingkar is relooking at twinning
programmes, having learnt from their past collabo-
rations. “Fresh affiliations are being sought and we
will re-launch next year,” says Paila.
The International Centre for Applied Sciences
(ICAS), part of the Manipal group, has entered into
agreements with many universities in the US, UK,
Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Germany. The
students complete two years in India and a third
year at a foreign university. As an added benefit,
◆ 86 ◆
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B-schools Survey
the institute also offers students flexibility in
choosing or changing the branch or major area of
specialisation after entering the programme at a US
university.
ICAS has successful tie-ups with eight universi-
ties in the US – Andrews University, Illinois Insti-
tute of Technology, Michigan Technological
University, Milwaukee School of Engineering, Russ
College of Engineering and Technology, St Cloud
State University, The University of Missouri-
Kansas, and North Dakota State University.
Apart from the above mentioned advantages,
there are also some added benefits in attending a
twinning programme – the students only pay for a
semester or a year abroad, instead of three or four
years, which leads to substantial cost savings. They
also get a wider range of subjects to choose from,
while abroad.
Christ College, one of India’s leading institu-
tions for mass media studies, also offers
some twinning programmes in partnership with
Western Michigan University, USA; University of
Wales, Swansea, UK; Griffith University,
Australia; Assumption University, Thailand; and
Pondicherry University, India.
ITM offers a programme called International
Business Course in association with EDHEC of
France and EFFCA based in Budapest, Hungary.
“We launched this programme in 2002 with 19 stu-
dents and it is popular today. This year, more than
60 students registered for the course. They spend
their last semester abroad – two weeks in Nice,
two weeks in Lille and six weeks in Budapest,”
says Genevieve Tandon, senior manager
(academics), ITM.
B.V.R. Murty, professor and deputy director,
ITM Global Leadership Centre, adds: “We were one
of the pioneers in the country in twinning pro-
grammes. We felt the students needed some inter-
national exposure; so, we scouted for universities
abroad for a tie-up. France and Hungary were cho-
sen because there were fewer restrictions while col-
laborating with them than with the US and the UK.
ITM also offers a pre-course in both the foreign
languages to the students, so that they don’t have a
problem whilst their stay abroad. “We are also
planning to launch another joint MBA programme
next year, wherein students will spend their first
year in Europe and the last year in India.”
This has just begun. With more and more uni-
versities following suit, the future looks interna-
tional for aspiring MBA students.
◆ S ALO NI JH UN JH U N WA LA
B U S I N E S S I N D I A u October 19, 2008 B-schools Survey

Business@speed
Fully finished, ready-to-use MBAs is what the industry recommends as the given for a B-school

G
lobalisation has made the business envi- universities are too large, for ensuring academic
ronment more challenging and exciting. standards and providing good governance. We
Innovation and creativity have become need to create more appropriately stated and more
the rules of the game. Business houses are going nimble universities.
through cut-throat competition that has necessi- This is not a paradoxical phenomenon; rather
tated creating a competent and innovative work it has established the fact that there is a need for
force to redefine the business@speed to excel in capacity expansion in terms of institutions, uni-
the market in order to enhance versities and thereby the number
the market share. The demand of of seats. Of course, the govern-
industries, in terms of compe- ment has declared a few additions
tency, has undergone a sea- in the number of IITs, IIMs, and
change. Industries are looking for central universities, but the num-
complete finished products with ber is negligible in comparison to
the capability of delivering from the current requirement. Hence,
the first day of joining. Hence ori- the rational solution is to encour-
entation and induction has to be age, support and facilitate private
packaged with technical educa- players. Here, the role of regula-
tion to avoid wasting the time, tory authorities like the Univer-
money and energy of the recruit- sity Grants Commission (UGC)
ing companies. and AICTE come into the picture.
In spite of high uncertainties The regulatory authorities also
and volatility in the business envi- Biswajeet Pattanayak need to change their way of func-
ronment, the growth is increas- tioning, policies and perception to
Director, Asian School of Business
ing. To keep up with the pace of Management , Bhubaneswar
ensure the expansion as well as
growth, there is a visible initiative quality upgradation. Moreover,
in the partnership of both the the regulatory authority should
industry and academia. Interestingly, in last two change their role from regulation to facilitation.
years many industries, especially the service sec- This necessitates the change of attitude that all pri-
tor, have come forward and established links with vate institutions are bad. Secondly, the changing
academic institutions for content and quality demand of the market and industry should be
upgradation. taken into consideration in allowing for new pro-
Statistics show that the number of technical grammes and innovations. The regulatory author-
institutions has grown manifold and this has ity should have a list of programmes with approved
attracted many criticisms. There are prominent nomenclature the way UGC has.
academicians who have reservations in the The existing policies and practices of AICTE
increase in numbers; they feel that the mushroom- merely create a large number of business schools
ing of institutions is the root cause of poor quality with low capacity and little quality. Ironically
delivery. In any case, this is a lopsided view that is those institutions willing to invest in quality are
far from reality. The fact remains that there is a not given sufficient capacity to make it economi-
growing demand of technical and management cally viable to run the institutions. Also the condi-
professionals in the country to meet the huge tion of allowing only institutions with over five
demand and supply gap. years of existence to go for accreditation bench-
marks would straightaway filter out new institu-
Capacity with quality tions keen to showcase their quality through the
On 29th November 2007, the National Knowledge accreditation process, something that is easily
Commission on its note on Higher Education rec- available for new institutions in the developed
ommended to the Union government the creation markets like the UK and the US.
of 1,500 private universities nationwide by 2015. In any case, higher education in India is at a
India has about 350 universities. This number is crossroads. Initiatives from every corner including
simply not enough, with reference to our needs in the stakeholders are very much required to give a
higher education, or in comparison with China, shape for the steady growth and development of
which has authorised the creation of 1,250 new higher education and specifically the technical
universities in the last three years. Yet some of our education including B-schools. u

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B U S I N E S S I N D I A ◆ October 19, 2008 B-schools Survey

Benchmarking quality
Quality is the best differentiator for any B-school and it should be endorsed by appropriate
benchmarks acceptable to the industry

I
ndia is the largest higher education system in ment in salaries, element of internationalisation,
the world with 17,973 institutions (348 uni- all indicative of a growing sector. However, while
versities and 17,625 colleges). There are about most of the schools have put up good physical
1,700 or more management institutions approved and academic infrastructure, the majority lag
by AICTE, besides IIMs. Spurred by the economic behind in outcomes, such as skill sets imparted to
boom, demand for MBAs from corporate India is students, research outputs, collaborative studies,
on an overdrive as never before. training or consultancy. The
Almost every company is expand- weakest areas have been poor fac-
ing and creating jobs in new loca- ulty performance and lack of
tions. Financial services, retail, research orientation. Even the
telecom, IT and ITES are some of best of business schools do not
the industries that are scrambling measure up to a score of 70 per
to recruit young managers. cent or more in ranking scores in
Over the next 10 to 15 years, factors such as intellectual capi-
the country will need about three tal, research, campus industry
lakh managers a year as compared interface.
to the current generation of one A framework highlighting fac-
lakh managers. In spite of the tors for quality benchmarking in
1,700-odd B-schools, the fore- an international context is the

B.S. Sahay
casts suggest that there is a capac- need of the hour. Benchmarking,
ity crisis in our business schools. a quality improvement strategy,
The trend of the students going is a discovery process which seeks
Director, Institute of Management
abroad for studies also reveals the Technology, Ghaziabad
to identify particular practices or
demand-supply gap in the sector. organisations which are best-in-
The US, being the world’s number class in their performance area and
one educational destination, attracts about half a ascertain what they are doing to achieve this
million students every year. While this clearly exemplary status. This allows institutions to
brings out the need for increasing the supply side assess their current levels as against the desired
of management education in India, the biggest level of quality standards.
area of concern is attaining quality standards. Few business schools in the west, like the Yale
According to McKinsey (2005), only 25 per School of Management, have responded to the
cent of Indian engineers, 15 per cent of its finance changes of the times and have the curriculum
and accounting professionals and 10 per cent of designed to meet management challenges of the
Indian professionals with general degrees are suit- contemporary world. Instead of teaching man-
able to work for multinational companies. In spite agement topics in separate, single subject courses
of the large pool of middle mangers available at like finance or marketing, these are taught in an
home, some Indian firms are beginning to recruit integrated way, providing frameworks and con-
them from abroad. The National HRD network cepts in a richer and more relevant context. By
estimated the demand for a certain quality of creating an integrated curriculum, it actively
MBAs for the year 2007 as more than twice as draws connections between traditional MBA s u b-
much last year in 2006, i.e. 70,000. Contrarily, jects. Yale’s innovative approach not only makes
according to a recent report, till March 2007, the it contemporary but also inspires more creative
National Assessment & Accreditation Council problem solving.
(NAAC) could accredit only 3,942 colleges and 140 Moreover, long term competitivenes s is likely
universities in the country. This implied that to depend on the capacity to establish and main-
nearly 75 per cent of colleges and 56 per cent of tain strategic alliances with overseas institutions.
universities have never been assessed for quality IMT, (Institute of Management Technology) while
standards. establishing nearly two dozen international
Various studies on management education in MoUs emphasises on maintaining these alliances
India show up emerging trends like more appli- active in all four areas, i.e. student exchange, fac-
cants, better placement records, improvements in ulty exchange, research collaborations and con-
technology and infrastructure, upward move- ducting international conferences. ◆

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B U S I N E S S I N D I A ◆ October 19, 2008 B-schools Survey

The magnificent seven

Leadership building in a B-school is more about minds and behaviour than about skills and practice

