Article: NHRDN-People Matters Best B-schools 2015

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NHRDN-People Matters Best B-schools 2015

Lack of leadership & vision and rising focus on international accreditations are key highlights of 3rd edition of ranking
NHRDN-People Matters Best B-schools 2015
 

B-schools across the country are ranked on the basis of their performance in 10 parameters

 

Demand for management seats in the country’s top colleges is far outstripping the supply, yet there are colleges where MBA seats go vacant. Between 2012 and 2013, nearly 900 new management, engineering and technology institutes were opened in India, according to the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE). Given the state of the economy, with the GDP rate slowing down to below 5 per cent for the past few quarters, only the premier B-schools have been able to keep their foothold strong.

A total of 147 B-schools have shut down in India during the 2013-14 academic session, according to data from the AICTE that were released in February 2015. Many MBA programs conducted by engineering institutes also have been closed down. The demand for the MBA degree has seen a downward movement leading to shutdown or consolidation of programs that are not viable. Out of the 1.93 lakh candidates who registered for CAT this year, only 1.53 lakh took the examination.    

Does it mean that management education is losing its sheen in the country? If one were to go by the placement figures, then it would not seem so. However, this makes it all the more important for both the recruiter and the student to evaluate which B-school to go to. It is not just placements that make a good B-school, but one has to consider multiple parameters while assessing a business school. This is where the NHRDN People Matters B-school Ranking 2015 will help you. The National HRD Network—the national body for HR professionals in the country—and People Matters, a leading knowledge and media platform in the HR space, have joined hands to bring the third edition of the B-school ranking for 2014-15.
Kamal Singh, Director General, NHRDN said, “The continued and increasing participation of B-schools in the NHRDN B-school ranking survey year after year is the biggest testimony to the enormous trust it has generated in a short span of three years. Our association with B-schools is not only expected to end with the publishing of results, but NHRDN as a body will be available also to help the B-schools analyze their shortcomings and come up with the road-map for improvement.”

NHRDN is conducting the study to assess and rank B-schools in the country on their capability to impact and shape the market of business education. Rajeev Dubey, National President, NHRDN and President (Group HR, Corporate Services & Aftermarket) and member of the Group Executive Board, Mahindra & Mahindra, said, “Companies are always on the lookout for the best talent, especially from B-schools. This is where the NHRD B-school ranking will help the community. This unbiased ranking, with a robust, transparent and validated process, will be a guide for employers to fulfilling their talent requirements from some of the best B-schools in the country.”

P. Dwarakanath, Chairman, NHRDN B-Schools Ranking Committee, said, “I would like to thank members of the Advisory Committee, the assessors for the validation visits, the research team and participating B-schools for co-creating the most rigorous and credible B-school ranking list for three years in a row. In our pursuit to serve the stakeholders, the objectivity of the ranking has captured the current state of B-schools and is also paving the way for improvement in the field of management education in a holistic way.”

The 10 parameters

The ranking is an evaluation of the academic environment and the reputation of the B-school in the industry in the country. The 50 schools participating in the assessment were ranked on 10 broad parameters – Student Profile, Faculty Profile, Academic Excellence, Infrastructure, Campus Life, Placements, Corporate Connectedness, Alumni Strength, Accreditation & Linkages, Leadership & Governance. Cinque Education, the research agency behind the study, conducted validation visits to B-schools.

Subrat Kumar, Director and Co-founder of Cineque Education, says “What differentiates this ranking study from other contemporary studies is the holistic nature of the research instrument and robustness of the methodology. With the validation team spending an entire day in every participating B-school, the softer qualitative aspects are also effectively captured, which otherwise a quantitative instrument misses out on. Moreover, with the study based on data completely, it showcases present day scenario rather than old-age perceptual standings of B-schools.”

The first step in the process was inviting the B-schools to participate in the ranking. Then, a detailed questionnaire built around the 10 parameters was sent to the colleges. The most rigorous part of the B-school ranking survey was the verification and validation of the data mentioned in the survey through interviews with deans/directors, faculty and students and on-campus visits. On the basis of their performance, the schools were ranked according to the final score.

While the methodology is the same as the last two years, the research instrument had a minor change. The parameter Corporate Connect was divided into two different categories of Corporate Connectedness and Alumni Strength, each having 5 per cent weightage. Arun Sehgal, EVP-HR, GSK Consumer Healthcare, said, “As we build a pipeline of leaders from the best management graduates, it’s essential we have a guide for both companies as well as aspiring students. This is one of the most credible studies in the HR space. It is driven by collaborative efforts of some of the top HR professionals who have set certain benchmarks and inspire to work across boundaries.”

Rajiv Krishnan, Partner & India Leader, People & Organization, Advisory Services said, “The NHRDN B-School Ranking survey represents objectivity and authenticity. There is no hidden agenda or furtive axes to be ground – just a sincere wish to present data in an unbiased manner. The triangulation multi-method (quantitative and qualitative) approach reflects robustness in the data collection and rigorous analysis.”

Some of the observations of this year’s ranking are:

  1. Governance is a big concern across most of the B-schools and board members were either indifferent or interfering a lot. The lack of leadership and vision has been hampering the growth of many B-schools.
  2. The research output across campuses has improved, but there are serious issues related to quality in certain campuses.
  3. There is an emergence of clusters around certain colleges (E.g. IIM-A/B/C, XLRI/IIM-L/MDI). This means that while there is very little difference within these colleges, significantly higher differences crop up when compared to the next ranking college outside these clusters.
  4. There has been an increasing focus on getting international accreditations. Notable achievements this year include IIM-Calcutta getting AACSB and IFIM, Bangalore getting SAQS accreditation.
  5. Corporate Connect (In terms of MDP & consultancy to industry) is restricted to a handful of colleges.

In order to be in the top league of global schools, Indian B-schools have to focus on three things: Creation of knowledge, application of the knowledge and dissemination of knowledge, says Pritam Singh, former director IIM Lucknow and MDI and currently CEO, LEAD Centre. They will need to hire a judicious mix of faculty who are capable of achieving these objectives. Thus, Indian B-schools will have to make enormous efforts to become world-class.

B-schools across the country are ranked on the basis of their performance in 10 parameters

PARAMETERS CONSIDEREDWEIGHTAGE
INTELLECTUAL CAPITAL 20%
ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE 20%
STUDENTS PROFILE IN TERMS OF THEIR QUALITY AND DIVERSITY 15%
PLACEMENTS 10%
INTERNATIONAL ACCREDITATIONS AND LINKAGES 10%
INFRASTRUCTURE 5%
CAMPUS LIFE 5%
INSTITUTE’S VISION AND GOVERNANCE 5%
ALUMNI STRENGTH 5%
Corporate connectedness 5%
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Topics: Skilling, #NHRDN_BSchoolRanking

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