Professionals across streams enrol for MBA

B-schools are also encouraging professionals from diverse profiles to do an MBA.

Bhuvana Ramalingam, senior director of communication, ISB, says: "Anyone can do an MBA. Earlier, engineers made up a chunk of MBAs. Today, it's people from backgrounds as diverse as journalism and defence. Diversity is important in business education as it enhances discussions in the classroom."

KJ Somaiya Institute of Management, Mumbai, has changed the selection criteria to incorporate as many disciplines as possible. Unlike last year, when 95 per cent of students came from engineering backgrounds, this year only 60 per cent of students are engineers.

A consideration of 12.5 per cent on past academic records is now applicable to students from all the disciplines under the revised selection criteria, as against last year when only engineering students received this consideration.

The institute has also cut down the consideration on work experience from 7.5 per cent to 5 per cent, and has broadening the eligibility to include aspirants from other disciplines as well.

Satish Deodhar, chairperson, admissions at IIM, Ahmedabad, said: "Another trend in IIM-A is that of Chartered Accountants (CAs) doing MBA. Earlier there were many economic students opting for MBA. But today, they have been outnumbered by engineers and CAs as there is more scope for economic graduates in the field of BPO or hospitality."

The Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneshwar, (XIMB), has more than 60 per cent of engineers this year.

Many feel that an MBA is a favoured programme for all as offers a complete learning experience. But why switch career for an MBA degree, especially when you are in a good profession, already?

The answer seems to be the competitive advantage the programme confers.

"Management education gives students a jump start. The salaries are attractive after an MBA, for instance the average salary for an MBA from IIM is 10 lakh. There could be other reasons for opting for an MBA like tedious jobs, the urge to break the glass ceiling and to broaden the niche market for one's own profession," explains Deodhar.

A section of MBA aspirants feels that the course helps them bridge the gap in their established domain of education.