A
llow me to first frame my wish-list for what shift, which practitioners and educational institu-
corporates want from their employees, tions have to work on together, if society is to sur-
especially those in leadership positions. vive in the Brave New World:
These are largely behaviour traits or mindsets, • where win-lose must necessarily, even from the
which clearly cannot be the responsibility of busi- most hard-nosed and selfish point of view, yield
ness schools alone. It is my firm belief that these place to win-win;
are not ‘nice to do’ things, but imperatives of sur- • where the ability to listen, trust and respect are
vival for business and society. not pooh-poohed as ‘soft’ skills
Clearly, certain analytic skills meant for the weak and ineffec-
and basic familiarity with the tive, but become the cornerstone
nomenclature of functional ‘lan- of the foundation that strong
guages’ like accounts, finance, leaders need;
marketing, HR et al are necessary, • where a higher-order purpose,
and I will take them for granted. which drives people to outperform
My focus is on the following seven and reach for the stars, is not the
mind-sets and behaviour traits: realm of esoteric armchair philo-
• There should be deep commit- sophers, but the blood and gut of
ment to the triple bottom line: highly successful business people
profit, people and planet. and organisations; where truth,
It is easier to accept this idea at compassion and a spirit of service

Rajeev Dubey
the global level; the real problem is (satya, prem and seva) are not
in embracing and implementing it things to be ashamed of in the
at the local here-and-now level in world of success and achievement,
the hurly-burly of daily life. President (HR, after-market & but are in fact critical success fac-
corporate services), Mahindra
• The stress should be on ‘we’ tors.
& Mahindra Group
rather than ‘I’. • Multi-disciplinary and a holis-
This is a no-brainer both ways, tic approach from the tyranny of
depending on the context in which the question ‘either or’ to the power of ‘and’.
is posed! Biologically, the instinct for survival Creating synergy out of seemingly conflicting
makes the ‘I’ supreme and, yet, whenever there forces and objectives and the ability to create win-
are two or more people involved, the ‘we’ comes win situations have been the hallmark of the most
into play. Organisations would ideally like to successful change initiatives I have seen. This is a
align the ‘I’ and the ‘we’ - and attempt to do so paradigm shift, which will become increasingly
through devices like the performance manage- important as we move from competition to co-
ment system, the reward and recognition process, operation, to a world where sustainability
etc. But if the mental paradigms and role-models becomes a major challenge, and where we face
emphasise the ‘I’, the concept of the wunderkind threats to things we have taken for granted and
seduces us. Business Schools and the corporate ravaged over the course of civilisation: air, earth,
world need to work together on a long-term basis water and climate.
to address this fundamental schism. The following three points ensue from the four
• Ethics and values are a must. elaborated above.
For too long have too many in positions of • Changing the game: innovation
power believed that commercial/business success • ‘Glocal’ mind-set
is inherently in conflict with ethics/values. And • Execution: the shop floor/marketplace versus
yet we lament the absence thereof and long for a the air-conditioned suite.
world where ‘success’ would not necessarily There is enough talk and literature on each of
mean having to sacrifice basic human decency, them. The problem is, as the poet says,
based on trust and respect. The good news is the Twixt the act
emerging groundswell of belief that, in fact, And the intention
sustained business success sans ethics/values is Falls the shadow.
not possible, even if we forget the desirability How do we move from shadow to light? Is this
aspect of it. poetry or a hard-nosed business reality? And who
Here too is a fundamental mental paradigm will have the courage to stand up and be counted?◆

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 B U S I N E S S I N D I A u October 19, 2008 B-Schools Survey

Global vision
A global university could stop the migration of students abroad

I
nternational educational mobility has been achievements; conscientiousness and interper-
seen contemporarily as vital for the process of sonal skills; focus on human capital management;
modelling and generation of national eco- application-based knowledge; depth of knowledge;
nomic competitiveness and advantage. Analyses cultural fit; and technical skills,determine the
indicate that the US attracted nearly 5.3 lakh for- employers’ choice. Corporates also take into con-
eign students in 2006-07 and earned about $14 bil- sideration the reputation of the business school.
lion from the education and training of foreign
nationals. Of these, nearly 84,000 New perspectives
(14 per cent) were Indian students. Two perspectives can be consid-
According to a survey con- ered to examine the process of
ducted by the Graduate Manage- establishing universities of inter-
ment Admission Council (GMAC: national repute. The first dimen-
owner of GMAT (graduate manage- sion, of an external nature,
ment admission test), nearly three concerns the role of government
quarters (73 per cent) of Asians and the national educational regu-
who appeared for GMATs enrolled latory bodies. The second dimen-
in a programme outside their sion is internal and has to do with
country, which may account for individual universities. Unlike in
their greater likelihood of consid- the past, there is a pressing need
ering a full-time programme. for an increasing role of the gov-
Students cite skill development ernment through a favourable pol-
as a primary motivator to pursue N. M. Kondap icy environment and direct public
an advanced degree in manage- initiative.
The author is vice-chancellor,
ment. The skill components are: SVKM’s NMIMS University, Mumbai The foremost determinant of a
soft skills, technical skills, reason- global university is the concentra-
ing skills and technology skills. Soft tion of talent – the presence of a
skills, the most significant of them, include inter- mass of outstanding students and excellent faculty,
personal skills, oral communication, leadership as it would be able to attract the best students and
and networking, to name a few. the most qualified faculty and researchers.
A survey conducted by the GMAC on ‘skills Abundance of resources is the second dimen-
improvement’ to identify the mix of skills desired sion of benefit of a global university, as it would
by students indicated that: strategic thinking (81 have a number of sources to attract funds from.
per cent of the respondents indicated is as a priority These abundant resources create a virtuous circle
in skill development); leadership skills; analytical that allows the university to attract even better fac-
thinking; developing a plan; managing one’s ulty and researchers at various stages.
career; analysing, organising and interpreting data; The third dimension concerns the regulatory
networking skills; and developing creative prob- framework, the competitive environment and the
lem-solving skills, are the essential ingredients. degree of academic and managerial autonomy that
A survey conducted by the GMAC on ‘candidate universities enjoy. As a result, they manage their
selection and hiring criteria’ has revealed that resources with agility and are able to respond to the
major factors, such as: candidates’ leadership demands of a changing global market.
potential; prior work experience; academic Creating a culture of excellence and achieving
high quality outputs at a university happens over a
Desired Improvement in Skill Mix period of time. Furthermore, the creation of a
global university system is a long-term vision and
Soft
Skills Networking
should be closely articulated with the country’s
overall economic and social development strategy;
Technology Technical Leadership Soft Skills Interpersonal ongoing changes and planned reforms at various
Skills Skills Skills levels of the education system; and plans for the
Oral development of other types of educational institu-
Communication tions, in order to build an integrated system of
Reasoning
Skills teaching, research, and technology-oriented insti-
tutions. u

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B U S I N E S S I N D I A ◆ October 19, 2008 B-schools Survey

Ambition of future managers

The depression, caused by the energy crisis, is driving students to the MBA campuses for better
careers, in the bargain, changing the face of the B-school market

W
hilst familiar with the more common Welcoming the group and setting out the MBA
collective nouns to describe a group - programme that lies ahead, professor David Ven-
Prides of Lions, Colonies of Penguins – ter adds his own unique experience to the class-
the English language runs riot for other beasts, room mix. A psychologist by training, Venter
birds, people or things. A Shrewdness of Apes and headed the South African Communication Ser-
a Murder of Crows leave little doubt about the vice, ultimately working side by side with Nelson
characteristics of the group being Mandela to achieve a negotiated
described. So, how best can we and peaceful end to the apartheid
characterise a group of MBA s t u- era. He has worked with multina-
dents, newly arrived this week at tionals and trade unions, police
business school? services and governments and his
From Manhattan to Manches- insights into human behaviour,
ter, campuses are springing to life leadership, communication and
after the summer, and schools get negotiation are the stuff of busi-
confirmations of their applicant ness education dreams.
yield as admitted applicants Much anticipated at any
transform into students. school is the input from the head
As an article in Business Week of career services. What does the
explained recently, the orienta- MBA job market look like, and

Matt Symonds
tion process at many MBA p r o- have we all invested in our profes-
grammes has become an sional futures just as the markets
education in itself. Crash courses are heading south? Mary Roll
in accounting and second lan- The author is the co-founder of MBA paints a positive picture for the
World Tour, a consortium of top
guages vie with career orientation global business schools
general management MBA in
and team-building, whilst social Europe. Companies are thinking
events break the ice for students about succession planning, the IT
and their spouses. and biotech cluster around Brussels is bullish, the
At the Vlerick Leuven Gent Management class that has just graduated is reporting a healthy
School, this week was the chance for their Class of increase in salary and benefits.
2009 to meet face to face. Students from over 30 As the volatility of the financial markets
countries were welcomed by Philippe Haspeslagh, demonstrates, the best investment we can make is
the school’s new dean, and recent months of in ourselves. So, what are new students expecting,
social networking on Facebook gave way to per- and what is the school doing to welcome the
sonal introductions and programme orientation. incoming class?
We’ve been here before, of course, and might
Internationally diverse group spare a thought for the MBA Class of 2002. These
Amphitheatres filled with eager faces, asking were the guys who headed to business school a
themselves ‘How they match up to the rest of the year or two before, when stock markets were at
class? and ‘What kind of network will I be build- exuberant levels, and bank and consultancy firms
ing in the next 12 months?’ And as students pair were fighting it out with sign-on bonuses for MBA
off, with three minutes to interview and then pre- graduates. Two years later, the Internet bubble
sent their recently introduced neighbour, the had burst, business had dried up for consultancy
MBA promise of an internationally diverse group firms and banks, and graduates coming out of
of talent quickly asserts itself. business school were faced with the toughest job
From Moldovian entrepreneurship and Cana- market in a decade.
dian investment banking to non-profit work on So, how different will the job market be for the
CO2 emissions and a national karate team, the credit-squeezed Class of 2008? What have career
Vlerick class has serious credentials. And the fun- services learned from the last downturn, and how
loving side of the group is soon in evidence as they are they preparing their MBA graduates for the
enjoy the InBev sponsored school lounge before current job market? And what role can the alumni
discovering the thriving social scene amidst the play to help the latest round of MBA graduates
backdrop of one of Europe’s oldest universities. from their business school? ◆

