Dont panic if you dont make it to the IIMs. Delhi/ NCR has management institutes with highly qualified faculty, an active industry interface and an enviable placement record

WITHOUT doubt, IIMs are the best B- Schools in the country.

But they confront a big constraint.

The number of their seats does not match the scale of aspirations of young people keen on joining these institutes.

The good news, though, is that Delhi/ NCR now has a number of top- notch business schools with placement records that is making students sit up and take notice.

With more than 150 such institutes in Delhi/ NCR, and over 1,100 all over the country, choosing the right B school can be a challenge.

The time has come to separate the wheat from the chaff, hence the first- ever Mail Today B- School survey conducted to assess the top institutes offering a full- time, twoyear management programme in Delhi/ NCR. And heres the first cut of the survey results.

IIPM takes pole position

The Indian Institute of Planning and Management ( IIPM), Indian Institute of Foreign Trade ( IIFT), Department of Management Studies — Indian Institute of Technology ( DMS- IIT), International Management Institute ( IMI) and Fore School of Management secured top positions in key categories such as faculty, placement record, salary packages offered to previous batches, global exposure and industry interface.

What makes the survey unique is that it presents a 360- degree picture of a B- school combining two important aspects — its image as perceived by students and their parents and the questionnaires filled up by the institutes. The final rankings exclude five B- schools – Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi University; Management Development Institute ( MDI), Gurgaon; Institute of Management Technology ( IMT), Ghaziabad; Amity International Business School ( AIBS), Noida; and University School of Management Studies ( USMS), Kashmere Gate.

These institutions did not submit their data on time.

IIPM secured the top position in as many as three categories, namely, quality of faculty, placement of the past three batches and the global exposure offered during the programme.

“ The institute scores over others for two factors — the quality of our faculty and the way the course combines conventional management practices with innovative programmes,” says Prasoon Majumdar, dean of academics, IIPM.

IIFT sets salary record

The next on the list was the older IIFT, which secured the top position in four categories — industry interface, infrastructure, potential to network, salary drawn and student development. “ IIFT realises the importance of reworking the curriculum according to the industry demand and having quality faculty that is well- updated according to the changed needs,” says director K. T. Chacko.

DMS, IIT- Delhi is one institute that might not have been ranked high on all parameters but it topped in areas like intellectual capital ( which reflects the number of academic papers published in peer- reviewed journals and books authored by the faculty) and potential to network, and came second in salary drawn.

The institute also ranked at the top for the number of research papers — 111 — published by the faculty. “ We contribute papers to prestigious journals published by organisations such as Elsevier,” says Seema Sharma, assistant professor, DMS- IIT. “ The department is focused on industry interface.” Another institute consistently present in the Top 5 of most of the categories is the International Management Institute ( IMI). It was ranked No. 2 for intellectual capital, No. 5 for faculty, No. 2 for industry interface and No. 3 for the salary drawn. Himadri Das, dean ( academic), IMI, says the institute has been able to maintain its standards because of the emphasis on having an excellent faculty and ensuring a quality student intake.

The survey methodology

The interesting bit about the survey is that it was not entirely dependent on the perceptual value of an institute. Instead, it limited the weightage of perceptual data to 40 per cent; the remaining 60 per cent was contributed by information provided by the institutes. The agency conducting the survey, Indus Learning, specialises in educational research and impact assessment programmes for various government and non- government organisations.

The survey was conducted in two parts: First, 30 institutes were shortlisted from over 150 candidates on the basis of their perceptual value, which in turn was calculated from responses submitted by alumni, aspirants, parents and recruiters.

The top three institutes on the basis of the perceptual data were MDI, Gurgaon; USMS, Kashmere Gate; and AIBS, Noida. Says AIBS director Gurinder Singh, “ Our batch this year was able to secure an average annual salary of Rs 6.8 lakh, with the highest being Rs 12.5 lakh and the lowest, Rs 5.2 lakh.” The survey has established one fact: Students need not despair if they dont make it to the IIMs. Delhi/ NCR is fortunate to have institutes such as IIPM, IIFT and DMS- IIT, which provide quality management education coupled with the right global exposure and placement facilitation.