Conducted by GMAC, the test scores are now accepted by NMIMS University, Alliance University, SRM University, BML Munjal University, VIT University, ICFAI University, Ansal University, Mody University, NIIT University, Thapar University, Shoolini University and Woxsen School of Business for their graduate management programs. (Source: Business Standard, image credit: t-hud)

An analysis of data collected by Bloomberg suggests that getting a master’s in business results in a pay bump that increases the older a graduate is—until she hits 30. 

As part of its ranking of full-time MBA programs, Bloomberg surveyed more than 10,000 people who expected to graduate business school in 2014. The ages and starting compensation for people who had jobs lined up when they graduated, plotted in the chart below, show that in one’s mid-20s, paychecks bump up for every year of age, which makes sense—a 28-year-old will typically have more work experience and education than a 24-year-old.

Surprisingly, though, age stops giving graduates a pay advantage fairly quickly. Pay levels hover in the mid-$120,000s range between ages 28 and 34, peaking at age 30, and then begin to drop off steadily, falling to $110,000 at ages 36 and 37.  

Why does compensation drop beyond for students older than 30? Analysts say this could be due to recruiters seeing candidates older than 30 as directionless.

What could also be a contributing factor, and one which the research doesn’t talk about, is that older students might be doing an MBA in order to start a new career in functional areas or professions that they were not previously qualified for. In such cases, the past experience of such students would be ‘discounted’ to some extent which would impact the salary they command. 

These candidates may nevertheless be gaining substantially from an MBA in terms of getting access to new roles which excite them. By combining multiple skill sets, these students might eventually earn more than those students who got high paychecks right out of B-School. 

Looked at from a point of view of percentage gain in outgoing salary over incoming salary, the younger a student is the more she will gain in percentage terms – older graduates may get a lower salary bump in percentage terms since their incoming salary is already high. In absolute terms though, these older students will take home much more than their younger classmates.

Be aware that this data and analysis pertains to one-year full-time and two-year full- time MBA programmes pursued by students with substantial work-ex. and not to two-year pre-experience Masters in Business Management (two year PGDM/ PGP programmes) offered in India which are typically pursued by freshers. While these programmes are packaged as MBAs by B-Schools these courses are accredited as MBMs by AMBA as they are pursued by freshers with minimal work-experience. Students with more than 3 years work ex. often find their additional experience a liability is these programmes since most offers during placement season are at the entry level.  

The chart below shows the post-MBA pay increase for students who had jobs before they started B-School, and were set to start jobs when they graduated.

Compensation bumps get smaller with each year of age, reflecting the fact that older MBAs tend to enter their programs with higher salaries, making their post-B-School pay increase less dramatic. 

Of course, it isn’t as if the ancient 30-somethings are getting nothing out of their time on campus. The typical 37-year-old got a 37 percent pay bump after finishing school.  Compared with the youth, though, that uptick does not seem impressive. Twenty-nine-year-olds saw their compensation balloon by a median of 81 percent, and 25-year-olds enjoyed an enviable 130 percent pay increase.

The upshot for people mulling a degree in business? Start early, when you can still feel superior to people your boss’s age. (Source – Bloomberg)

A total of 611 students graduated this year across five different full-time and executive programs including PGPM (one-year full-time MBA), PGDM (two-year full-time MBM), PGXPM (Executive MBA), PGPM – Flex (part-time MBA) and PGP-Business Analytics and Business Intelligence.

The six best outgoing students and four academic toppers from each program received Gold medals during the graduation ceremony.

Speaking on the convocation, Chief Guest, Mr. Ratan Tata, Chairman – TATA Trusts, said, “I express my deepest and genuine congratulations to the graduating class. The purpose of this curriculum given to you at Great Lakes will be realized once you leave this place. And that is when your real learning starts. Just be yourself and be driven by the desire to make a difference. Your real learning starts now, the tools, experience and exposure have been given to you, but what you make of it in life is what you do after you graduate. There will be thousands of occasions when you have to make difficult decisions and you have to ask yourself whether you are taking the right one, however, difficult or unpopular that may be.”

On being asked by a student about the lessons that can be learnt from the launch of Tata Nano car, Ratan Tata said it was a really an exhilarating experience to produce a car that was affordable…but, it was mistake to brand it as the cheapest car instead of most affordable one…people did not want to be seen in the cheapest car…

Mr. Ratan Tata also took questions from the students and talked about the support young startups need. He mentioned that “I see this as an opportunity to encourage and support young start-ups in new space (e-commerce and e-retailing), which in my view is, going to change the face of the Indian merchandise and marketing. So, in a small way, because I am not a wealthy person, I have invested in some 10 companies. Some of them will succeed.” 

“I would like to support companies that have commitment and those that want to serve the common man, like in the field of health or empowerment of women,” said Tata.

On being asked by a student about the lessons that can be learnt from the launch of Tata Nano car, he said it was a really an exhilarating experience to produce a car that was affordable and could be purchased for Rs.1 lakh. But, it was a greatest mistake to brand it as the cheapest car instead of most affordable one. It caused a negative impact on the market. People did not want to be seen in a cheapest car.