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B U S I N E S S I N D I A u October 19, 2008 B-schools Survey

Bridging the ‘know-do’ gap

Campuses could produce better MBAs by closer interaction with industry

W
e are confronted with many dilemmas what exactly these roles are supposed to deliver. As
and mysteries in our personal and pro- a result, the class room learning remains isolated
fessional lives. One that baffles me from the multi-dimensional demands put on exec-
most is: why, despite having so many people with utives in the real world of business.
high academic qualifications, knowledge and The case studies or examples used to enhance
insights, human problems and challenges remain the quality of learning and thereby, the on-the-
unresolved. In corporate life, we experience job effectiveness, are far too hypothetical or sim-
performance failures, perfor- plistic or are third party cases
mance gaps, re-surfacing of prob- with which the teaching faculty
lems and inadequate action from has no direct experience or con-
and under some knowledgeable nection. The lack of faculty expo-
and accomplished people. In sure to industry in any
other aspects of life such as auto- meaningful way adds to the
mobile repair to plumbing, we knowing-doing gap.
also experience such a knowing So, going forward, how do we
and doing gap. Of course, philo- bridge this gap?
sophical writings, including
the Shrimad Bhagwat Gita have What institutes can do
long explored the theory-praxis A good model can be the kind of
divergence! collaboration that the National
The knowing-doing gap HRD Network (NHRDN) has got
reveals itself in many forms. At a Santrupt Misra into with the Management Devel-
more basic level, it is revealed (in opment Institute (MDI), Gurgaon,
The author is president of
the corporate context) when a to set up the two year full time
Aditya Birla group
fresh MBA struggles to deliver MBA–HR programme.
some basics such as designing a Institutes need to invest more
simple questionnaire or making a draft of a policy into understanding sectors, organisations and
or preparing a summary report. Sometimes, expe- most importantly, the roles therein and the
rienced professionals struggle to deliver in com- demands on them. A more nuanced understand-
plex contexts, while others intellectually ing would help to contextualise teaching and
understand the need to do certain things yet, fail assist action orientation in students.
to act in an appropriate mode. These are distinctly Summer internships are meant to familiarise
evident in areas such as being decisive or in dele- and excite people about different roles in the
gating authority or managing team conflict. This organisation. While assigning projects, organisa-
knowing-doing gap, is not confined to the man- tions could take live business challenges with
agement profession alone, rather it is discipline clear goals ensuring that there is enough stretch
agnostic and one finds it with engineers, accoun- in terms of expectations. This will help students
tants and sometimes even (and frightfully) in the appreciate and try out the application aspect of
medical profession! their knowledge.
While it may not be appropriate to generalise While the willingness of business organisa-
such a gap phenomenon in respect to all profes- tions to allow academic work using their business
sionals, yet its existence cannot be denied and events/experience and data has increased, it is far
impact ignored. It is therefore important to under- from what is needed to provide the faculty with a
stand why this gap exists or how it is created. One strong and insightful understanding of organisa-
of the primary reasons is the rapid changes in the tions.
economic and business environment which throw The business world will get only more complex.
up new professional and business challenges, While knowledge in the shape of theories and con-
whereas the academic curriculum is relatively slow cepts will be critical to confidently approach a task,
to change and focuses sometimes on redundant ability to navigate and steer, solve and create,
issues. Teaching in business schools is often choose and reject, collaborate and compete,
unconnected to the role demands put on man- defend and push and other such action choices will
agers and many teaching faculty are unfamiliar be critical to success. We will need many bridges to
with various roles within an organisation and cover the gap and we need to start now. u

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B U S I N E S S I N D I A u October 19, 2008 B-schools Survey

A learning process
Benchmarking with the best international accreditation requires a systematic process

A
s part of an institution (PSG Institute of mittee for its approval. Meanwhile, a chair is
Management, Coimbatore) that has appointed for the review of the accreditation.
gone through the process of applying for An accreditation team is also constituted, which
the world’s best-known accreditation certifica- visits the institution and conducts extensive
tion, I can say with confidence that the experi- review with different stakeholders. On the
ence was an elevating one. However, it involved a recommendations of the committee, the
complex and exacting compliance process which institution is accredited.
the entire B-school team had to go
through. The process is not easy, How did we go about it
nor is it possible without adequate After becoming member of AACSB,
preparation on the ground and an a small committee consisting of
effective system and processes three faculty members was
already in place. appointed to prepare the eligibility
The Association to Advance Col- application, which went into the
legiate Schools of Business (AACSB) existing quality standards and
is one of the leading accreditation identified the gaps. Before submit-
bodies in the world, which has the ting the application, a decision was
largest number of networking taken to address some of the issues
members. Few institutions have raised during review, to meet the
attempted the AACSB accreditation standards of accreditation. The fol-
process in India and no lowing issues were addressed ini-
one other than our school has N. Nanda Gopal tially, to prepare the eligibility
passed even the first level of accred- application:
Director, PSG Institute of
itation. There are several steps to be Management, Coimbatore
• The objectives of the course and
followed to start the accreditation outcome of the results of every
process. Firstly, the institution course offered in the management
should become the member programme have to be specified. On completion
of AACSB, after which an eligibility application of the course, achievements of the objectives have
has to be submitted to the pre-accreditation to be measured. For that, the objectives have to be
committee (PAC). The PAC will go through the measurable; and so, the faculty members are
application and discuss the standards specified by asked to look into the objectives of the course. We
AACSB for accreditation. The following standards, focussed on the outcome of the delivery of the
such as: courses and the objectives were redesigned by the
strategic management standards; participant faculty members.
standards; and assurance of learning standards • The evaluation process has to be more specific
are part of the accreditation process. and bring out the measurement of the comple-
The applicant should have adopted to some tion of the course objectives. A committee was
extent the exacting standards of AACSB convinc- constituted among the faculty members, which
ingly enough for the PAC to pave the way for started working on the objectives focussed on the
appointment of a mentor from the accrediting evaluation measurements.
agency. Subsequent to the appointment, the • One of the important issues for accreditation is
mentor visits the institution and discusses issues the minimum requirement of professionally qual-
with the director of the B-school and faculty ified and academically qualified faculty. The con-
members and looks at the gap between AACSB tinuous learning process is the prerequisite to be a
standards and what the institution possesses faculty member, who should either be academi-
to give report to the director. He also submits cally qualified (AQ) or professionally qualified
a report to PAC. Based on the feedback, the (PQ). The faculty committee was constituted to
member institutions start preparing the define AQPQ work and prepare definition of
accreditation and strategic plan, along with the AQPQ.
mentor of the institution. The strategic plan and The experience has taught our B-school faculty
accreditation plan are then submitted to the many things, which no other process could, and
PAC, which reviews them. After the review, PAC the school has also been streamlined well to be
sends a report to the initial accreditation com- ready to scale up to global proportions. u

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B U S I N E S S I N D I A u October 19, 2008 B-schools Survey

The road ahead

The less-than-four-decade-old B-school movement has not been able to build character,
strength, direction and leadership in MBA students

T
he history of management education in ‘academic depth’ or ‘corporate perspective’.
India is hardly about four decades. However, Therefore, they lack in all three essential parame-
during this brief period, it has seen several ters of managerial acumen – knowledge, skills,
ups and downs. The issues relating to and attitude.
B-schools begin with the question: Should man- • Quality issues: The success of an educational
agement education be left to the private enter- endeavour, to a great degree, depends on the
prises? To what extent should the process approach with quality
government interfere in promot- focus. The process should have
ing business education? What well-defined goals and objectives
should be done to ensure (within a broader vision), evalua-
that there is no dilution of tion of existing competencies and
quality? How can Indian finding gap between desired and
B-schools compete with their available, resource mapping, and
counterparts abroad? Should there finally, a strong implementation
be a unified national policy for framework with pre-determined
higher and technical education methodology for constant review
including management educa- and monitoring. This alone can
tion? The absence in clarity of ensure quality of the process with
thought has led to a number of desired results.
contradictions and emergence of • Regulation: The main issues in
various clusters of schools. A.K. Sen Gupta this regard have been political
It was only in mid-1980s that intervention in the functioning
private enterprises entered this Director, SIESCOMS, Navi Mumbai of AICTE, lack of clear focus on its
arena in a big way, giving rise to a part and bureaucratic approach of
number of B-schools. And subse- looking at management educa-
quently, since 1990s, there has indeed been a tion that had more bad than good effects. It must,
crazy rush for opening business schools. It has, in however, be added that things, in last few years,
fact, become more of a commercial proposition have definitely changed for the better with the
compared to social and charitable activity. gap between AICTE and business schools narrow-
ing down substantially, and much more
Areas of concern respectability being perceived in the functioning
• Academic ambience: The very survival of a busi- of AICTE. The setting up of the National Board of
ness school depends on the quality of academic Accreditation (NBA) as an autonomous body for
ambience it creates for students to learn and ensuring quality education in the country has
develop into effective managers. It depends on also been a welcome step.
several factors that include quality of teachers, • Governance issues: The corporate governance
rigour of admission/selection process, develop- issues are equally applicable to management
ment of right curriculum and appropriate deliv- institutions. In fact, such institutes are expected
ery systems, mix of classroom and applied to be role models of corporate governance
methods of pedagogy, constant interaction with including ethical standard, openness and
corporates, continuous upgradation in method- transparency.
ologies for improvement in the academic • Shakeout in the offing? Academically, there is seri-
processes, existence of adequate learning, ous concern about the possibility of the burst of
supporting systems and tools like library and the growing balloon of management institutes
computer systems, among others. sooner or later. A shake out and period of mergers
The other serious problem has been ‘partial & acquisitions is not far ahead. What Indian man-
dis-connectivity’ with corporate world in the agement education needs is a strong reform in
content of teaching. In a recent survey conducted terms of quality, better quality of teachers and
by this columnist among a large number of teaching, more academic rigour as well as corpo-
HR professionals (who are involved in the process rate proximity and global competitiveness. Private
of recruiting), the major finding has been that accreditation agencies should be encouraged to
many of the MBAs produced do not have either enter into the arena. u

