The One Year MBA at IIM Shillong is unique in the way that it has a focus on China and other emerging economies and it aims to prepare leaders who are comfortable conducting business in these economies. 

IIM Shillong has announced the completion of the final placement process of the 2nd batch of Post-Graduate Program for Executives (PGPEx) : Managing Business in Indian and China (2013- 2014).

The 2nd batch of PGPEx participants had on an average 5.7 years of experience in diverse industries and business functions.

Owing to the quality and diversity of work experience, several companies from different industry like IT, Consultancy, BFSI, and Energy made offers across functions. The positions offered ranged from middle to senior-middle management level.

NPCI emerged as the largest recruiter as it made 5 offers. Other leading companies like United Spirits, Technova, Dun & Bradstreet, Icreon, Capco, IL&FS and NIIT have also extended offers for various positions of responsibility.

As per the institute, out of the batch of 31 participants (including the 6 who were on sabbatical), 16 participants received offers. Further 2 participants found jobs through their own efforts.

Overall, 24 companies participated in the placement process this year.

Recruiters

The companies that participated in the placement process include ABC Consultants, Yodlee Infotech, Aviva India, Mu Sigma, Capco, NPCI, CLP India, Intertek, Dun & Bradstreet Jindal Steel and Power, Egon Zehnder, HCL, Groupon, Zomato, Hewlett Packard, Misys Software Solutions, Icreon Tech, IL&FS, Shapoorji Pallonji, NIIT, Spaciate Consulting, United Spirits, Tecnova and McKinsey Solutions.

Key Sectors

Most of the placed candidates joined the sunshine industries while some entered the established ones. A largest percentage of candidates entered the technology domain followed by the BFSI sector. Consultancy was third in this list along with Food & Beverages which together hired 7% of the placed candidates. This was followed by renewable energy sector which got 3% of the placed candidates.

Class profile of the Class of 2014

The study revealed that 35 per cent of students in tier I colleges and 60 per cent of tier II college students score below the Industry standard in sales acumen.

Moreover, 40 per cent of students in tier I colleges and 48 per cent of tier II college students score below industry standard in terms of customer focus.

Around 2,500 students across more than 80 B-schools in India were included in the study conducted by Jombay – a talent assessment and analytics platform.

Whether the survey is based on industry feedback or some sort of scoring mechanism of current students/alumni is not clear. Understanding the methodology followed by the survey is important not just to ascertain the validity of the findings, but also because the the survey has been sanctioned by a talent assessment company which might stand to gain from a finding as explosive as this.

Whether the survey is based on industry feedback or some sort of scoring mechanism of current students/alumni is not clear. Understanding the methodology followed by the survey is important not just to ascertain the validity of the findings, but also because the the survey has been sanctioned by a talent assessment company which might stand to gain from a finding as explosive as this.

The tier I colleges include Indian School of Business (ISB) Hyderabad, IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Kolkata, IIM Lucknow, IIM Bangalore, Xavier Labour Relations Institute (XLRI), S P Jain Institute of Management and Research, Faculty of Management Studies (FMS).

Tier II colleges include Delhi School of Economics, Symbiosis Institute of International Business, Amity University, IGNOU (Delhi), Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad (MICA), BITS-Pilani, and 70 other colleges.

The study further noted that in tier I colleges, 55 per cent students score lower than industry expectations on emotional control.

Emotional control, stress tolerance and foresight are training areas for tier II colleges too, but here, the students fall short by 63 per cent, 55 per cent, 55 per cent respectively.

Additionally, at least 50 per cent students score lower than industry standards in the tier II colleges on people understanding, helpfulness and smart problem solving, the report noted.

By Shikhar Mohan

Outlook magazine has released the 2014 ranking of B-Schools in India with a section devoted to a ranking of the best B-Schools for a pursuing a One Year MBA course.

The ranking is interesting because it reflects the conflicting themes playing out in management education in India today – the rising stature of one-year MBA courses which are producing MBA talent as the world understands the term thanks to their intake of highly experienced professionals and the historical predominance of two-year PGDM/ PGP courses in India which largely recruit freshers. 

