Newer IIMs vs Non-IIMs: Which B-school should you choose?

New IIMs vs older non-IIMs: Let's see what experts have to say to students who face this dilemma which choosing an MBA college.

By Ruchi Shrimali

Getting into a good B-school can be the ticket to a successful career but there’s no escaping the dilemma of choosing the right B-school for MBA admission, especially considering options from newer IIMs with the legacy of the established brand name versus older non-IIMs (old MBA institutes) ranked amongst top B-schools in India, such as IIFT, JBIMS, SJMSoM of IIT Bombay, SPJIMR Mumbai, MDI Gurgaon, NITIE Mumbai, NMIMS Mumbai, SIBM Pune, and IMT Ghaziabad. Here’s some expert advice to help you make a worthwhile decision.

Professor P Vigneswara Ilavarasan from IIM Rohtak says, “Students who join MBA programs are often swayed by the grandiose placement reports of the management institutes. If you take that as the criterion, newer IIMs may certainly lose out to the old private business schools. However, students will miss out on the IIM legacy in the long term. The level of exposure a student gets at newer IIMs, by way of interacting with industry leaders or reputed academicians, is much larger. Also, newer IIMs will take over the established private schools once their infrastructure is in place. Quality of the faculty members at IIMs is better than private schools, so the quality of the learning is much higher!”

IIM Ranchi has IIM Calcutta as its mentor while IIM Rohtak is being mentored by IIM Lucknow. This boosts the hopes of students who feel that Brand IIM has carved out such a niche in the market that the newer IIMs will successfully scale up through the top B-schools in India soon enough.

source: NMIMS, Mumbai

Prof Nafisa Habilbhai Kattarwala from the School of Business Management, NMIMS Mumbai disagrees though. According to her, “A student who wishes to join a reputed management institution should join a well-established private institution such as NMIMS or JBIMS rather than the nascent IIMs which have been established in the last couple of years. It takes years to build up on the intellectual capital of a reputed business school. Apart from IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, IIM Calcutta, IIM Lucknow and IIM Kozhikode, other IIMs still need time to raise that kind of infrastructure or offer that kind of quality education. Some of the private business schools such as NMIMS and JBIMS have a strong brand perception of their own. They are recognised in the market for providing world class-business education. Even students seem to realise this when they are given a choice between IIM Rohtak and NMIMS, Mumbai.”

IIM Rohtak

Kalpesh Kotkar from IIM Rohtak makes his point. He says, "Even though other management institutes may be on par with the new IIMs, the IIM brand speaks for itself and might possibly be the single most distinguishing factor. The IIMs are internationally known for the quality of management education they impart and the caliber of their alumni. An IIM tag is a much coveted and respected recognition."

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He emphasises, "It is too early to judge how the new IIMs have succeeded in launching students' careers but as far as IIM Rohtak is concerned, the very first batch was placed fully with an average salary of 12.22 lakh per annum in companies like RBI, HSBC, Pfizer, Tata Motors, BPCL, HDFC, Tata Steel, Cognizant, YES Bank, Max New York Life Insurance, Mother Dairy etc. and the placement activities for the 2nd batch are in full swing right now. We also have a permanent faculty strength of 18 which is steadily increasing due to ongoing recruitment. Also, few top companies prefer to recruit only from IIMs which might prove to be a breakthrough step in the career of any management graduate."

"The new IIMs are handicapped only by the restricted infrastructure facilities (though we are lucky in this regard) and once their permanent campuses come up, they will catch up with the older IIMs very quickly in all aspects," says Kotkar.

Let’s consider the case of IIM Shillong that stood its ground despite the odds.

source: IIM Shillong

Established in 2008, IIM Shillong had to deal with faculty exodus the very next year. This year, poor connectivity to air travel options has put IIM Shillong in a hard place as far as its campus placement process is concerned. So, it is wooing corporates to Guwahati which has better air connectivity. Yet, all the sectors are bullish at IIM Shillong in hiring with IT leading the race.

Talking of some of the other leading non-IIMs, NMIMS also had its share of challenges with placements, given its large batch size and multiplicity of MBA programmes. However, more companies are coming over to the institute and hiring is going on. FMS is seeing an uptrend in e-commerce, IT, pharma and consulting job offers. Read all about Summer Placements at FMS, XLRI, and JBIMS.

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At IIM Ranchi, job offers have gone down overall with IT taking the maximum hit. However, more opportunities are available in e-commerce, KPOs and social sectors.

Prof. Sanjay Bakshi, a visiting professor for the popular elective ‘Behavioral Finance and Business Valuation’ at MDI Gurgaon prefers to keep the options open. He advises, “Students of a business school should not focus on how to get a job. They should instead try to learn how to create and run a successful business. Naturally, I would prefer to research well and choose the school that would best teach me about those things. In the end, it should not be the brand name that should matter. The priority of the students should be the value they are being offered vis-à-vis career and life goals they are trying to accomplish.”

At the end of the day, consider yourself lucky if you are faced with options to select your college between India's top B-schools - whatever choice you make, it's a happy situation to be in. Just ensure that you make the most of your management education to get ahead on your chosen career path.

This article was first published on Jan 1, 2013.

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