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 B u s i n e s s I n d i a u October 19, 2008
ALPHABETICAL LIST OF INSTITUTES
NAME OF THE INSTITUTE CITY RANK
Acharya Institute of Management and Sciences Bangalore A
Adhiyamaan College of Engg, DMS Hosur A
ADMC - Advanced Management College Bangalore C++
AICAR Business School Raigad A
Allana Institute of Management Science Pune A
Alliance Business Academy Bangalore A++
Ambedkar Institute of Management Studies Visakhapatnam B+
Amity Business School Noida A++
Amrapali Institute Haldwani A
Amrita Business School Coimbatore A+
Andhra University Srikakulam B++
Apeejay School of Management New Delhi A+
Army Institute of Management Kolkata A+
Asian Workers Development Institute Rourkela B+
ASM Institute of Business Management Pune A
B.C. Roy Engineering College FMS Durgapur B
Babu Banarsi Das Institute of Technology Ghaziabad B+
Badruka Institute of Foreign Trade Hyderabad A
Balaji Institute of International Business Pune A
Balaji Institute of Modern Management Pune A++
Balaji Institute of Telecom & Management Pune A+
Bansal MBA College Bhopal B++
Bapuji Institute of Engineering & Technology Davangere B++
Bharathi Vidyapeeth Institute of Management New Delhi A+
Bharathidasan Institute of Management Tiruchirappalli A++
Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Inst of Management Kolkata B+
Bhavnagar University DBA Bhavnagar B++
Biju Patnaik Institute of IT & Management Studies Bhubaneswar A
BIMHRD Pune A+
Birla Institute of Management Greater Noida A+
BLS Institute of Management Ghaziabad A+
BVU Institute of Management & Rural Dev. Sangli B+
Campus B School Ghaziabad A+
Chaitanya Bharthi Institute of Tech Hyderabad B++
Chandigarh Engineering College Mohali B+
Chennai Business School Chennai A
Christ College Institute of Management Bangalore A++
Coimbatore Institute of Management Coimbatore A
College of Agribusiness Management Pantnagar A
DAV Institute of Management Faridabad A+
Dayananda Sagar College of Management Bangalore A
Deepiksha College of Technical Education Jaipur B++
Delhi School of Professional Studies and Research Delhi A
Department of Management Studies Dindigul A
Dept of Commerce & Management Studies Malappuram B++
Dept of Management Studies, IIT Delhi A++
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B-schools Survey
NAME OF THE INSTITUTE CITY RANK
Dept. of MBA, Rural Engineering College Bhalki B
DES - Chintamanrao Institute of Management Sangli B++
Dhruva College of Management Hyderabad B
Disha Institute of Management & Technology Raipur B++
Doddappa Appa Institute of MBA Gulbarga A
Dr D Y Patil University, Dept of Business Mgmt Navi Mumbai A
Dr Gaur Hari Singhania Institute of Management Kanpur B++
Dronacharya Inst of Management & Technology Kurukshetra C++
Eastern Institute for Integrated Learning Kolkata A+
Eligah Institute of Management Studies Trichur C++
Farook Institute of Management Studies Kozhikode B
FMS, University of Delhi Delhi Next Ten
FORE School Delhi A+
Fortune Institute of International Business New Delhi A+
Gian Jyoti Institute of Management Mohali A+
GITAM Institute of Foreign Trade Visakhapatnam A+
Global Institute of Management Bhubaneswar B
Goa Institute of Management Ribandar A+
Graduate School of Business & Administration Greater Noida B++
Great Lakes Institute Chennai Next Ten
GRG School of Management Studies Coimbatore A
Harlal Institute of Management & Technology Greater Noida A
IB, IPS Academy Indore A
IBS Hyderabad Top Ten
IFIM Business School Bangalore A+
IIMR Pharma Business School Delhi A
IIFT Delhi New Delhi Next Ten
IILM Business School Bhopal B+
IILM Institute for Higher Education Gurgaon A++
IIM A Ahmedabad Top Ten
IIM B Bangalore Top Ten
IIM C Kolkata Top Ten
IIM Indore Indore Next Ten
IIM Kozhikode Kozhikode Next Ten
IIM L Lucknow Top Ten
IIMS Bareilly A
IISWBM Kolkata A+
International Management Institute New Delhi Next Ten
IMT Ghaziabad Top
Ten
Indian Academy School of Management Studies Bangalore B+
Indian Business Academy Bangalore A+
Indian Education Society’s Management College Mumbai B++
Indian Institute of Finance Delhi A+
Indian Institute of Forest Management Bhopal A+
Indian School of Mines Dept of Management Dhanbad A
 B u s i n e s s I n d i a u October 19, 2008
ALPHABETICAL LIST OF INSTITUTES
NAME OF THE INSTITUTE CITY RANK
Indira Institute of Management Pune A+
Indraprastha College of Management Jodhpur B++
Indraprastha University School of Management Delhi A++
Inmantec Ghaziabad A+
Institute of Global Synergy Ajmer B+
Institute for Financial Management & Research Chennai A++
Institute for Technology & Management Navi Mumbai A++
Institute of Business Management & Technology Bangalore B
Institute of Business Studies and Research Navi Mumbai A
Institute of Cooperative & Corporate Mgmt Lucknow B+
Institute of Engineering & Management Kolkata B+
Institute of Health Management Research Jaipur A+
Institute of Management Bhubaneswar A
Institute of Management & Development New Delhi A+
Institute of Management Education Sahibabad A
Institute of Management Education Pune A
Institute of Management in Kerala Trivandrum B++
Institute of Management Studies Noida A
Institute of Management Study Kolkata B+
Institute of Management Technology Nagpur A++
Institute of Mgmt Studies, Career & Research Ahmednagar B++
Govindram Seksaria Institute of Mgmt. & Research Indore B
Institute of Public Enterprise Hyderabad A+
Institute of Rural Management Jaipur A+
Institute of Rural Management Anand A++
Institute of Science & Management Ranchi B+
Institute of Technology & Science Ghaziabad A+
Integral Institute of Advanced Management Visakhapatnam B++
International Business School New Delhi A
International Institute for Special Education Lucknow A+
International Institute of Mgmt Studies Pune A
International School of Business and Media Pune A
International School of Informatics Jaipur B++
International School of Mgmt Excellence Bangalore A
Indian School Business Hyderabad Top Ten
Ishan Institute of Management & Technology Greater Noida A
Istitutute of Technology Management Bangalore A+
Istitutute of Technology Management Chennai A+
J.V. Institute of Management Studies Jamnagar B
Jagan Institute of Management Studies New Delhi A
Jaipuria Institute of Management Ghaziabad A
Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies Mumbai Next Ten
Jansons School of Business Coimbatore A
JK Business School Gurgaon A
Justice K S Hegde Institute of Management Udupi A
K J Somaiya Institute of Management Mumbai A++
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B-schools Survey
NAME OF THE INSTITUTE CITY RANK
Karunya School of Management Coimbatore A+
Kavikulguru Institute of Technology & Science Ramtek B++
Kerala Institute of Tourism & Travel Studies Trivandrum A
KIET School of Management Ghaziabad B++
KIIT University, School of Management Bhubaneswar A+
KLS Institute of Management Belgaum A+
Kohinoor Business School Khandala A
Kousali Institute of Management Studies Dharwad B++
Kristu Jayanti College of Mgmt & Technology Bangalore A
KSR School of Management Tiruchengude A+
Kurukshetra University, Department of Management Kurukshetra B++
Lal Bahadur Shastri Institute of Management New Delhi A++
Lovely Institute of Management Phagwara A++
Loyola Institute of Business Administration Chennai A++
M.S. Patel Institute of Management Baroda A
Magnus School of Business Hyderabad A+
Mahakal Institute of Management Ujjain A+
Maharaja Agrasen Institute of Management Yamunanagar B
Maharishi Arvind Institute of Engineering Jaipur A
Maharishi Institute of Management Noida B++
Mahrishi Arvind Institute of Science of Mgmt Ambabar A
Management Education & Research Institute Delhi A
Mangalmay Institute of Management Greater Noida A
Manipal Institute of Management Manipal A
Mar Athanasios College For Advanced Studies Tiruvalla B++
Master School of Management Meerut A
Mata Vaishno Devi Univ, College of Mgmt Katra A
MATs School of Business Bangalore A
Management Development Institute Gurgaon Top Ten
MET Institute of Management Mumbai A++
MGM’s Institute of Management Aurangabad B
MIT School of Business Pune A
MKM Indian Institute of Management Jaipur A+
Modi Institute of Management and Technology Kota B++
MOP Vaishnav College for Women Chennai A+
Mount Carmel Institute of Management Bangalore A+
Narmada College of Management Bharuch B+
Narula Institute of Technology Kolkata B++
National Institute for Technology Tiruchirappalli A++
Nava Bharathi College of PG Studies Secunderabad B++
Nehru College of Management Coimbatore B++
Neville Wadia Institute of Management Pune A+
New Delhi Institute of Management New Delhi A++
NICE Management College Meerut A
NIILM Delhi A+
NIMT Greater Noida Greater Noida A
B u s i n e s s I n d i a u October 19, 2008
ALPHABETICAL LIST OF INSTITUTES
NAME OF THE INSTITUTE CITY RANK
NIMT Institute of AgriBusiness Jaipur A+
NIMT Institute of Hospital & Pharma Mgmt Greater Noida A+
NIMT Institute of Management Jaipur A
NIMT Institute of Technology & Management Ghaziabad A+
Nirma Institute of Management Ahmedabad A++
NITIE Mumbai Next Ten
NMIMS Mumbai Mumbai Next Ten
NSB School of Business New Delhi A+
Om Kothari Institute of Management & Research Kota A
Osmania University Postgraduate College Mahabobnagar B
Parks College (Co-Education) Tiruppur B+
PESIM-PES Instiute of Management Bangalore A
Pillai’s Institute of Management Navi Mumbai A
Pioneer Institute of Professional Studies Indore B+
Pondicherry University, School of Management Puducherry A+
Pragati Maha Vidyalaya PG College Hyderabad C++
Prestige Institute of Management Gwalior A+
Prestige Institute of Management & Research Indore A+
Prestige Institute of Management Dewas A
PSG Institute of Management Coimbatore A++
Pt Jawaharlal Nehru Inst of Business Ujjain B++
Punjab College of Technical Education Ludhiana A+
R K Institute of Management & Computer Science Bangalore B+
R L Institute of Management Studies Madurai B+
Rai Business School Bangalore B++
Rai Business School Faridabad B+
Rai Business School Bhopal B
Rai Business School New Delhi A
Rajagiri School of Management Ernakulam A+
Rajalakshmi Engineering College DMS Chennai B++
Rajchandra Institute of Mgmt Surat B+
Rajdhani College of Engineering & Management Bhubaneswar A
Rajiv Academy for Technology & Mgmt Mathura A
Regional College of Management Bhubaneswar A+
S P Jain Mumbai Top Ten
S.K. Institute of Management Ananatpur B
S.R. Luthra Institute of Management Surat B++
Sambhram Academy of Management Studies Bangalore B++
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel inst of Textile Mgmt Coimbatore A
School of Business Studies - GLAITM Mathura B++
School of Management Sciences Varanasi A+
School of Management, LNCT Bhopal B+
School of Mgt of Sri Krishna College of Engg Coimbatore B++
SCMHRD Pune A++
SCMS Alwaye A++
SDM Institute for Management Development Mysore A+
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B-schools Survey
NAME OF THE INSTITUTE CITY RANK
Sengunthar Institute of Management Studies Thiruchengode B
SGRRITS Dehradun C++
Shailesh J. Mehta School of Management, IIT Mumbai A++
Sherwood College of Management Lucknow A
Shiva Institute of Management Studies Ghaziabad A+
SIES College of Management Studies Navi Mumbai A++
Sikkim Manipal University Ranchi A
Siva Sivani Institute of Management Secunderabad A
Skyline Business School Delhi/Gurgaon A
Sobhasaria Engineering College Sikar B++
Sona School of Management Salem A
Sri Sairam Institute of Management Chennai A+
Sri Siddhartha Institute of Management Studies Tumkur B
SRM School of Management Chennai A+
Srusti Academy of Management Bhubaneswar A
St Peter’s Institute of Management Chennai A
St Joseph’s College of Business Administration Bangalore A++
Suryadatta Institute of Management Pune A
Symbiosis Centre for Information Technology Pune A+
Symbiosis Institute of Operations Management Nashik A
T John College Bangalore B+
TASMAC Pune A+
Taxila Business School Jaipur A
Tecnia Institute of Advanced Studies New Delhi A
Tezpur University, Department of Business Admn Tezpur B++
Thiagarajar School of Management Madurai A
Tolani Institute of management Studies Adipur A
Tripude College of Social Work Nagpur A
University of Jammu, The Business School Jammu A
Vaels Institute of Business Administration Chennai A
Vaikunth Mehta Institute of Coop Management Pune A
Velammal College of Management Chennai A+
Veltech Chennai A
Vidyasagar Institute of Management Bhopal B
Vignana Jyothi Institute of Management Hyderabad A
Vivekananda School of Post Graduate Studies Hyderabad B
Vysya Institute of Management Studies Salem B
Warangal Institute of Management Warangal A
Welingkar Insitute of Management Mumbai A++
Xavier Institute of Development Jabalpur B++
Xavier Institute of Mgmt & Entrepreneurship Bangalore A++
XIM B Bhubaneswar Next Ten
XLRI Jamshedpur Jamshedpur Top Ten
 B U S I N E S S I N D I A u October 19, 2008 B-schools Survey