“The Nano experience in West Bengal cost us one year as we had to shift the factory to another state and in that one year, a lot was lost in terms of perception as our detractors went to town with barbs and criticism, not all fair and correct.” he said.

Delivering the convocation address, Mr. Faizal E Kottikollan, Founder and Chairman, KEF Holdings, Dubai, said, “Today, as you graduate, I wish you all to be different and think different. Just hold on to your values as it is these values that will define you as a good human being.”

Welcoming the gathering, Dr. Bala V Balachandran, Founder, Dean & Chairman, Great Lakes Institute of Management, said, “It gives me great pleasure to welcome our Chief Guests to Great Lakes. I feel proud to be present here on the 11th convocation ceremony of Great Lakes in the presence of our honorable guests. I firmly believe that it is a confluence of diverse thoughts and ideas which makes an institute grow and reach even greater heights.  I can say with conviction that today’s graduands stand by this very principle of diversity at Great Lakes. No doubt that these graduates are among the best in the world and have the potential to become catalysts for change. I wish each one of you a great success in your career ahead. The world is out there, awaiting for your contributions and the knowledge that you acquired at Great Lakes will definitely lead you to a positive change. Step out and make your alma mater proud.”

Besides academic toppers, medals and certificates were awarded to nearly 70 graduates in the following categories – Dean’s Merit List, Domain toppers, best Empirical Study and Committee contributors.  

One of the highlights this year was that twenty graduating PGPM students from Great Lakes who completed their six weeks exchange program with University of Bordeaux, France in July 2015, will also be receiving their MBA (Level- M2) degree in European Business Administration and International Business from University of Bordeaux subsequently during Bordeaux University’s graduation ceremony.

Modi’s tiger has roared. IIM alumni and students, more than 400 of them, have spoken out unanimously like never before on a critical issue of management education.

Students from leading IIMs, such as IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, IIM Calcutta, IIM Indore and IIM Lucknow, have signed OneYearMBA.co.in’s petition to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Minister for Human Resource Development Smriti Irani asking for changes in the upcoming IIM Bill to ensure that the Masters in Business Administration (MBA) degree at IIMs is awarded to One Year MBA courses and Masters in Business Management (MBM) degree is awarded to two-year PGP programmes, in sync with the global accreditation awarded to these courses by Association of MBAs (AMBA). AMBA is one of the top 3 global business education accreditation bodies and the only one that accredits courses instead of B-Schools – other bodies such as EQUIS and AACSB certify the overall quality of an institute.

AMBA has been accrediting courses run by IIMs and has so far conferred the MBA status only on the one-year MBA of IIM Calcutta and IIM Lucknow. But IIMs are not communicating this loud and clear to all and sundry.

435 students have signed the petition as of date. These students are asking the government and educational authorities to take a clear stand and ensure that Made in India MBAs meet global standards. Globally, an MBA is a post-experience degree. AMBA stipulates that only students with three years or more of work experience can pursue it and that an MBA class, taken as a whole, must have a minimum average work experience of 5 years.

This stipulation is meant to ensure that an MBA course delivers on its stated goal of preparing mid-career professionals for leadership roles. Students with substantial work experience can connect lessons taught in class with their past corporate experience and learn extensively from their peers, who all bring years of knowledge to class. This ensures that MBA graduates step out of B-School as mature individuals ready to tackle leadership roles.

Only One Year MBA courses at IIMs that stipulate a minimum of 5 years of work experience as an eligibility requirement meet and exceed global norms for an MBA course and are consequently accredited as Full Time MBAs by AMBA.

While the Association of Indian Universities (AIU), an Indian regulatory body, awards ‘MBA equivalent’ status to two-year PGP courses offered by IIMs, AMBA, accredits these very same courses as pre-experience Masters in Business Management (MBM) worldwide.

AMBA’s accreditation standards are clear: an MBA course must admit students with 3+ years of work experience while an MBM can admit candidates with 0-3 years work experience. So students with less than 3 years of work experience are eligible to pursue an MBM, not an MBA. Since the two-year PGP courses at IIMs largely recruit freshers (most admits have less than a year of work experience and many have zero work experience), these courses are accredited by AMBA as MBMs.

Links to the official accreditation page of AMBA show that IIM C’s One Year MBA (called PGPEX) has been accredited as a full time MBA while its PGP course has been accredited as an MBM. Similarly while IIM Lucknow’s One Year MBA (called IPMX) has been accredited as a full time MBA, its PGP course has been accredited as an MBM.

The IIM Bill, which is set to be tabled in the Indian Parliament, ignores these facts and will empower IIMs to grant MBA degrees to graduates of the two-year PGP course (as against the MBA equivalent diplomas  that they currently grant under the aegis of AIU).There is simply no talk about conferring the MBA degree on the One Year MBA, the real contender for this degree!

