India Today

STEP BY STEP TO THE TOP

The IIMs and some legacy private schools continue to lead the way among India’s business schools, but many others have their work cut out to improve their global rankings

- BY KAUSHIK DEKA

Over the years, the India Today Group’s annual rankings of the country’s business schools have come to be accepted as the last word on the state of management education in India. The survey has expanded its scope and analysis, now offering a 360 degree perspectiv­e—from institutes’ infrastruc­ture to their quality of education to the value for money they offer. After all, a management degree or diploma is still very expensive, even though Indian business schools are more affordable than most global institutes.

However, though affordabil­ity could be a debatable aspect, there cannot be any compromise on quality of education. In this context, the significan­ce of the India Today Group’s survey of business schools is only increasing every year. Gaining admission to the right business school is often the most crucial step in the making or breaking of a career. Every year, around 360,000 MBA students graduate from 4,000 B-Schools in India, according to data from the All India Management Associatio­n (AIMA), a national apex body for the management profession in India. However, only 60 per cent of these graduates find jobs.

The survey, therefore, constantly endeavours to add more value to this annual exercise to help aspiring management students understand the trends in management education. For instance, this year’s survey—conducted by market research agency MDRA—has mapped the performanc­e of business schools since 2014. It’s also the most comprehens­ive study so far, ranking 284 business schools. Such evaluation is all the more important because the performanc­e of business schools—barring the IIMs and some legacy private schools— has received regular criticism from stakeholde­rs and experts.

For instance, the following three warnings found place

in a 2013 report by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM), titled ‘B-schools and Engineerin­g Colleges Shut Down – Big Business Struggles’:

# Many private schools are just a business model by some management gurus to earn some money out of investment.

# Many MBA schools [are very] media savvy. They take page after page [of] ad space in leading newspapers to declare their achievemen­ts.

#Don’t take [an] MBA as a mandatory prestige tag for sure success in the industry... evaluate your current position, your long-term goals [and maybe] your finances.

The report also claimed that, barring graduates from the Indian Institutes of Management, business schools in the country were fast losing their shine and that only about 10 per cent of their graduates were employable. Six years later, the scenario has not changed much. In fact, the india today survey finds that fewer private business schools found place among the top 25 in 2019 than in 2014. According to the

the quality of management institutio­ns and graduates in India. In the 2019 ‘World Talent Report’ by the Switzerlan­d-based IMD, a top-notch global business school, India’s ranking slipped to 53 of 63 countries ranked, down from 29 in 2005. One of the factors behind the drop was the failure to match the needs of the business community. The rankings were based on an evaluation of the nation’s capabiliti­es in areas like workplace training, education and language skills. The indicators also included investment by countries in nurturing local talent, and how well these countries attracted and retained talent.

What’s driving this unemployab­ility is the widening skill gap. One of the biggest challenges in the current job market is the need for usable, practical skills. A 2016 Wold Bank report stated that automation would replace 69 per cent of the jobs in India— this has created a need for business schools to impart training on new skills. Though this certainly brings new challenges, it also brings in opportunit­ies for new kinds of jobs with different skill requiremen­ts.

That’s where business schools need to respond aggressive­ly. Experts often complain that MBA curriculum­s have been slow to react to market realities. Besides, the courses at many business schools largely focus on academic aspects without practical business exposure. Rekha Sethi, director general, AIMA, has publicly lamented the fact that most Bschools lack access to meaningful internship­s and placement opportunit­ies.

In the past couple of years, however, management schools have done well in terms of internship­s with industrial exposure. According to online training and internship platform Internshal­a, management graduates from top business schools have witnessed a rise in the number of internship­s and average stipend as compared to last year.

What’s also encouragin­g is the emergence of management jobs in certain sectors, which were earlier not considered among the top job-generating sectors. For instance, despite farm distress, the demand for managerial skills in the agri-business

India Skills Report 2019, prepared by talent assessment firm Wheebox, the employabil­ity of students who have earned MBAs has gone down from 41.02 per cent in 2014 to 36.44 per cent in 2019. What makes this piece of data striking is the fact that the employabil­ity of students across all streams has gone up from 34 per cent in 2014 to 47 per cent in 2019.

Even global surveys have validated this gradual decline in

and food sector continues to be on the rise. The rising number of students taking up agri-business and rural management as career options at top business schools provides compelling evidence for this. They have a reason to do so as there has been a consistent increase in pay packages offered by reputed recruiters for management graduates with an exposure to the rural economy. For example, the Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA), which currently offers a host of programmes in rural and agri-business management, is planning to increase its intake of students to 480 from the current 360 in order to cater to the growing demand for this specialise­d field. The institute reported a jump of 36 per cent in the median salary for its graduating batch of 2019—from Rs 8.4 lakh per annum in 2015 to Rs 11.5 lakh per annum. The Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A) has also recorded a significan­t hike in the median salary of students who did the dedicated course on Food and AgriBusine­ss Management.

Another positive trend is the focus on entreprene­urship, rather than just securing placements for students. With the recent boom in start-ups, B-schools are increasing­ly focusing on entreprene­urship-developmen­t programmes by setting up incubation centres. The india today survey also finds that the number of students opting for entreprene­urship has grown since 2014.

However, these are still baby steps and an overhaul in much bigger scope is required of business schools in India. The ASSOCHAM report had advised that management institutes improve their infrastruc­ture, train their faculty better, work on improving industry linkages, spend money on research and knowledge creation, as well as pay faculty well in order to attract good teachers. They must do all of these, and at a much faster pace. ■

 ??  ?? BRILLIANT MINDS
Students at IIM Ahmedabad
BRILLIANT MINDS Students at IIM Ahmedabad
 ?? RACHIT GOSWAMI ??
RACHIT GOSWAMI
 ?? MANDAR DEODHAR ??
MANDAR DEODHAR
 ??  ?? READY FOR BUSINESS
Students on campus at XLRI
READY FOR BUSINESS Students on campus at XLRI

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