More B-schools up beat

O
ur methodology for doing the survey of and its peers but every one of our readers includ-
best B-School is quantitative and empiri- ing the B-schools themselves would rather be
cal and the research consistency and interested in the outcomes. The marks also dis-
robustness come from sticking to continuously tract attention from the real line up, as the debate
expanding the basic questionnaire, which now moves towards nitpicking on the scorecard,
has around 260 queries on which we measure per- which, in any case, do not show too much
formance. Many of these are still expandable. For variation at the top.
instance, the Ph D section could seek ‘more infor- In the current list, for instance, between the
mation about the university’, ‘the year Ph D was top most institute IIM-A and the last one namely
taken’, ‘whether the faculty published any papers SP Jain in our top 10 list, the difference in scores
in the area of the person’s Ph D’ and so on. Like- was just around 8 per cent. Likewise, between FMS
wise, published books of faculty can have the pub- as next 10 leader and XIM B, which brought up the
lishers’ data, the number reprints, citation index, rear, the scoring showed a mere 8.5 per cent varia-
etc. tion. In any research, up to 10 per cent variation is
This year, we had an unusually large response taken as normal, as outcomes would not show
from the B-schools, with a large number of new dramatic variations.
We also ranked the schools on the basis of four
broad parameters, namely learning ambience,
Methodology intellectual capital, brand and growth, which
Curriculum Total marks=1,000 incorporated the 11 sub-parameters we had used
100 to measure the schools. The rest of the schools in
our list continue to be rated even though the
Alumni clusters in which they appear, namely A ++, A+
35 etc, were arrived at after computing their respec-
Faculty tive scores obtained across the parameters (see
Intellectual
180 graph).
interface Placement This year, we had made slight changes in the
150 allocation of marks giving a higher weightage for
25
networking, brand equity and industry interface
Income & through leadership contact, as well as manage-
Infrastructure expenditure
100 Academics
ment training programmes launched by the
Student 20
150 institutes. As with every year, a large number of
130 MDP
Background questions were reserved for faculty related infor-
50 60
mation. We found that, over the years, the faculty
LEARNING INTELLECTUAL BRAND GROWTH publication has improved and so also has the
AMBIENCE CAPITAL 315 80
175 430 intellectual capital building process through
conferences, seminars, faculty exchange pro-
grammes, faculty development programmes, case
schools responding to our questionnaire, which studies by faculty and such other indicators.
was available at our website www.bibschoolsur- Validation through cross-verifying facts and
vey.com for about four months from April also comparing with industry-wide benchmarks
through August. Also, through e-mails, we has given us certain robustness to our findings
reached all 1,700 schools in our data base schools and it also helps us in identifying schools, which
about three times during the survey process. The would otherwise have not been noticed. Likewise,
website was updated around 17 times during the it also helps us to identify insufficient data or
survey, giving new information and guidance to oversights while reporting to us. For instance,
participating institutes. year of incorporation has to precede say, year of
starting website or journals and tally of students
Scorecard marks dropped or members of the faculty should add up to the
After much debate, we decided to drop the marks break of this information under several heads in
allocated to the B-schools in our top 10 and next some later part of the questionnaire. In cases like
10 ranking lists. The decision was on the basis that this, we write to the school, informing them of
the outcome rather than the details of the mea- their inconsistency in data and, sometimes,
surement scales is what matters. The statistics at drop the schools from our list if there is lack of
best are of interest to the B-schools being ranked clear data. u

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B u s i n e s s I n d i a u October 19, 2008 B-schools Survey

TOP TEN
RANK & CITY DIRECTOR STUDENT AVERAGE WEBSITE
NAME OF THE INSTITUTE Admissions SALARY *

1 IIM A Ahmedabad Samir K. Barua 250 17.81 www.iimahd.ernet.in

2 IIM B Bangalore Pankaj Chandra 256 NA www.iimb.ernet.in

3 Indian School of Business Hyderabad M. Rammohan Rao 416 15.30 www.isb.edu

4 IIM C Kolkata Shekhar Chaudhuri 276 16.40 www.iimcal.ac.in

5 XLRI Jamshedpur Jamshedpur E. Abraham 120 14.75 www.xlri.ac.in

6 IIM L Lucknow Prem C. Purwar 281 NA www.iiml.ac.in

7 IBS Hyderabad S.K. Sharma 4861 5.70 www.ibsindia.org

8 Management Development Inst. Gurgaon C.V. Baxi 184 12.25 www.mdi.ac.in

9 Institute of Mgmt. Technology Ghaziabad B. S. Sahay 120 9.40 www.imt.edu

10 S. P. Jain Inst. of Management Mumbai R. Sesha Iyer 175 13.96 www.spjimr.org

(* in Rs. lakh)

