THE ALPHA B-SCHOOL
Beyond the placements and salary packages, IIM-A is considered the foremost B-school in India because of the quality of professors, the amazing peer groups and its multi-dimensional education
YYear after year, as the media reports on the best business schools in India, there is breathless commentary on the salary packages and placements at the country’s top institutes. I doubt that this will be changing anytime soon. After all, for those who are looking to break through economic barriers by landing fat-cheque corporate jobs, this is a natural reason to rejoice and celebrate—an academic institution that churns out top business executives who go on to achieve global acclaim.
Among the many B-schools in India, the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (or IIM-A), is, simply put, at the very peak of management education. The institute’s world-renowned status is cemented further every year when corporates make their selections from the many graduates during placement season. However, this is a somewhat recent trend—I recall a time when eye-popping salary packages were not the norm at B-school placement drives. For example, Sanjeev Bikhchandani, the founder of Info Edge (which owns job portal Naukri.com), tells me that when he graduated from IIM-A in 1989, there weren’t too many corporates arriving on campus to hire graduates. However, by 1992, the situation was much closer to what it is today. Consulting firms and FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) companies had begun to arrive on campus by then, and that year, the world-renowned consulting firm McKinsey hired two graduates for the first time from an Indian business school.
However, beyond the myopic view of placements at renowned companies and the accompanying high salaries, the reason IIM-A is considered the best amongst the best is because of the quality of professors, the amazing peer groups and the institute’s multi-dimensional education,
which shapes students for life. This fundamental excellence of institutes like IIM-A is why they commanded a great deal of respect even in the past—higher education at best-in-class institutes is a privilege in its own right.
I got into St Stephen’s for my Bachelors and majored in Economics. I took it relatively easy throughout college, but I was quite sure about what I wanted to do next. The path to a corporate career through one of the Indian Institutes of Management seemed like the most natural choice. (It’s another matter that I chose not to carry on with a corporate career for too long and took the entrepreneurial plunge just a few years into my job.) After graduating from St Stephen’s, I applied to the IIMs, XLRI and FMS. It was a nice kick to get interview calls from all the B-schools I had applied to, but I felt my efforts truly paid off when I got into IIM Ahmedabad. Initially, you think you are the cat’s whiskers since you managed to get into the best B-school in the country. But you realise very soon that you may be a big fish in your
little pond, but out in the ocean, you are indeed insignificant. The first MANAC (management accounting) quiz brought me down to earth with a thud. It was the only D of my life. I was miserable because I had never got marks like this. I knew it was time to pull my socks up. Quickly enough, I found my groove.
One of the most outstanding aspect of studying at IIM-A is getting to learn from the most luminous faculty—professors that push you to think broadly and sharply, to diagnose and define problems precisely and to solve them systematically and coherently. I remember learning from Professor A.K. Jain, who has been teacher extraordinaire to over 40 batches of IIM-A graduates. He pressed us to never settle for anything less than a lasersharp analysis of every fact and figure at our disposal. Those of us who have been through case discussions with him and were called to make class presentations can never forget his string of “whys” and “so whats” as he relentlessly pushed us to find the right answers. Whatever comforting illusions we harboured about being some of the smartest students in the country were quite
‘TODAY, INSTITUTES LIKE IIM-A ARE PRODUCING MORE ENTREPRENEURS THAN EVER BEFORE’
swiftly demolished when we found ourselves in the firing line of his probing questions. It went a long way in teaching us that to find the right answer, you have to ask the right questions first. It also taught us a thing or two about humility.
IIM-A is also one of the national pioneers of the case-study approach to learning management principles, which is an example of the institute’s focus on applied learning. This case-study approach not only increases student-teacher engagement, but also encourages greater interaction between students, leading to participative learning and group work. This pioneering effort came as a result of IIM-A’s collaboration with Harvard Business School, and is today a way of life for teachers and students.
While it is awe-inspiring to be surrounded by some of the most brilliant and talented minds in the country, the fiercely competitive atmosphere and the incredible learning on campus, one can’t
‘HIGHER EDUCATION AT BEST-IN-CLASS INSTITUTES LIKE IIM-A IS A PRIVILEGE IN ITS OWN RIGHT’
help but also marvel at the ability of students to pursue other interests as well. Despite the rigorous coursework, IIM-A also provides a plethora of extra-curricular activities—sports, debates, casual interaction with faculty and so much more—to help students develop well-rounded personalities.
The initial unadorned style of architecture by the famed Louis Kahn at the old campus—crafted entirely out of red brick—now has
‘IIM-A IS REMARKABLE FOR ITS WORLDCLASS INFRASTRUCTURE AND ITS FUTURE-READY CURRICULUM’
the bare grey cement of the new campus for company. However, both remain striking to students and visitors alike. What makes the institution even more remarkable is the state-of-the-art infrastructure it houses and the future-ready curriculum it offers to groom leaders of tomorrow.
In what can only be termed an ironic twist, back in the nineties, IIM-A offered a course on entrepreneurship which I opted out of. It was only later in life that I learned that I wanted to build something of my own more than leading a corporate life. Post-MBA, I chose to do a stint with ABN Amro and then GE Money, but a lack of sense of personal achievement gnawed at me and I was itching to do more. I was bitten by the internet bug and
I believed that business-as-usual was going to change for the good with the internet democratising information in previously unimagined ways. A meeting with a venture capitalist at a mall in Mumbai was the starting point—we excitedly jotted down a new business plan on a paper napkin and the rest is history.
I am happy to note that the institute is today producing more entrepreneurs than ever before. Some of the students are even choosing to opt out of placements to start something of their own—it may be a small fraction, but it’s a start. At the time that I gave up my corporate job to start something of my own, I was amongst a handful of people from IIM-A who set out on a different course. And then there are alumni who are choosing to become social entrepreneurs, challenging the perception that business schools churn out only capitalist leaders.
Organisations like Give India, which channel funding to certified non-profit donors; pioneer of microlending in India Basix or charity organisations like Prayaas have all been founded and run by IIM-A alumni.
With collaborations with the world’s best business schools, a deep engagement in research, campus visits by renowned academics including Nobel laureates and as a centre for innovation incubation and entrepreneurship—IIM-A continues to keep up with the changing requirements for a world-class education. Being an alumnus, it’s hard for me to be unbiased, but having been in touch with the faculty, alumni network and the institute, I am exceedingly optimistic about IIM-A’s future. ■
‘IIM-A CONTINUES TO KEEP UP WITH THE CHANGING REQUIREMENTS FOR A WORLD-CLASS EDUCATION’