The situation seems to have left an imprint on the ranking – while the magazine has chosen to base the core ranking of B-School’s solely on scores assigned to AICTE, NAAC and AIU accredited two-year PGP/ PGDM courses, the write-ups accompanying the rankings seem to suggest that the industry in India is increasingly preferring talent graduating from one-year MBA courses that is ready to hit the ground running. 

It’s perhaps worth noting here, that one-year MBA programmes are in fact the only courses in India to have been accredited as MBAs by global accreditation body AMBA, UK.  

In an article accompanying the rankings titled ‘What recruiters want‘ A.K. Balaji Prasad remarks, “Despite the beeline made by recruiters at India’s top-to-middle B-schools, there is one issue that’s been troubling them for the last several years. The fresh stock they routinely pick up from these elite campuses every year rarely match the industry’s requirements and have to be retrained and oriented for specific needs.”

In another article titled ‘Are we the Players‘, author Arindam Mukherjee says “most companies are getting rid of their training and orientation culture to create a workforce that is war-ready and want the B-schools to take responsibility for doing that” and that “recruiters are showing increasing proclivity towards graduates of one-year cour­ses, who tend to have worked before.”

Coming to the rankings, the methodology followed by the magazine for the ranking the best B-schools for one-year MBA courses this year is not entirely clear. Last year, Outlook had mentioned that its inaugural 2013 ranking of Best B-school’s for One-year MBA courses is based solely on recruiter perception.

Despite the beeline made by recruiters at India’s top-to-middle B-schools, there is one issue that’s been troubling them for the last several years. The fresh stock they routinely pick up from these elite campuses every year rarely match the industry’s requirements and have to be retrained and oriented for specific needs

This year, while Outlook has clearly defined the parameters for its main ranking of Best B-Schools for two-year PGP/ PGDM courses, its is silent on the key criteria considered for ranking B-Schools for their one-year MBA courses.

Outlook’s 2014 Ranking of Best B-Schools in India for One Year MBA Courses

The ranking has some surprises – while the top 3 slots in the ranking have been grabbed by IIM A, ISB and IIM B in that order, IIM C (No. 5) has been upstaged by XLRI (No.4).

However, some aspects of the ranking strike an odd note. Chennai based Great Lakes Institute of Management has been ranked No. 7 this year – above schools such as IIM Indore and SP Jain. 

The inclusion of IIM Kozhikode at rank 8 is absurd – IIM K doesn’t have a one-year full time MBA course. IIM K does however offer a two-year part-time course (executive MBA) called EPGP. 

While the course name is very similar to the branding used by IIM B and IIM I for their one-year full time regular MBA courses (EPGP again), IIM K’s EPGP is a part-time course. IIM K should ideally have been ranked separately for this course, possibly in a ranking of best B-Schools for an Executive MBA.  

Read more of Outlook’s 2014 B-School ranking at this link.

By William Litwack

Until recently, the two-year PGP course, the flagship program at all IIMs, has been the gold standard of MBA programs in India.  But calling them MBAs is actually a misnomer.

One problem is that IIMs award diplomas rather than degrees.  But the real impediment is the fact that international accreditation organizations such as the Association of MBAs (AMBA) require a program’s students to have an average of at least five years work experience and a minimum of three years.

PGP courses do not meet this criterion.  They often admit students with no full-time work experience and the average is around two years.

IIM A PGPX students (image courtesy India Today)

Officially, accreditation organizations consider PGPs to be an MBM – Masters in Business and Management.  Unofficially, the PGPs usually characterize themselves as “MBA-equivalent”.

From the founding of the first IIMs in Calcutta and Ahmedabad in 1961 followed by IIM Bangalore in 1973 (there are now a total of 13), this was the model that the brightest students in India aspired to.

But this comfortable status quo was challenged with the creation of ISB, the Indian School of Business, in Hyderabad in 2001.  Its flagship program is of one year duration and it requires more work experience for admission – the minimum is normally two years and the class average is about five years.