THE NEXT TEN

RANK & CITY DIRECTOR STUDENT AVERAGE WEBSITE
NAME OF THE INSTITUTE Admissions SALARY *

11 FMS, University of Delhi Delhi J.K. Mitra 99 12.04 www.fms.edu

12 Jamnalal Bajaj Mumbai C.R. Chavan 120 13.84 www.jbims.edu

13 NITIE Mumbai Subhash D. Awale 127 13.15 www.nitie.edu

14 International Mgmt. Institute New Delhi C.S. Venkata Ratnam 120 8.75 www.imi.edu

15 NMIMS University Mumbai N.M. Kondap 237 11.40 www.nmims.edu

16 Indian Institute of Foreign Trade New Delhi K.T. Chacko 180 9.67 www.iift.edu

17 IIM Kozhikode Krishna Kumar 240 8.40 www.iimk.ac.in

18 IIM Indore Indore Pawan K. R. Singh 240 NA www.iimidr.ac.in

19 Great Lakes Institute Chennai S. Sriram 162 9.75 www.greatlakes.edu.in

20 Xavier Institute of Management Bhubaneswar P.T. Joseph 120 10.12 www.ximb.ac.in

(* in Rs. lakh)

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CITY DIRECTOR STUDENT AVERAGE

RATING & NAME OF THE INSTITUTE Admissions SALARY WEBSITE
(In Alphabetical order) (Rs.lakh)

A ++
Alliance Business Academy Bangalore B. V. Krishnamurthy 120 8.64 www.alliancebschool.org
Amity Business School Noida Sanjay Srivastava 280 6.00 www.amity.edu
Balaji Institute of Modern Management Pune A.P. Ghosh 120 5.88 www.immpune.com
Bharathidasan Institute of Management Tiruchirappalli M. Sankaran 117 8.20 www.bim.edu
Christ College Institute of Management Bangalore Fr. Thomas T.V. 138 5.00 www.ccim.christcollege.edu
Dept of Management Studies, IIT Delhi Surendra prasad 60 NA www.iitdmba.com
IILM Institute for Higher Education Gurgaon/New Delhi B. Bhattacharyya 420 4.87 www.iilm.edu
Indraprastha University School of Management Delhi R.K Mittal 165 5.00 www.ipu.ac.in
Institute for Financial Management & Research Chennai Rajivan Krishnaswamy 45 6.75 www.ifmr.ac.in
Institute for Technology & Management Navi Mumbai C.S. Adhikari 120 5.50 www.itm.edu
Institute of Management Technology Nagpur Anwar Ali 281 5.25 www.imtnagpur.ac.in
Institute of Rural Management Anand Vivek Bhandari 120 NA www.irma.ac.in
K J Somaiya Institute of Management Mumbai Suresh Ghai 120 7.03 www.simsr.somaiya.edu
Lal Bahadur Shastri Institute of Management New Delhi R.L. Raina 120 7.58 www.lbsim.ac.in
Lovely Institute of Management Phagwara Kalyan Kumar 240 2.75 www.lpu.co.in
Loyola Institute of Business Administration Chennai Fr. P.Christie S J 127 5.97 www.liba.edu
MET Institute of Management Mumbai Vijay Page 121 4.50 www.met.edu
National Institute for Technology Tiruchirappalli M. Chidambaram 180 7.00 www.nitt.edu
New Delhi Institute of Management New Delhi Deepak Bharihoke 240 5.82 www.ndimdelhi.org
Nirma Institute of Management Ahmedabad Upinder Dhar 120 7.00 www.imnu.ac.in
PSG Institute of Management Coimbatore R. Nandgopal 180 4.80 www.psgim.ac.in
SCMHRD Pune K. S. Subramanian 206 10.32 www.scmhrd.edu
SCMS Alwaye V. Raman Nair 210 4.00 www.scmsgroup.org
Shailesh J. Mehta School of Management, IIT Mumbai Karuna Jain 79 9.71 www.iitb.ac.in
SIES College of Management Studies Navi Mumbai A.K. Sen Gupta 720 6.50 www.siescoms.edu
St. Joseph’s College of Business Administration Bangalore Dr Aveline R. D’souza S J 100 4.03 www.sjcba.edu.in
Welingkar Insitute of Management Mumbai Uday Salunkhe 360 7.02 www.welingkar.org
Xavier Institute of Mgmt & Entrepreneurship Bangalore Prof R. Venkataraman 120 5.52 www.xime.org

A +
Amrita Business School Coimbatore Sanjay Banerji 120 5.20 www.amrita.edu
Apeejay School of Management New Delhi Alok Saklani 120 4.20 www.apeejay.edu
Army Institute of Management Kolkata K.K. Chaudhuri 120 4.28 www.aim.ac.in
Balaji Institute of Telecom & Management Pune Milind M. Oka 195 4.35 www.bitmpune.com
Bharathi Vidyapeeth Institute of Management New Delhi Sachin S. Vernekar 240 3.90 www.bvimr.com
BIMHRD Pune Shyamlal 180 4.00 www.bimhrdpune.com
Birla Institute of Management GreaterNoida H. Chaturvedi 180 4.50 www.bimtech.ac.in
BLS Institute of Management Ghaziabad Tarun Aggarwal 120 4.80 www.blsim.org
Campus B School Ghaziabad R.K. Gupta 120 5.25 www.nimtuniteduniversity.org
DAV Institute of Management Faridabad N.K. Sharma 60 2.77 www.davim.ac.in
Eastern Institute for Integrated Learning Kolkata R.P. Banerjee 420 3.00 www.eiilm.edu.in
FORE School Delhi Seema Sanghi 180 6.50 www.fsm.ac.in
Fortune Institute of International Business New Delhi Ahindra Chakrabarti 120 2.02 www.fiibindia.com

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CITY DIRECTOR STUDENT AVERAGE

RATING & NAME OF THE INSTITUTE Admissions SALARY WEBSITE
(In Alphabetical order) (Rs.lakh)

Gian Jyoti Institute of Management Mohali Vimal K. Aggarwal 120 3.15 www.gjimt.com
GITAM Institute of Foreign Trade Visakhapatnam V.K. Kumar 166 3.20 www.gift-india.org
Goa Institute of Management Ribandar Alan D’Souza 120 7.43 www.gim.ac.in
IFIM Business School Bangalore U.K. Ashoke Rao 180 3.60 www.ifimbschool.com
IISWBM Kolkata K. Sanyal 180 4.00 www.iiswbm.edu
Indian Business Academy Bangalore Manish Jain 202 3.78 www.ibainternational.org
Indian Institute of Finance Delhi J.D. Agarwal 6.6 10.20 www.iif.edu
Indian Institute of Forest Management Bhopal D.K. Bandyopadhyay 60 6.70 www.iifm.ac.in
Indira Institute of Management Pune Prachee Javadekar 180 4.50 www.indiraedu.com
Inmantec Ghaziabad Pankaj Gupta 120 5.35 www.inmantec.edu
Institute of Health Management Research Jaipur S.D. Gupta 120 2.52 www.ihmr.org
Institute of Management and Development New Delhi Abhishek Chaudhary 679 5.20 www.mba.ac.in
Institute of Public Enterprise Hyderabad R.K. Mishra 120 3.60 www.ipeindia.org
Institute of Rural Management Jaipur S.K. Gaur 180 4.50 www.iirm.ac.in
Institute of Technology & Science Ghaziabad Shekhar Ghose 180 5.50 www.itsgzb.ac.in
International Institute for Special Education Lucknow Harsh Dev 90 4.28 www.iiseindia.com
ITM Bangalore A.H. Babu 54 3.20 www.itm.edu
ITM Chennai B. Madhavan 60 3.50 www.itm.edu
Karunya School of Management Coimbatore J. Russell Peter 300 2.80 www.karunya.edu
KIIT University, School of Management Bhubaneswar K.K. Vaswani 240 2.80 www.ksom.ac.in
KLS Institute of Management Belgaum A.B. Kalkundrikar 90 1.50 www.klsimer.edu
KSR School of Management Tiruchengode Mohandas S. K. 120 1.80 www.kstct.ac.in
MOP Vaishnav College for Women Chennai K. Nirmala Prasad 60 2.80 www.mop-vaishnav.ac.in
Magnus school of Business Hyderabad Amit T. Bhadra 120 3.83 www.msbindia.org
Mahakal Institute of Management Ujjain Pawan Patni 120 2.00 www.mitujjain.ac.in
MKM Indian Institute of Management Jaipur NA 250 2.00 www.mkmiim.com
Mount Carmel Institute of Management Bangalore M. Albina 120 NA www.mountcarmelinstitute.org
Neville Wadia Institute of Management Pune S. R. Dastane 60 3.00 www.nevillewadia.com
NIILM Delhi S. Neelamegham 120 NA www.niilm.com
NIMT Institute of AgriBusiness Jaipur S.N. Laharia 120 15.00 www.nimtuniteduniversity.org
NIMT Institute of Hospital & Pharma Mgmt Greater Noida P.V. Kapoor 180 8.00 www.nimtuniteduniversity.org
NIMT Institute of Technology & Management Ghaziabad G.P. Johri 120 7.25 www.nimtuniteduniversity.com
NSB School of Business New Delhi Narinder Verma 480 4.00 www.nsb.in
Pondicherry University, School of Management Puducherry M. Basheer Ahmed Khan 66 6.40 www.pondiuni.edu.in
Prestige Institute of Management Gwalior S.S. Bhakar 60 2.85 www.prestigegwl.org
Prestige Institute of Management & Research Indore I.C.Gupta 90 3.50 www.pimrindore.ac.in/
Punjab College of Technical Education Ludhiana K.N.S. Kang 120 3.05 www.pcte.edu.in
Rajagiri School of Management Ernakulam Joseph I. Injodey 120 3.24 www.rajagiri.edu
Regional college of Management Bhubaneswar Prabir Pal 180 2.40 www.rcm.ac.in
School of Management Sciences Varanasi P.N. Jha 120 4.20 www.smsvaranasi.com
SDM Institute for Management Development Mysore Ramesh Venkateswaran 120 5.40 www.sdmimd.net
Shiva Institute of Management Studies Ghaziabad Shefali Gautam 180 4.50 www.shivaims.edu.in
Sri Sairam Institute of Management Chennai K. Maran 60 2.80 www.sairamgroup.in
SRM School of Management Chennai Muneeswaran 60 3.00 www.srmuniv.ac.in

