Student engagement, job outcome put ISB, IIM-C in global honours list

Higher scores on student participation and job outcome helped Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad, and Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta (IIM-C), clinch the second and third spots, respectively, at the inaugural survey of the Times Higher Education (THE) and the Wall Street Journal (WSJ). 

The flagship one-year MBA programme of the Indian School of Business (ISB), called the post graduate programme (PGP), has been ranked second in the world among one-year programmes. 

Following closely (at number three in the world), is the one-year executive programme of the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta (IIM-C), named the post graduate programme for executives (PGPEX). 

Only these two institutes from India made it to the THE-WSJ list this year. 

The ranking is part of a survey to jointly gather a unique set of performance data from business schools across the world – based on the metrics pioneered in the WSJ-THE US College Rankings, which are designed to explore teaching excellence and student experience.

Commenting on the rankings, Rajendra Srivastava, Dean, ISB, said, “The rankings focus on teaching excellence and the student experience — we are glad that ISB’s excellence on these dimensions has been recognised and showcased in these rankings. One-year programmes are increasing in popularity not only in Europe and Asia but also in the US since students are able to put their skills to use sooner, and have lower costs.”

Among the Indian institutes, ISB earned an overall score of 75.7, supported by a higher score in terms of student engagement and outcome scores of 90.8 and 83.4, while IIM-C scored an overall 75.5, led by an 89 in student engagement and 85 in outcome scores.

In total, 114 business schools from 24 countries were ranked in the survey, apart from almost 23,000 responses to a survey of business school alumni. The ranking is based on 20 factors, encompassing institutional resources, student engagement, teaching environment and student outcomes. 

The data allows THE to compare institutions across a range of business programmes including two-year MBAs, one-year MBAs, master’s in finance and master’s in management, and to draw rich insights into different institutions and courses.

What makes this ranking significant is the survey analysis of global application trends that show an increasing preference for one-year MBA programmes (typically offered to candidates with prior work experience) outside the US, especially in Asian regions. 

“But the change in application trends could also reflect an increasing preference for the one-year MBA programmes, typically offered outside the US. The market for these shorter MBAs is much more international given that the top five institutions in THE’s analysis are the University of Hong Kong, ISB, IIM Calcutta, Australia-based SP Jain School of Global Management and Switzerland’s IMD,” the survey stated.

Quoting the Graduate Management Admissions Council’s annual Application Trends Survey Report for 2018, THE and WSJ noted that most programmes in the Asia-Pacific, Canada and Europe saw increases in application volumes this year.

On the other hand, majority of US programmes saw a decline in the number of applicants — possibly as a result of reduced applications from overseas due to tighter immigration policies introduced by the Trump administration, and consequent restriction on graduates’ opportunity to work in the US.

“The market for two-year MBAs is dominated by the US; of the 54 institutions offering two-year programmes that took part in the analysis, 44 are in the US. And,their quality is underlined by the fact that US institutions occupy the top nine places in a ranking of two-year programmes based on the submitted data,” the survey further noted.

Meanwhile, analysis of the score difference between the top 10 two-year MBA programmes and all such programmes suggests that the strength of the top schools centres around their resources, international focus, salary boost they offer and strength of their alumni networks.