wiseman
10-01-2004, 10:35 AM
I think this article sums up the "tragedy" of being the alleged "best B-school in the country" pretty well. When will India get a truly world beating b-school???
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/869984.cms
AHMEDABAD: Success can be a heady feeling. And students, faculty and alumni of IIM Ahmedabad can be excused for basking in its glory after it was named the best B-school in India, yet again, in an annual survey done by reputed publications.
But even as chai kitlis in Vastrapur and the red brick hostels of the IIM-A reverberate to the sounds of laughter, one question nags these future CEOs: Why isn't there a single Indian B-school in the list of top 40 management institutes of the world (in lists prepared annually by the likes of Financial Times , Wall Street Journal , Business Week and The Economist ) considering that the CAT is considered a far tougher entrance exam than the GMAT which takes Indians to the US?
For Shashwat Sengupta, an IIMA student, the survey is a pat on the back, which makes him feel he's in the right place. "It speaks a lot about the way it is run, the faculty and the students. But then it is also true that we still don't feature among the world's best."
Corporate honchos have time and again stressed the need for corporate-B-school links so that a wider variety of study can be provided to aspiring managers.
But is this the only limitation? Kalpana Sappata, another student points out that "while the quality of entrants are on par with the best in the world, there are things like infrastructure and practical exposure," without which she feels the institute can never make it to the top of the world. "Also there is a vast difference in the student profiles of the best US B-Schools and ours. IIMA is more of an entrant level B school. Most of the students are freshers with hardly any work experience. Whereas students of top B-schools abroad have more work experience."
But then there are some who feel it is also to do with ‘the branding of the IIMs'. Like senior student Sidin Sunny Vadukut who says: "Branding plays a big part in projecting an institute as a world-beater. Also there is a dire need to build our own individuality as IIMA. Not many in the world business scene know there are seven IIMs."
Faculty members too acknowledge that the best in India is fine, but there's a long way to go. Says Professor Sebastine Morris: "We have a distinct disadvantage of being part of a developing economy. Of course the fact that we hardly package and market ourselves also matters. For example, we have huge number of research papers which are not listed. On the other hand foreign institutes list and even post it on the net for reference purposes."
One conclusion of the survey report that has really hurt — one which says IIMs are low on "teaching methodology" and the faculty needs to do more research. IIMA director Bakul Dholakia agrees.
"Our faculty needs to put in more effort in research and present more papers at international conferences. Also one needs to get more foreign visiting faculty but that can only happen once we get an approval and of course the money needed to attract big names." With more autonomy beckoning these top BSchools maybe 2005 will see India's best brains being acknowledged as the world's best.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/869984.cms
AHMEDABAD: Success can be a heady feeling. And students, faculty and alumni of IIM Ahmedabad can be excused for basking in its glory after it was named the best B-school in India, yet again, in an annual survey done by reputed publications.
But even as chai kitlis in Vastrapur and the red brick hostels of the IIM-A reverberate to the sounds of laughter, one question nags these future CEOs: Why isn't there a single Indian B-school in the list of top 40 management institutes of the world (in lists prepared annually by the likes of Financial Times , Wall Street Journal , Business Week and The Economist ) considering that the CAT is considered a far tougher entrance exam than the GMAT which takes Indians to the US?
For Shashwat Sengupta, an IIMA student, the survey is a pat on the back, which makes him feel he's in the right place. "It speaks a lot about the way it is run, the faculty and the students. But then it is also true that we still don't feature among the world's best."
Corporate honchos have time and again stressed the need for corporate-B-school links so that a wider variety of study can be provided to aspiring managers.
But is this the only limitation? Kalpana Sappata, another student points out that "while the quality of entrants are on par with the best in the world, there are things like infrastructure and practical exposure," without which she feels the institute can never make it to the top of the world. "Also there is a vast difference in the student profiles of the best US B-Schools and ours. IIMA is more of an entrant level B school. Most of the students are freshers with hardly any work experience. Whereas students of top B-schools abroad have more work experience."
But then there are some who feel it is also to do with ‘the branding of the IIMs'. Like senior student Sidin Sunny Vadukut who says: "Branding plays a big part in projecting an institute as a world-beater. Also there is a dire need to build our own individuality as IIMA. Not many in the world business scene know there are seven IIMs."
Faculty members too acknowledge that the best in India is fine, but there's a long way to go. Says Professor Sebastine Morris: "We have a distinct disadvantage of being part of a developing economy. Of course the fact that we hardly package and market ourselves also matters. For example, we have huge number of research papers which are not listed. On the other hand foreign institutes list and even post it on the net for reference purposes."
One conclusion of the survey report that has really hurt — one which says IIMs are low on "teaching methodology" and the faculty needs to do more research. IIMA director Bakul Dholakia agrees.
"Our faculty needs to put in more effort in research and present more papers at international conferences. Also one needs to get more foreign visiting faculty but that can only happen once we get an approval and of course the money needed to attract big names." With more autonomy beckoning these top BSchools maybe 2005 will see India's best brains being acknowledged as the world's best.