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CITY DIRECTOR STUDENT AVERAGE

RATING & NAME OF THE INSTITUTE Admissions SALARY WEBSITE
(In Alphabetical order) (Rs.lakh)

Symbiosis Centre for Information Technology Pune Shaila Kagal 375 5.50 www.scit.edu
TASMAC Pune Sameer Dua 489 4.00 www.tasmac.ac.in
Velammal College of Management Chennai K. Shyamasundar 99 2.80 www.vcmcs.com

A
Acharya Institute of Management and Sciences Bangalore Kiran Reddy 90 4.50 www.acharyaims.ac.in
Adhiyamaan College of Engg, DMS Hosur S.K. Prasad 60 1.64 NA
AICAR Business School Raigad S.A. Kulkarni 60 3.84 www.aicar.net
Allana Institute of Management Science Pune E.B. Khedkar NA 1.50 www.aiaims.com
Amrapali Institute Haldwani K.K. Pandey 180 2.25 www.amarpaliinstitute.ac.in
ASM Institute of Business Management Pune Asha Pachpande 120 3.80 www.asmedu.org
Balaji Institute of International Business Pune Satish M. Inamdar 80 4.10 www.biibpune.com
Badruka Institute of Foreign Trade Hyderabad S.K. Mathur 120 4.22 www.bift.ac.in
Biju Patnaik Institute of IT & Management Studies Bhubaneswar Pratap Kumar Balabantray 120 2.50 www.biitm.org
Chennai Business School Chennai Sridar Natarajan 75 4.00 www.cbs.org.in
Coimbatore Institute of Management Coimbatore P. Natarajan 60 2.50 www.kovaikalaimagal.org
College of Agribusiness Management Pantnagar V.P.S. Arora 117 4.50 www.cabm.ac.in
Delhi School of Professional Studies and Research Delhi P.N. Singh 180 1.50 www.dspsr.ac.in
Dayananda Sagar College of Management Bangalore K.R. Mukunda 120 3.20 www.dayanandsagar.edu
Department of Management Studies Dindigul M. Renganathan 60 1.80 www.psnacet.edu.in
Doddappa Appa Institute of MBA Gulbarga B.B. Patil 60 1.10 www.daimba.org
Dr D Y Patil University, Dept of Business Mgmt Navi Mumbai R. Gopal 358 3.00 www.dypatil.edu
GRG School of Management Studies Coimbatore S. Balasubramanian 86 2.63 www.grgsms.com
Harlal Institute of Management & Technology Greater Noida H. C. Kakkar 180 3.20 himt.ac.in
IIMS Bareilly Y.D. Arya 120 3.25 www.invertis.org
IB, IPS Academy Indore V.D. Nagar 240 4.30 www.ipsacademyonline.com
IIMR Pharma Business School Delhi S.K. Singh 180 6.75 www.iimrdelhi.com
Indian School of Mines, Dept of Management Dhanbad T. Kumar 40 2.50 www.ismdhanbad.ac.in
Institute of Business Studies and Research Navi Mumbai M.L. Monga 138 3.10 www.ibsar.ac.in
Institute of Management Bhubaneshwar S.K. Nayak 120 www.imb.ac.in
Institute of Management Education Sahibabad D.P. Goyal 120 1.95 www.imesahibabad.ac.in
Institute of Management Education Pune P.C. Shejwalkar 120 2.50 NA
Institute of Management Studies Noida A. Kumar 120 3.00 www.imsnoida.in
International Business School New Delhi H. Sharma 180 NA www.ibs.edu.in
International Institute of Mgmt Studies Pune NA 106 NA www.iimspune.com
International School of Business and Media Pune V.N. Bhat 360 5.72 www.isbm.ac.in
International School of Mgmt Excellence Bangalore Nitin Garg 120 3.90 www.isme.in
Ishan Institute of Management & Technology Greater Noida D.K. Garg 240 2.50 www.ishanfamily.com
Jagan Institute of Management Studies New Delhi Gauri Shankar 120 3.80 www.jimsindia.org
Jaipuria Institute of Management Ghaziabad Vijay Kumar Khurana 120 1.80 www.jaipuria.net
Jansons School of Business Coimbatore S. Mohan 120 3.00 www.jsb.ac.in
JK Business School Gurgaon Sudhanshu Bhushan 188 3.72 www.jkbschool.org
Justice K.S. Hegde Institute of Management Udupi M.S. Moodithaya 120 3.40 www.jkshim.ac.in
Kerala Institute of Tourism & Travel Studies Trivandrum V. Rajeevan 45 0.96 www.kittstour.org

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CITY DIRECTOR STUDENT AVERAGE

RATING & NAME OF THE INSTITUTE Admissions SALARY WEBSITE
(In Alphabetical order) (Rs.lakh)

Kohinoor Business School Khandala Bigyan P. Verma 180 4.50 www.kohinoor.ac.in

Kristu Jayanti College of Mgmt & Technology Bangalore Pious Thomas 60 3.25 www.kristujayanti.com
M.S. Patel Institute of Management, FMS Baroda G.C. Maheshwari 40 3.75 www.msubaroda.ac.in
Maharishi Arvind Institute of Engineering Jaipur Sanjay Prashar 60 2.80 www.maietjaipur.com
Mahrishi Arvind Institute of Science of Mgmt Ambabar Bharat Parashar 120 2.20 www.maism.com
Management Education & Research Institute Delhi Y. L. Grover 90 2.44 www.meri.edu.in
Mangalmay Institute of Management Greater Noida A. K. Joshi 120 3.00 www.mimt.org
Manipal Institute of Management Manipal K.V.M. Varambally 120 3.00 www.mim.ac.in, www.manipal.edu
Master School of Management Meerut D.K. Ahuja 120 4.64 www.msmindia.org
Mata Vaishno Devi Univ, College of Mgmt Katra Sunil Giri 90 3.35 www.smvdu.ac.in
MATS School of Business Bangalore R. Chenraj Jain 220 3.60 www.mats.ac.in
MIT School of Business Pune R.K. Bhatia 720 3.32 www.mitsob.com
NICE Management College Meerut S.C. Agarwal NA 2.64 www.nicesociety.org
NIMT Greater Noida S.S. Jha 120 7.50 www.nimtuniteduniversity.org
NIMT Institute of Management Jaipur K.N. Sharma 180 7.00 www.nimtuniteduniversity.com
Om Kothari Institute of Management & Research Kota K.C. Shringi 120 NA www.okimrkota.com
PESIM-PES Instiute of Management Bangalore Kalyani Rangarajan 120 3.50 www.pes.edu
Pillai’s Institute of Management Navi Mumbai R. Chandran 120 3.50 www.pimsr.ac.in
Prestige Institute of Management,Dewas Dewas Rishi Dubey 60 2.18 www.pimdewas.org
Rai Business School New Delhi Savita Senger 240 3.50 www.rbs.edu.in
Rajdhani College of Engineering & Management Bhubaneswar Manas Ranjan Mallick 120 3.00 www.rcemorissa.org
Rajiv Academy for Technology & Mgmt Mathura Meenu Gupta 120 3.16 www.ratm.org.in
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel inst of Textile Mgmt Coimbatore S.R. Pujar 40 2.00 www.svpitm.ac.in
Sherwood College of Management Lucknow S.P. Singh 120 2.40 www.sherwoodindia.com
Sikkim Manipal University Ranchi S. M. Wasi 120 1.44 www.manipalu.com
Siva Sivani Institute of Management Secunderabad Sri Sailesh Sampthy 273 3.22 www.ssim.ac.in
Skyline Business School Delhi/Gurgaon Praveen Puri 178 2.50 www.Skylinecollege.com
Sona School of Management Salem D. Dhanapal 116 2.71 www.sonamgmt.org
Srusti Academy of Management Bhubaneswar Gangadhar Mishra 90 1.80 www.srustiacademy.org
St. Peter’s Institute of Management Chennai P. Nagarajan 180 1.80 www.spec.ac.in
Suryadatta Institute of Management Pune Sanjay B. Choradia 480 3.50 www.suryadatta.org
Symbiosis Institute of Operations Management Nashik Vandana Sonwaney 120 7.10 www.siom.in
Taxila Business School Jaipur A.K. Pathak 120 3.50 www.taxila.in
Tecnia Institute of Advanced Studies New Delhi A.K. Srivastava 60 3.29 www.tecniaindia.org
Thiagarajar School of Management Madurai Mattapalli Naga Raju 109 3.20 www.tsm.ac.in
Tolani Institute of management Studies Adipur L.R. Mehta 60 2.05 www.tolani.org
Tripude College of Social Work Nagpur Lalit Khullar 120 3.50 NA
University of Jammu, The Business School Jammu Prof Keshav Sharma 44 www.jammubusinessschool.in
Vaels Institute of Business Administration Chennai P. Govindarajan 240 1.92 www.velscollege.com
Vaikunth Mehta Institute of Coop Management Pune Bhagwati Prasad 117 4.28 www.vamnicom.org
Veltech Chennai K.V.D. Kishore Kumar 104 2.50 www.vel-tech.org
Vignana Jyothi Institute of Management Hyderabad Kamal Ghosh Ray 120 3.60 www.vjim.edu.in
Warangal Institute of Management Warangal T. Dayakara Rao 80 3.20 www.itm.edu

