Students, faculty, alumni our strength, say country’s top business schools

Several institutes ranked best in a country-wide survey of B-schools by DNA and Indus Learning said students, faculty and alumni were their assets.

The survey chose 30 institutes on the basis of unaided recall by 300 people (75 each potential students, faculty, alumni and HR managers) across six cities — Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Chennai, Pune, Bangalore and Chandigarh — and put them to a perception test by 400 respondents.
The institutes were evaluated on several parameters, which included curriculum, faculty, international exposure, reputation, placements, industry interaction, infrastructure and potential to network, and Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A), which stood first in six attributes and second in the remaining two, emerged tops, followed by the IIMs in Bangalore, Kolkata and Lucknow.
Explaining its number one ranking, IIM-A dean BH Jajoo said, “Our programmes have a strong academic rigour.

Chalta hai attitude doesn’t work at all. Our strength is our faculty who are dedicated and committed to excellence. Then there’s the fine quality of our students. The quality of infrastructure we have also contributes a lot to the achievement.”

Anil Gupta, a senior faculty, said the institute’s success could be attributed to the flexibility and autonomy enjoyed by its faculty. “Most people on the campus are self-motivated. The institute’s support system is very strong,” he said.

Having established itself as the top B-school in India, IIM-A is now planning to gain more prominence at the international level. “We are aiming to increase our international ranking through high-quality publications. We have many plans, including facilitating intake of foreign students. We are also looking at setting up campuses abroad,” Jajoo said.

A large section of academicians, alumni and students of IIM-Calcutta also said it is the students that make the IIMs special.

“Generally, while grading any educational institution, faculty and amenities are the primary aspects that are kept in mind. But in case of IIMs, it is the students who play a major role in making them special. This is because the entrance process is so tough and rigorous, that only the best can join the IIMs,” Sanjoy Mukhopadhyay, an IIM-C alumnus and inspector general (south) of West Bengal Police, said.

S Bhattacharjee, another alumnus who teaches management in the US, said IIMs taught students to handle pressure. “Someone with a starting annual salary of over Rs24 lakh will be subjected to tremendous work pressure. IIM students learn handling stress much before they are placed. This makes IIMs a great place,” he said.

IIM-Bangalore also considers students and faculty its backbone. “Our students have always been very bright and smart. Moreover, we give them rigorous and holistic training,” Trilochan Sastry, dean (academic), IIM-B, said.
Alumni are also considered a major strength. “Most of our alumni are who’s who of the industry. IIM-B alumni association has been helping young students chart out their career growth,” Rakesh Godhwani, head of the alumni association, said.

At IIM-Lucknow, students give credit to the holistic environment which the institute offers. “Introduction of new and unique courses, such as ‘carbon markets and environment strategies’, keeps students ahead of other B-schools,” Ishani Pruthi, a student, said.

“We are privileged to interact with corporate honchos almost every other week. This helps us link the knowledge received in classrooms to the latest happenings in the industry,” Saikat Sinha, another student, said.

An IIM-L spokesperson said to create world-class professionals, it was important for students to be exposed to the world.

“Intellectual capital of the faculty, quality of students and industry-institute interaction contribute most to the development of students and keep them ahead in the real world,” Shailendra Singh, professor, human resource department, said.

It is not just the IIMs, Mumbai’s Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies (JBIMS) also regards students and teachers as its pillars. “Our faculty has played a crucial role in shaping the institute’s development since its inception in 1965. They are given a lot of flexibility to incorporate latest concepts and aspects while teaching students,” JBIMS director Stephen D’Silva said.

“Our students too play a leading role in the development of JBIMS. For instance, the placements are, to a large extent, driven by students,” he said.

In many of the attributes, JBIMS, along with other institutes, such as Faculty of Management Studies-Delhi, XLRI-Jamshedpur, Management Development Institute-Gurgaon and the Indian Institute of Planning and Management, is ranked among the top 10. Other Mumbai institutes such as SP Jain and Narsee Monjee have also been perceived as good B-schools.

Symbiosis Institute of Management-Pune, which got an overall ranking of 12, has also been rated in the top 15 in all parameters.

“The institute was established in 1978 and its alumni are placed in important positions in the industry. They are strong academic ambassadors of the institute. We are currently focusing on improving the student-faculty ratio and recruiting adequate number of faculty with PhDs and for that we are coming up with a research and innovation centre,” SB Mujumdar, founder president of Symbiosis International, said.

Nitin Prabhu, a second-year student of the institute, said it was entirely a student-driven institute and students were involved in various activities throughout the year.

While some Mumbai institutes such as Welingkar and MET have an average ranking, others such Loyola Institute of Business Administration-Chennai, KIIT-Bhubaneswar and the Institute of Technology & Management-Gurgaon are perceived as good in some categories and average in others.