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.
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.
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FMS Delhi not there - among the top? Is this correct? Any specific reasons?
Hi Rajesh,
This is a ranking of One year full Time regular MBA courses. FMS doesn't offer the course.
Thanks for clarification. Missed that from my side.
Is MDI Gurgaon good for one year mba?
Hi Hashmat, MDI is a good school overall and recently released placement information for its one-year course. Have a look at decide for yourself. http://www.oneyearmba.co.in/14-8-lakh-average-24-lakh-highest-salary-mdi-one-year-mba-executive-mba-nmp-epgpm-1-yr-jobs-placements-salary-2014/
Is IMT Ghaziabad not in top 1 year MBA.
Last year IMT was ranked 12th in 1 year MBA
Yes Kunal, this year Outlook seems to have cut its ranking down by 2 spots and limited it to the top 10. So IMT, which was ranked 11 last year, has missed out a top slot this year. But here is where it gets interesting - IIM K seems to have been erroneously included in the ranking this year as it doesn't have a one-year full time MBA! If this had not been the case, IMT might have made the cut this year too!
Ok thanks admin. But IMT ghaziabad's 1 year full time program, placement remained pathetic since last year. Even this year only 8-10 students are placed out of around 50 approx students even after completion of course. Is placement difficult in cases of 1 year scenario.
Hi Kunal that's unfortunate. Placements for 1 year MBA courses tend to be a different affair from the process for two-year PGP/ PGDM courses - not tougher as much as requiring a new approach because of the class with work experience. Many B-Schools are taking time to adapt to placing this new breed of management grads.
A bit of background- MBA courses worldwide (both one-year and two-year full time courses) only grant admission to students with substantial work experience - this is a basic requirement for the course to be accredited as an MBA. Placement processes at schools in USA and Europe have accordingly developed to place students in senior profiles.
B-Schools in India on the other hand have largely developed processes around placing fresh talent coming from PGP/ PGDM courses (classified as MIM courses as per AMBA, UK) in management trainee profiles - a stark contrast to the situation globally. (read: http://www.oneyearmba.co.in/one-year-mba-iim-c-pgpex-awarded-mba-accreditation-by-amba-uk/)
B-Schools need to develop a whole new network at higher levels of management to place leadership talent graduating from a one-year MBA, as well as sensitize industry to the value of this talent which is in step with what is expected of MBA talent globally. Instead many schools have been confusing things further by using confusing tags such as 'MBA for Executives' which don't help - many students as well as industry professionals end up confusing the one year full time course with a part-time course due to the usage of the word 'executive'.
hi can you throw some more light on placement statistics of IMT Ghaziabad for 1 year programme.
Hi Varun, unfortunately IMT doesn't seem to publishing much data on the placements for its 1 year MBA Class. From what we have gathered over time average salary for the graduating class hovers around 9-12 lakhs.
Thats what, students need to pitch in the company that there is 1 year full time mba in the college but company still not convinced that student have left their job and doing full time affair. On trying off campus companys like tata motors etc say that they do not recognise these sort of mba. There are few good college who are offering 1 year mba full time and if they can't place the students then situation is poor. These students cant apply as a fresher also.
IIM kozikode mba is an online one through Huges platform and they dont even consider student for placements, still its ranked above.
We hear you. In our view B-schools need to work on 'positioning' to begin with - stuff such as the 'executive MBA' myth stemming from the less than perfect branding is possibly the first thing that needs to get sorted and schools also need to clarify to recruiters how the the MBA talent is a different animal from the talent stemming from pgp/pgdm courses. For this, bench marking against global standards is important. Many B-schools are now going for AMBA accreditation and hopefully it will become a standard down the line. What remains to be seen is whether B-Schools clarify to recruiters and students the ramifications of the AMBA accreditation on the one-year and two-year courses (accredited as MBA and MIM respectively) and build it into their course branding.
Thanks admin for your concern. When we are looking forward to see our country as as a global market our manegerial skills should follow global patterns. AMBA should guide the colleges to follow an appropriare pattern and industry should understand that 1 year MBA people will be anyday more fruitfull than a fresher.
Hi varun
u will get a package only once u r placed. Most of students r trying on their own for placements
I am Patent Attorney (B. Tech, Llb, Patent Agent). Is doing 1year MBA from reputed college would be fruitful for my career after having six years of work experience?
Hi Amit, check the profile evaluation section on the forum, i believe a lawyer asked a similar question there. In many ways this depends on your aspirations. What are you expecting from the MBA degree? What transition are you looking at making?
A one year MBA at a good school will give you a good overview of management for sure and help you connect better with your clients or even start a more holistic consulting company. Share more and we''ll be able to tell you more. Have a good year ahead!
Note: questions posted on the forum get a 3 times faster response.
Could you please inform me about top 100 colleges that offer 1 year mba
PGDM-2 yrs from IMT under Distance Learning : What's the ranj of IMT Ghaziabad ?
Hi Vivek, I hope you aren't confusing the part time programme(an executive MBA/ part time course) and the one year full time regular MBA for which basic eligibility is 5 years work experience in keeping with global eligibility norms for an MBA. The part-time programme is not ranked in the above list of one year full time MBA courses as its an in a entirely different category of programmes.
I have 0.8 % less than 60 in 12th due to medical reasons having scored good in 10th and B.Tech. Also placed in reputed OEM automobile company with overall experience of 5 years in Purchase and Supplychain.
1.Does 12th mark matter for 1 year MBA programmes?
2. What cutoff generally B.Schools look into for 1 year MBA?
Awaiting reponse..
Hi Sibashis,
1. Schools will look at GMAT, College and School marks together - if one is low you can, at least as per the claims of the B-schools make up for it by scoring well in GMAT.
2. There is no cutoff - schools use GMAT scores as only criteria and assign it around 20-25% weightage. The GMAT score of accepted candidates at top B-Schools in India is typically 640-770 - though you will find few people with the lowest and highest scores mentioned. The middle eight percent will have scores between 670-740.