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CITY DIRECTOR STUDENT AVERAGE

RATING & NAME OF THE INSTITUTE Admissions SALARY WEBSITE
(In Alphabetical order) (Rs.lakh)

B++
Andhra University Srikakulam NA 60 3.20 www.andhrauniversity.info
Bansal MBA College Bhopal R.S. Tiwari 120 1.50 www.bansalgroupofinstitutes.net
Bapuji Institute of Engineering & Technology Davangere R. L. Nandeshwar 90 1.41 www.bapuji-mba.org
Bhavnagar University, DBA Bhavnagar A.Kumar 60 2.15 NA
Chaitanya Bharthi Institute of Tech Hyderabad NA 60 1.80 www.cbit.ac.in
Deepiksha College of Technical Education Jaipur NA 120 3.60 www.deepshikha.org
Dept of Commerce & Management Studies Malappuram P. Mohan 40 2.00 www.univeristyofcalicut.info
DES’s - Chintamanrao Institute of Management Sangli B.S. Kholkumbe 60 2.47 www.imrsangli.net
Disha Institute of Management & Technology Raipur R.K. Mishra 60 2.80 www.dimatindia.com
Dr Gaur Hari Singhania Institute of Management Kanpur Prithvi Yadav 240 2.50 www.ghsimr.org
Graduate School of Business & Administration Greater Noida P.L. Maggu 180 3.74 www.gsbaindia.org
Indian Education Society’s Management College Mumbai Dinesh D. Harsolekar 180 3.27 www.ies.edu/management
Indraprastha College of Management Jodhpur Sushil Choudhary 60 3.50 www.indraprastha.com
Institute of Management in Kerala Trivandrum J. Rajan 40 2.16 www.imk.ac.in
Institute of Mgmt Studies, Career & Research Ahmednagar M.B. Mehta 60 3.80 NA
Integral Institute of Advanced Management Visakhapatnam K. Madhavi Ltha 90 2.20 www.iiamindia.org
International School of Informatics Jaipur Ashok Gupta 240 3.30 www.iisjaipur.org/iiim.html
Kavikulguru Institute of Technology & Science Ramtek Bhaskar Patel 60 1.80 www.kits.edu
KIET School of Management Ghaziabad Prabal K. Chakravorty 120 1.20 www.kiet.edu
Kousali Institute of Management Studies Dharwad A.H. Chachadi 60 3.25 www.kimskud.org
Kurukshetra University, Dept of Management Kurukshetra NA 120 1.75 www.kukinfo.coms
Maharishi Institute of Management Noida Ashok Pathak 60 1.44 NA
Mar Athanasios College for Advanced Studies Tiruvalla P.K.Abraham 60 1.60 www.macfast.org
Modi Institute of Management and Technology Kota Er. K. C. Vijay 60 1.60 www.modiedukota.org
Narula Institute of Technology Kolkata N.K. De 120 1.50 www.nit.ac.in
Nava Bharathi College of PG Studies Secunderabad M. Ghosh 120 2.00 www.navabharathipgstudies.org
Nehru College of Management Coimbatore NA 120 2.00 www.nehrucolleges.com
Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru Inst of Business Ujjain Nageshwar Rao 60 2.50 www.vikramuniversity.ac.in
Rai Business School Bangalore D. Nagaraj 165 2.40 www.rbs.edu.in/meadows
Rajalakshmi Engineering College, DMS Chennai P.S. Pandyan 120 2.40 www.rajalakshmi.org
S.R. Luthra Institute of Management Surat NA 90 1.50 srlimba.org
Sambhram Academy of Management Studies Bangalore R.V. Badi 120 1.80 www.sambhram.net
School of Business Studies, GLAITM Mathura Mustaq Ahmed 180 3.20 www.glagroup.org
School of Mgmt, Sri Krishna College of Engg Coimbatore Agv Narayanan 120 4.03 www.somskcet.ac.in
Sobhasaria Engineering College Sikar Wing Cdr S.P. Kaushik 60 3.00 www.secs.ac.in
Tezpur University, Dept of Business Admn Tezpur Chandana Goswami 65 2.25 www.tezu.ernet.in
Xavier Institute of Development Jabalpur Sebasti L. Raj 40 1.68 www.xidas.in

B+
Ambedkar Institute of Management Studies Visakhapatnam C. Nalini 60 2.24 www.aimsbschool.org
Asian Workers Development Institute Rourkela S.Panda 60 1.50 www.awdibmt.net
Babu Banarsi Das Institute of Technology Ghaziabad R.A. Aggarwala 60 2.50 www.bbitgzb.net
Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Inst of Management Kolkata K. V. Gopalkrishnan 60 1.84 www.bimscal.org
BVU Institute of Management & Rural Dev. Sangli Arjun B. Ghatule 180 2.50 www.bvuimard.edu.in
Chandigarh Engineering College Mohali H.S. Saini 240 3.25 www.cecmohali.org

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CITY DIRECTOR STUDENT AVERAGE

RATING & NAME OF THE INSTITUTE Admissions SALARY WEBSITE
(In Alphabetical order) (Rs.lakh)

IILM Business School Bhopal Kartik Jain 30 2.40 www.iilm.edu.in

Indian Academy School of Management Studies Bangalore Jesiah Selvam 60 www.iasms.in
Inst of Global Synergy Ajmer Ishwar Tharaney 120 2.40 www.globalajmer.com
Institute of Cooperative & Corporate Mgmt Lucknow S.K.Srivastava 204 2.50 www.iccmrt.ac.in
Institute of Engg & Management Kolkata Satyajit Chakrabarti 90 NA www.iemcal.com
Institute of Management Study Kolkata Tapash Ranjansaha 60 1.50 www.imscal.net
Institute of Science & Management Ranchi M.L. Singh 60 3.20 www.iismr.org
Rajchandra Institute of Mgmt Surat Bankim Patel 60 1.90 www.srimca.edu.in
Narmada College of Management Bharuch L.N.Joshi 90 2.00 www.ncmbharuch.org
Parks College Tiruppur B. Rajasekaran 57 1.75 www.parkscollege.ac.in
Pioneer Institute of Professional Studies Indore Pramod Kumar Jain 120 2.40 www.pioneerinstitute.net
R.K. Institute of Management & Computer Science Bangalore NA 120 1.25 www.rket.org
R.L.Institute of Management Studies, Madurai. Madurai A.S. Balakrishnan 61 1.00 www.rlinstitutes.com
Rai Business School Faridabad Alka Kaul 375 2.18 www.rbs.edu.in
School of Management, LNCT Bhopal Sanjay Kumar Govil 120 2.50 www.lnctbpl.in
T John College Bangalore Sukumar Naik 120 2.00 www.tjohncollege.com

B
B.C. Roy Engineering College FMS Durgapur S.C. Sikdar 60 2.00 www.bcrec.org
Dept. of MBA, Rural Engineering College Bhalki B.B. Lal 30 2.40 www.recbhalki.org
Dhruva College of Management Hyderabad S. Pratap Reddy 60 2.61 www.dhruvacollege.net
Farook Institute of Management Studies Kozhikode K.S.B. Nayar 52 NA www.fims.ac.in
Global Institute of Management Bhubaneswar Jajatikesari Patnaik 120 1.50 www.gim.edu.in
Institute of Business Management & Technology Bangalore Anil Rawat 60 3.00 www.ibmtedu.net
Govindram Seksaria Institute of Mgmt. & Research Indore T. Duhan 120 2.00 www.gsimr.org
J.V. Institute of Management Studies Jamnagar B.T. Vadher 60 2.50 www.jvims.org
Maharaja Agrasen Institute of Mgmt. Yamunanagar Raj Kumar Goel 90 1.00 www.maimt.com
MGM’s Institute of Management Aurangabad S.A. Somwanshi 95 1.40 www.mgmiom.org
Osmania University Postgraduate College Mahabobnagar Naidu Ashok 60 3.50 www.osmania.ac.in
Rai Business School Bhopal Kartik Jain 60 2.60 www.rbs.edu.in
S.K. Institute of Management Ananatpur K. Rama Krishna Reddy 30 1.80 www.skuniversity.org
Sengunthar Institute of Management Studies Thiruchengode G. Bhaskar 60 1.50 www.senguarts.co.in
Sri Siddhartha Institute of Management Studies Tumkur G. Shivaprasad 210 1.75 NA
Vidyasagar Institute of Management Bhopal Vikas Saraf 60 1.50 www.vim.net.in
Vivekananda School of Post Graduate Studies Hyderabad P.V. Rao 60 2.40 www.vspgs.com
Vysya Institute of Management Studies Salem N. Gnanasabapathy 60 1.80 www.vims.in

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ADMC - Advanced Management College Bangalore Anandan G.S. 120 5.00 www.amcinstitution.com
Dronacharya Inst of Management & Technology Kurukshetra NA 120 1.16 www.dimt.in
Eligah Institute of Management Studies Trichur E.K. Kurian 57 2.4 NA
Pragati Maha Vidyalaya PG College Hyderabad A. Venkatramaiah 60 1.6 www.pragatimahavidyalaya.in
Sarojini Naidu Vanita Maha Vidyalaya Hyderabad S. Veena Pani 60 1.2 www.snvanita.org
SGRRITS Dehradun R.L. Raina 90 1.8 www.sgrrits.org

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