Student's corner

Do IIMs offer better return on investments than the Ivy League?

Dear Students,
 
LAST WEEK WE ASKED:  Do you think IIMs offer better return on investments than the Ivy League?

BEST RESPONSE

Return on investment (RoI) is one of the deciding factors in determining a B-school's worth but the value associated with an institution has other facets associated with it. The reason for a better RoI in IIM than that of Harvard or Stanford may be due to low pre MBA salary at IIMs. On the other hand, global exposure, quality of education and scope of research work in Ivy leagues is far more superior as compared to IIMs. IIMs may seem to a be lucrative option in short term but for the long term career growth Ivy League steals the show.

- Dipika Sahoo, College of Engineering and Technology, Bhubaneswar.

OTHER RESPONSES

Quantitatively, IIMs offer better ROI. Qualitatively, Ivy League offer better gender diversity, world class infrastructure, quality education, global outlook, gender diversity, networking benefit et al. Thus, overall Ivy League stands apart in long term overall benefit.

- Nilaya Mitash Shanker, IIT Roorkee.

RoI is calculated on the immediate return in less than two years. In light of this, IIMs two-year management programme offers a RoI of 44 per cent, as compared with Harvard's 15 and Stanford's 14 per cent. But the immediate return on such degrees is small, so for the fees that one pays at IIM-A and the previous salary that one foregoes, the graduates gets a higher return from the immediate compensation package earned through placement. In the short run, IIMs would be a better bet.

- Arpita Christian, School of Petroleum Management, PDPU, Gandhinagar.

In absolute financial terms, IIMs definitely offer best return on investment in the world. As monetary expenditure in the form of fees and individual student expenses are substantially lower for IIMs compared to Ivy League. The only significant difference between them is that of environment and cultural aesthetics which enlivens the course. Also placement statistics find IIMs almost at par with their offshore counterparts. Consequently, making it possible for IIM graduates to recover invested amount within a few years. Thus, IIMs simply make the best bet for financially constrained students enabling them to transform their career with minimum investment overhead.

- Shivam Chhabra, Integral University, Lucknow.

With reference to The Economist's 10th May 2014 report IIM-A (with 44 per cent RoI) ranked 4th in the entire world as far as RoI is concerned. In India no doubt IIM-A is at top but other B-schools like SP Jain-Mumbai, ISB-Hyderabad, and Jamnalal Bajaj are the colleges much ahead in RoI than other newly opened IIMs. But as far as RoI is concerned it should also be considered on other parameter like knowledge and skills development rather than only monetary aspects and many Ivy league college might ranked ahead of newly opened IIMs.

- Jignesh Trivedi, School of Petroleum Management, PDPU, Gandhinagar.

Your responses should reach us at edu@business-standard.com by Monday evening every week. Please ensure that your responses do not exceed 100 words. Avoid attachments and email your full name, institute's name, batch and complete mailing address. The student who gives the 'Best Response' will be awarded Rs 500.

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