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Looking at joining a One Year MBA? Scouring rankings of the best One Year MBA programs is a great way to start your search. Rankings, when they are good, can give you a 360 degree view of a B-School or course on all the important parameters when you are figuring out What MBA to Select?
Outlook’s MBA Ranking should be one such ranking since it comes from a publication known in every household in India. But is Outlook’s ranking accurate? Let’s find out!
Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta (IIM C)
Xavier Labour Relations Institute (XLRI), Jamshedpur
SP Jain Institute of Management Research, (SPJIMR) Mumbai
All three B-Schools have had a good track record vis-a-vis the quality of students, infrastructure, international tie-ups, placements and quality of faculty for their One Year MBA and deserve to be ranked among the Top 10 Institutes offering a One Year MBA.
Indian School of Business, Hyderabad
Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM A)
Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIM B)
Indian Institute of Management, Indore (IIM I)
Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow (IIM L)
These are some of the top B-Schools with excellent One Year MBA Programs that are missing from the ranking.
If you came looking for the ranking of India’s best executive MBA programs (part-time programs suitable for people with 10+ years work experience) and not One Year MBA courses (full time courses suitable for people with 5+ years of work experience) – please read Top 10 Executive MBA Programs in India
All these B-Schools have well established One Year MBA Programs with average salaries in placements in the Rs 20-30 lakh/ annum range.
Tier 1 recruiters such as Google, Goldman Sachs &, Deloitte hire from these programs in middle to senior management roles.
These B-Schools are respected not just in India, but have made a mark on respected global rankings.
Indian School of Business is Ranked the No.1 B-School in India for its 1 Year Post Graduate Programme in Management (PGP) as per the Financial Times Global MBA Ranking 2018-2019 while IIM A’s One Year MBA (Post graduate programme in Management for Executives / PGPX) at IIM A is ranked No.2 in the same ranking.
If one looks at the quality of students joining the course, these B-Schools sit right at the top. Average GMAT scores at these institutes hover around 710-720.
Outlook mentions that “Various B-schools across India were contacted for participation, among which 145+ B-schools responded and provided their objective data within the stipulated time.”.
In could be possible that these B-Schools have been excluded from the ranking because they did not respond in time/ chose to participate.
If Outlook’s ranking has excluded top B-Schools since they did not respond, Outlook should clearly say so upfront and inform the reader about which B-Schools were excluded for this reason.
Automatically giving top slots in the ranking to less deserving B-Schools, if that is what has happened here, is misleading.
Prospective MBA students take these rankings at face value and such a practice would lead them to a wrong decision.
Great Lakes, Chennai, has been awarded Rank 3 for its One Year PGPM program. It is unclear by what standard.
Outlook India’s 2018-2019 Ranking of Top 10 Institutes With One-Year Programmes
Great Lakes’ placements, recruiters base and roles on offer are not comparable to those at the top B-Schools in India.
The average CTC salary at Great Lakes for the Class of 2018 was Rs 11.21 Lakhs p.a., which is below average for a One Year MBA course in India. The lowest salary for the Class was Rs 8 Lakh p.a.
As we shared earlier in the article, top B-Schools such as ISB and IIM A offering a One Year MBA are able to secure Rs 18 lakh-25 lakh+ avg. salaries for their students.
Alumni reviews about Great Lakes, Chennai, like most other things on the internet are split between the positive and the negative. The positive reviews talk of good mentors and a great campus, others are very critical and talk of poor placements & dressing up of placement data.
Some of the reviews are anonymous – this is understandable, as current students who are dependent on the institute for placements would not want to attract the institute’s ire by sharing their views openly under their own name.
IMI, Delhi, featured at Rank 8, has had a rough ride with its Executive PGDM.
While the sanctioned intake at IMI is 60, the Class of 2018 consisted of just 10 self-sponsored students (another 6-8 are sponsored by their companies). IMI’s class size has been shrinking steadily over the past years.
The average class size in a One Year MBA in India course in India is 60-100 students. Some B-Schools such as ISB have a 1000 strong intake for the PGP.
It is clear that IMI’s course has a low demand from students. The ranking awarded by Outlook is therefore surprising.
KJ Somaiya’s Executive PGDM, another school included in the Top 10, has not had a great run either. The placement statistics put up the institute on its website show that the average salary for the Class of 2018 was just Rs 10.7 lakh.
The inclusion of IIT, Delhi and IIT, Chennai is possibly the most confounding aspect of the ranking. IIT, Delhi offers an Executive MBA (part-time course for executives) – it doesn’t offer a One Year MBA. Similarly, IIT, Chennai offers a 2 Year Executive MBA, it doesn’t offer a One Year MBA at all!
The inclusion of SDMIMD, Mysore in the Top 10 B-Schools for a One Year Programme published in 2018 takes the cake since the first batch of the One Year Post Graduate Certificate Program in Management hasn’t even started as yet!
Outlook’s rankings have had such goof ups in the past. Outlook had included IIM Kozhikode’s 2 Year Executive MBA course in the 2013-2014 One Year MBA ranking.
What takes the cake is the inclusion of SDMIMD, Mysore in the Top 10!
The institute has announced that the first batch of its One Year Post Graduate Certificate Programme in Management (PGCM) will start in August 2019.
There is no batch yet, no track record the quality of students who are choosing the course, of placements or of feedback from students on the course quality – and yet, somehow, Outlook has deemed the course worthy of a Top 10 rank!
See the anomaly on SDMIMD’s website where the the Top 10 Ranking gained in 2018 ranking is showcased next to the course commencement date of August 2019!
SDMIMD’s Rank 10 in Outlook’s 2018 Ranking showcased on the college website – right next to the course’s commencement date in August 2019
Outlook’s MBA Ranking 2018-2019 covers both Two Year MBA Programmes & One Year Management programs.
The publication has published a detailed methodology for the ranking of the Two Year MBA Programmes, namely – perceptual factors, placements, infrastructure & facilities, academic excellence, selection process, personality development & industry exposure.
The publication has however not mentioned the methodology for ranking B-Schools offering a One Year MBA.
What do you think? Let us know in the comments below!