ISB to focus more on increasing student diversity

The engineering and non-engineering students ratio, which was earlier 80:20, is now 70: 30

The Indian School of Business (ISB) is focusing on bringing more diverse student profiles to its Post Graduate Programme in Management (PGP course) class.

"The corporate sector and industries now require more diverse professionals to handle the complexities of the industry. And a diversity class across experience and educational background brings in a wealth of knowledge and experience across various industries and functions, and it helps in a cross functional thinking among students, which is useful in life," A M Kannan, director (admissions), ISB, told Business Standard.

The class of 2013 at ISB has 767 students including 567 students at Hyderabad campus and 200 at Mohali branch. Along with engineers, CAs, architects, ISB also gets doctors, surgeons, entrepreneurs, civil servants, fashion designers, lawyers, journalists and professionals from across sectors like IT, services, logistics and analytics industry for its course.

"On an aggregate level, the diversity of the class has improved over the years. The gender diversity at ISB has been narrowed down to 70:30 (male:female students ratio) now, from 80:20 ratio a few years back, same is the case of the engineering and non-engineering students ratio, which was earlier 80:20, and now is 70: 30 (engineering and non-engineering students)," he added.

For a diversified students profile, ISB looks at parameters including educational qualification, job profile, gender, sectors they have worked in, GMAT score, work experience and quality of work experience.

Recently, the B-school has extended its merit-based scholarship grant to different sectors including healthcare, hospitality, media, fashion, government and social sector in order to strengthen its students diversity profiles for the PGP course.

"Along with these, we also conduct 'information sessions' across cities and use our alumni network to reach international students," Kannan said.