B-schools survey 2014: Best management institutes and why

With 1.90 lakh students registering for CAT this year, plans for setting up six new IIMsand focused specialisations such as ruralMBA, sports MBA and even luxury MBA coming into the market, one might think that the future of management education is well on track. However, while four lakh graduates come out every year, only a fifth find suitable employment in the long run. "It's all very well to have plans for new institutes and courses, but are they of acceptable quality?" asks M.L. Singla, dean, Faculty of Management Studies (FMS), Delhi University.

It is this question of quality that theBusiness Today-MDRA Top B-schools Survey seeks to address. The ranking draws on extensive research to determine which schools are the best not just in terms of placements and academics but also for their impact on student life after graduation, their infrastructure, quality of faculty and admission process. This year a new sub-parameter, governance, was also added to this list.

For the twelfth year running, IIM Ahmedabad has topped the survey, while Mumbai's SP Jain Institute of Management and Research (SPJMIR) has secured a spot in the top five for the first time. But when it comes to individual parameters such as future orientation and learning, IIM-A falls behind SPJIMR and IIM-Calcutta. In value-for money ranking, FMS, Delhi tops the list with the Department of Financial Studies, Delhi University, and the Department of Business Management, University of Calcutta, emerging second and third respectively.

The survey has good news about placements. While the average salary offered to students in the top 25 schools is pegged at a decent Rs 12.64 lakh per annum, many institutes also reported a marked increased in hiring last year. For the session that ended in March 2013, IIM-A witnessed a 25 per cent rise in international job offers and 10 per cent in domestic placements.

Interestingly, it is no longer the MBA tag that many aspirants are after. Instead it is the long-term return on investment that has come to matter the most. "I scored a 100 percentile in CAT and secured a seat at IIM-Calcutta. I am working with IBM but have dreams of setting up my own firm. An MBA won't fulfil one's dreams overnight but it's a stepping stone," says 23-year-old Ankit Garg, who topped CAT in 2009. Others such as Bindumalini Krishnan, an executive management graduate of Indian School of Business, Hyderabad, say an MBA makes more sense after one has worked for a few years. "It's a path to higher management," she says. Despite the many reasons given for pursuing an MBA, attractive placement packages, frequent corporate interactions and strong alumni links still make it the most coveted professional qualification.

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