BSCHOOL SELECTION DILEMMA

[Kalpana Heliya]

For those who have put their serious efforts and managed to score tall in their MBA entrances, choosing the right Institute must now have become a dilemma

The applicants who prepare to enrol themselves to earn business management degrees often struggle through the initial phase, but a more difficult phase is to choose from several schools that have offered admission.

PARAMETERS TO CONSIDER:
Placement

The placement record is one of the most important factors. They are indicators of the Institute’s reputation in a particular domain. Has the school achieved a 100 per cent placement record for their students?
Talk to the students studying at these schools and corroborate the facts.
What is the level of salary package and the job profile that organisations offer to the students from this B-School?

Faculty

The quality of faculty who train the students is significant while selecting a business school.

Any good institute requires a mix of full-time, part-time and visiting faculty.

The full-time faculty provides the continuity and monitoring required over the two-year programme. The part-time/visiting faculty provides a real life feel of current work environment and also contacts in industry and access to real-time projects. Ideally it is better to have full-time faculty with industry exposure, so as to make students relate what they learn to practical applications. Ultimately a right mix between industry and academic experience is required.

Look at the brief of the faculty: Do they have business/consulting experience?

Do they have the right qualifications? Faculty with Ph.D. from recognised institutions is a major requirement for accreditation, international or national.

Look at the institutes that have visiting faculty, where the accent is continuously on learning first-hand from business leaders themselves.

Talk to the seniors and find out about the quality of the faculty team. Students are quite forthcoming about their faculty members.

Find out the emphasis between teaching and research.

Schools that have a balance between teaching and research are likely to provide a better learning experience. Case studies, symposia and conferences all add to the teaching-research balance and the quality of inputs the faculty brings into the classroom.

Curriculum

At the heart of the MBA programme is a group of compulsory courses designed to cover a common set of skills and knowledge. These compulsory courses form the first half of the programme, whereas the second half is devoted to electives and projects.

The student may look at various aspects of the curriculum: Is the curriculum static or does it reflect the changing scenario in the Indian economy?

Does the curriculum increasingly address new business sectors such as the BPO sector, issues related to management with imperfect information, managing relationships, etc.?

Is there an increasing emphasis on "soft skills", Art of Living and Stress Management Courses?

Does the programme combine academic depth with the development of the practical skills that managers need in order to be effective. The objective is that by the end of the course, you will be better at leading and managing, rather than just knowledgeable about the discipline and theories of management.

Does the school have strategic alliances with both national and international entities?

Does the school have a twining arrangement or a unique selling proportion that sets it apart from other schools?

The buzzwords in management education are "innovation" and "global" both in outlook and curriculum.

Profile of students

The profile of students enriches the learning process. You need to find out the following details.

How many students are engineers, postgraduates, etc., and in what kind of institutes have they studied prior to joining for MBA?

How many students have work experience and what is the profile of organizations they have previously worked in?

The mix and calibre of fellow students adds to the standing of the institution and augments the learning process.

Infrastructure

A business school cannot function satisfactorily without adequate infrastructure.

A well-stocked library, computer centre and well-furnished classrooms are an absolute necessity.

The areas that need to be looked into are: availability of the latest hardware and software with a fully networked library.


WEBOPAC (book search of document collection in the library) and CAPITALINE (digital database of listed and unlisted companies - 13,000 plus)

Visit the campus and check out these facilities including the hostel facilities.

Finally the reputation and the industry image is an important factor. Older institutes tend to have a better reputation than recent institutes. However a fledging school set up by a well-established institution, may enjoy a better image, as the `parent' institute would provide support in the selection process, placement, faculty, access to publication sources and in terms of institutional standing.

Making your choice

It is suggested that you aim to cut down your final school-list to around three schools. Entry to the "better" schools is highly competitive and so you need an alternative if you are turned down by your first-choice school.

Should you be lucky enough to be accepted by all the schools you have applied to, how do you choose?

First, try to visit each of your short-listed schools.

Second, talk to as many students, alumni and recruiters.

Finally, bear in mind the cost, as business school tuition is expensive. Decide how much you are prepared to pay and look into schools that fit into the financial parameters that you set. Keep in mind cost of living and commuting expenses.


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