“Giving importance to local accreditation (by AIU) based on sub-par standards over global accreditation (by AMBA) for institutes of national importance is a retrogressive step and jeopardizes IIMs’ aspiration of becoming global leaders in management education,” says the petition.

“IIMs have sought AMBA accreditation to establish global credence and have proudly proclaimed that winning AMBA accreditation testifies that their MBA course meets global standards. IIM Calcutta proudly announced the winning of AMBA’s MBA accreditation for its One Year MBA (PGPEX) and MBM Accreditation for its two-year PGP course in the media. ‘We are indeed happy to receive this recognition. It reaffirms our commitment to academic excellence, and marks a significant step towards our journey to be regarded as a global leader in management education,’ Saibal Chattopadhyay, director of IIM Calcutta, had said on winning the accreditation,” adds the petition.

“Similarly, IIM Lucknow announced its win of AMBA accreditation with gusto. ‘It took us almost one year to get AMBA accreditation,’ said Sanjay K. Singh, a professor at IIM-Lucknow, adding,’As Indian education opens up, foreign institutes will come home and domestic institutes will go abroad. Here, international accreditation helps. It improves your brand image for sure.’

If the IIMs now award an MBA for a course that does not meet international criteria for being called one, they will be compromising their credibility,” continues the petition.

The petition points out that awarding MBA status to the two-year PGP course will have multiple negative ramifications:

• Impact on Indian students: Indian students will be misled into believing that they are earning an MBA degree when in fact the course does not meet global accreditation standards for an MBA. The unhealthy impression that has been cultivated among Indian students, that an MBA can be pursued without any real world work experience, will be perpetuated and will deny Indian students a chance to leverage their graduation degree, as students usually do outside India by working for a few years before heading to B-School.
• Impact on Indian companies: The two-year PGP course at IIMs has all this time been creating entry level talent and not managers as an MBA course is expected to – companies in India invest millions every year retraining this fresh stock to make them business-ready through extensive management trainee programmes – an undue burden on Indian companies, most of whom have been asking for MBAs that are war-ready. Graduates of the One Year Full Time MBA courses at IIMs, with a work experience of five to ten years behind them, join companies as Senior Managers, Vice-presidents and CEOs, the way their MBA counterparst from any full time course (one-year or two-year) abroad would. This is the talent Indian companies are asking for, but they are being confused by the positioning of two distinctly different courses as MBA.
• Impact on IIM’s competitiveness: The legislation will compromise IIMs ability to compete with global B-Schools in attracting foreign students who are used to an MBA class where each individual has years of expertise in their field. Also once foreign B-Schools establish campuses in India in the coming years, the huge gap in the quality of MBAs produced by foreign B-Schools (who admit candidates with substantial work ex) and the PGP students produced by IIMs will become starkly apparent.

Complete text of petition and live status of signatures collected are available at: bit.ly/amendiimbill

Besides global accreditation, IIM’s One Year MBA leads the two-year PGP on all parameters and is the sole and rightful recipient of MBA status:

• Only course to represent IIMs in Financial Times Global MBA Ranking: The One Year MBA course at IIMs represents the institutes at the prestigious Financial Times (FT) Global MBA Ranking where IIMs’ PGP courses don’t meet the norms to qualify. IIM A’s One Year Full Time MBA (PGPX) debuted on the FT Ranking at Rank 11 in 2011 and is currently ranked No. 26 in the list of top 100 MBAs in the world. IIM B’s One Year MBA (EPGP) is ranked 82 in this ranking. In fact, IIM A’s One Year MBA (PGPX) trumped Harvard’s MBA on Career progression in the FT Global MBA Ranking 2015! The two-year PGP programmes at IIMs are ranked separately in FT’s Masters in Business Management (MBM/ alternatively MIM) Ranking.
• Superior placements: Graduates of One Year MBA Courses at IIMs join companies in senior roles. Average salary awarded to these graduates across IIMs ranges between 18- 31 lakh. Two-year PGP graduates join companies as entry-level management trainees with salaries ranging between 10- 17 lakh on an average across IIMs.
• Richer learning: Thanks to their prior work experience, the candidates of the one-year course can connect class discussions to their own experiences in corporate life. This helps them question, debate and absorb new management concepts in a thorough manner. With almost 600 years of collective corporate wisdom available in a typical class of 60 candidates at an IIM, the peer learning the course offers is amazing. As opposed to freshers admitted to the two-year PGP programme, students admitted to the One Year MBA include CAs, doctors, army Colonels and Majors, nuclear scientists and advertising creative directors, etc.
• Tougher eligibility norms: Students for the One Year MBA at IIMs need to have a minimum of 5 years work experience to be eligible to apply to the course. To be eligible for the two-year PGP course, a student requires no work-ex, just 50% marks in graduation.

The petition has been submitted through the Modi government’s MyGov.In platform, where the draft IIM bill has been put for the public consultation process. Besides, physical copies of the petition are being sent to the Prime Minister and the HRD Minister. Read the petition at: bit.ly/amendiimbill