Monday, October 08, 2012

Arindam Chaudhuri on WHY ISB IS BETTER THAN THE IIMs

and How to judge B-Schools

Introduction

First things first... Ever since we started Business & Economy, we avoided the temptation of undertaking B-school rankings for the simple reason that IIPM is a B-School we are very closely associated with; and at IIPM, we have always claimed that we are the best B-school globally. So any B-school ranking brought out by us would have had IIPM right at the top, at least in the three parameters of ‘course contents’, ‘global exposure’ and ‘research & consulting’! But if we were to have finally published such a ranking, our friends in the media would have taken no time to call them biased, however fact-based the rankings might have been. And undertaking a B-school ranking without speaking about ourselves would be next to impossible for an aggressive group like ours, which so passionately believes in our (IIPM’s) superiority. However, after the recent Zee Business B-School Survey that ranked us No.1 on at least one very very apparent criterion – of global exposure – I thought we could at least talk about Indian B-schools, if not rank them. And with the amount I personally am immersed in B-school mechanics and workings, it became but obvious that if our magazine were to do an article on the same, the story in any case would have been ghost written and dictated by me. So I thought I should anchor the story myself.

The second issue that needs clarification is that despite IIPM’s ‘Dare To Think Beyond The IIMs’ campaign, I have nothing against the IIMs; rather, all I have is sheer respect [My father was a professor at IIM Bangalore and is extremely proud of the same. My Managing Partner, my best friend at IIPM and the Editor of this magazine itself, A. Sandeep, is a product of IIPM and IIM Calcutta; and he specifically had gone to study there to have a first hand knowledge about the ‘IIM way’ before coming back to IIPM to take it up.

And finally, my best friend in school and the Head of our news portal TheDailyIndian.com, Partha Saha, is a proud product of IIM Calcutta]. We believe we are the best when it comes to education, but that doesn’t mean we don’t know how good the IIMs are or that their students get better placements than our students or even the fact that they attract the best of students of India – though we may still not accept that the final IIM product is, therefore, necessarily better! So, this article is not an attempt to malign the IIMs, but a simple attempt to analyse some facts. Having said that, let me also state that what I am writing shouldn’t shock many; at least not those who know that the 2008 Financial Times rankings have put ISB as the 20th best B-school in the world and haven’t put any of the IIMs even in the top hundred! Yet, what I hope this article will do is bring perspective to those rankings and explain to people what management education is all about; since no magazine undertaking B-school surveys in India has even a fraction of ability to comment upon management education in India, compared to our capability. And it’s no arrogance but pure facts that we present. Almost all of Business & Economy’s editorial team comprises educated MBAs – the reason our magazine is such a sell out amongst those who love sharp analytical articles instead of pages full of incomprehensible blah blah based upon tens of quotes [the only thing typical journalists can rely upon in the absence of analytical skills].

And finally, I must say that the reference of IIPM will keep coming up from time to time, though I will try my best to keep the focus on the ‘ISB vs IIMs’ issue in order to make it read most unbiased!


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
 
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
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