International accreditation organizations such as the Association of MBAs (AMBA) require an MBA program’s students to have an average of at least five years work experience and a minimum of three years. PGP courses do not meet this criterion.  They often admit students with no full-time work experience and the average is around two years. Officially, accreditation organizations consider PGPs to be an MBM – Masters in Business and Management.  Unofficially, the PGPs usually characterize themselves as “MBA-equivalent”.

It turned out that there was a strong demand for ISB’s approach and their class size has grown to more than 700 per year.   As you might expect, it wasn’t long before several of the IIMs followed suit and established their own one year programs – first the PGPX at IIMA in 2007 and soon after the EPGP at IIMB and similar programs at IIMs in Calcutta, Indore and Lucknow.

Internationally, most of the MBAs outside North America are one year programs. Top-tier European schools like INSEAD in France, IMD in Switzerland and IE in Spain are well-established and highly-selective.

Average work experience varies from about five to seven years.   In the US, most MBA programs still use the two-year model but this has started to change – three of the top twenty American B-schools now also offer one year full-time programs alongside their existing two-year programs.

MBA in India and abroad

Each program has its own particularities, so direct comparisons between programs in India and those abroad are difficult but it is possible to make a few generalizations.

• Students in Indian one-year programs, generally, have more work experience, up to 9.5 years in IIMB’s EPGP and 10+ years at IIMA’s PGPX.
• Average GMAT scores for students in Indian one-year programs are competitive with that of programs abroad.
• The percentage of students with engineering background is more than twice high in Indian programs (For example, 28% at INSEAD and 37% at Stanford versus 74% at ISB and 68% at PGPX).
• While the fees for Indian one-year programs represent a hefty investment, up to Rs 24 Lakhs, the cost of foreign one-year programs is more than double and can be close to three times as much.
• Most European and American MBA programs have a large percentage of international students, with 40+ nationalities often being represented in a class.  Indian programs, on the other hand, have a negligible representation of international students. For example, ISB had only 13 out of a class of 700+, PGPX had just six with foreign passports, and most other programs had none.

Indian programs do attract a significant number of NRIs, especially in the one-year programs. These include people who intend to re-settle in India after graduating as well as those intending to continue working abroad but wanting to take advantage of the lower cost of Indian programs.

Internationally, most of the MBAs outside North America are one year programs. Top-tier European schools like INSEAD in France, IMD in Switzerland and IE in Spain are well-established and highly-selective.

The IIMs are insistent that they are not placement agencies.  Their priority is providing an academic experience of the highest international standard.

While all Indian B-schools offer a range of placement support to students in their one year programs, they all make it clear that placement cannot be guaranteed. The fact remains, however, that for virtually all applicants to these programs, placement post-graduation is a top priority.

ISB students strike a pose on campus (image courtesy The Hindu)

All the schools continue to provide placement support for the students after graduation.

The results vary from year to year depending on market conditions, the quality of the students themselves and also the fact that it has taken time for recruiters to become aware of how to position the more experienced graduates of one-year programs in their companies.

For instance, for the batch that graduated earlier in 2013, IIMB’s EPGP program seems to have had the most success.  71 students out of a class of 74 have been placed (96%), with most achieving significant career enhancement with a substantial jump in position, remuneration and level of responsibility.

Many moved into jobs in new functions and sectors, the average salary was Rs 26 Lakhs, and two graduates received compensation packages of one crore or more, one being placed in India and the other in the US.

The top Indian B-schools have top-flight programs and faculty, easily competitive with the best on offer in the rest of the world and at half the cost. But candidates need to be clear about what they hope to accomplish before clicking the send button on the application form.

If it is primarily a turbo-boost in their career progression then they may be disappointed.  If on the other hand they find themselves dissatisfied despite a good job with a high salary and seek to challenge themselves intellectually and open themselves to a potentially transformative experience, then pressing the send button can be the first step on a life-changing journey.

William Litwack is a Canadian with almost 20 years of experience working on international management programs.  He is presently working as a consultant at IIM Udaipur