Best Business Schools in India is one of the most googled searches in India. So, how do prospective MBA/PGDM Students actually choose the so-called Best Business Schools in India or elsewhere?
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Millions of websites and ranking sites offer their expert advice about on Business Schools in India, while self-acclaimed education Guru’s share their so-called expert views and miscounsel the students.
You will be surprised to know that even top business schools and management institutes in India (we cannot use names) use a variety of marketing tricks to attract the students.
So, which are the 5 most commonly used tricks that so-called Best Business Schools in India play on students? Almost 20 years of research provides the answers.
1. A Good Business School will Attract Great Faculty
A good business school will attract the most qualified and talented academic staff members and researchers from around the country or world. The more diverse the faculty in a Business School the more chances that you are learning from the best faculty members.
What should be the Role of a Faculty in a Good Business School?
- Do check if the Faculty Members have a PhD Degree and which business schools have they taught or studied from? This is one of the most important factors to evaluate a faculty member in a business school.
- Does your Faculty have research or industry experience? Which organizations have your faculty members worked for and at which position? If your business school faculty has extensive research experience or comprehensive experience with leading organizations ideally in a Fortune 500 company, you can be assured that you are at the right business school.
What’s the Trick: Many business schools in India often tend to glorify faculty members especially from IIM’s and IIT’s (who are not really employed by the Business Schools and only work as guest faculty but their names are only highlighted to attract potential students).
Be cautious and try meeting these faculty members before admissions and check if they are guest or permanent faculty members. This can be checked on the AICTE website which has a list of all business schools in India.
2. Placements at Busines Schools
Great Placements record is one of the most important factors that a student looks in a Business Schoo. An indicator of a business school’s reputation is its overall ranking and its placement record. Besides placements, most top rankings agencies take into consideration the quality of programs, faculty, research, student support services, publications etc when ranking a business school.
However, students should be extremely careful when analyzing placements record of a Business School. Even well-known business schools in India are known to smartly exaggerate the CTC or Gross Remuneration of students, which makes the packages look extremely attractive, but only on paper.
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What’s the Trick: According to leading HR Experts working in India, most of the organizations make the CTC or the Gross Remuneration look very appealing by increasing the variable component of the package.
So a student might only be getting (say a remuneration of Rs. 240,000 / Year in Hand), while his offer letter mentions a CTC of Rs. 600,000 (making rest of Rs.360,000 as a variable component which is often unachievable). So, always check for the “Salary in Hand” and not the gross CTC.
3. Best Business School Will Attract Top Students
Most Leading MBA/PGDM programs will give you substantial workload like group projects, assignment etc, where a student will spend massive amounts of time interacting with fellow students.
Besides learning how to work as an integral part of a team while honing your leadership skills, your experience in business school should also allow you to learn from your fellow students, as they might end up being your colleague, business partners or even your competitors.
A good question which you can ask yourself is “What type of students does this business school attract?” By analyzing this, you will be able to figure out the profile of fellow students.
What’s the Trick: Business Schools in India often place attractive and friendly students during the admission process who are specially trained to give you positive feedback. Talk to the disgruntled students on social media sites. Also, Avoid Being Honey-Trapped!
4. In Most Cases, B-School Rankings Do Not Matter
MBA / PGDM and other Management Programs are among the most sought-after programs in India. Whether you are exploring to pursue your MBA or PGDM from Indian or International Universities, one thing is guaranteed that choosing the right business school will play a major role in shaping your life and career.
Read: MBA vs PGDM: Is PGDM Program Really Better than an MBA? ET NEWS
However, you must be extremely careful not to get swayed by MBA Rankings. We all know which are the Best Business Schools in India (which includes the IIM’s and Tier-1 Business Schools like XLRI, MDI, SPJain etc, but you will find many unknows colleges ranked as Top Business Schools in India.
What’s the Trick: When you see a mediocre business school (which accepts students via MAT) being ranked in Top 50 Business Schools, you should stop looking at the biased rankings. After all, what is it that money cannot buy?
5. Is Your Business School Approved by the UGC / AICTE / AIU?
The top business schools in India seek inspiration from the global business environment by bolstering healthy competition, critical thinking, innovation, practical exposure and creativity. This may not the case with all business schools in India, as some colleges will have certain restrictions due to government guidelines and regulations.
These government restrictions sometimes hinder the b-schools’ autonomy and freedom to adapt to the ever-changing global business environment. Even the Best Business Schools in India including the Indian Institute of Management and Indian School of Business are not approved by the AICTE, Ministry of HRD and Govt of India. However, you must be careful which MBA College to opt for.
AIU Approved PGDM Colleges – How Vital is the AIU Approval For A PGDM Institutes In India?
What’s the Trick: If your goal is to achieve excellent corporate placements, then ideally, MBA / PGDM colleges could be AICTE approved, but having an AIU approval (which many colleges boast of) does not really give you any specific advantage, neither in India nor abroad. Check the list of All Approved and Unapproved Business Schools in India under the AICTE
