ISB Hyderabad among top 5
It is not surprising to see the three oldest IIMs at Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Calcutta being voted as the 3 most preferred business schools in India, each having a brand pedigree of nearly four decades. The premier institutes have faced the challenge of expanding while keeping up the quality well, despite the Indian faculty crunch and pressures from the Central Government that they function under. By being bullish on the one-year executive MBA, they have smartly segmented the market in tune with the different needs of the freshly graduated and experienced MBA aspirants.
The booming job market has helped too. Earlier this year, both IIM Ahmedabad and IIM Bangalore reported the highest number of Pre-Placement Offers ever in India, including a large number of associate level offers from investment banks. Being on top has helped IIM Ahmedabad take some bold steps like allowing a holiday to its alumni to experiment with entrepreneurship and return back to avail of the institute's placements within two years of graduating.
IIM Calcutta's being voted 2nd by respondents from West and East India fails to reflect in the school's national rankings. According to IIM Calcutta's Dean of Programs and Implementation, "We used to have a traditional disadvantage because of our location. However, that is slowly changing because a lot is happening in West Bengal."
ISB Hyderabad's fourth position, reinforced by the one crore plus salaries, might mean that a large section of aspirants are warming up to working for a couple of years and get into ISB rather than settle for a lower school if they don't make it to the top three IIMs. The school's high brand perception draws equally from its unique model of sourcing faculty and content via its tie-ups with The Wharton School, Kellogg School of Management and London Business School. Along with teaching the largest MBA batch in India comprising over 450 students, ISB has also been concentrating on infrastructure expansion and research. According to ISB Dean Dr MR Rao, "Only a few Indian B-schools have been able to impart quality education. In order to be ranked globally, faculty research should be published in top tier international journals."
XLRI Jamshedpur is the only other private b-school voted by people to Top 10 (we have not categorised MDI Gurgaon under private B-schools owing to its close association with the public sector body Industrial Finance Corporation of India). FMS, Delhi at number 6 is perhaps the only government university-based business school in India that has built a national appeal. Although IIFT Delhi's flagship MBA (International Business) is positioned as a sectoral program, the profiles offered by companies at the institute are largely the same as those offered to a general MBA program, and high-paying at that.
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