TOP 10 B-Schools of Hyderabad
Ranking based on Admissions, Admission Process, Placements, Infrastructure, Academic Strength, Visibility, Branding, Prospectus, Fee Structure, Website, & Students Community representing various parts of India
10. _____________________________
1.
14 B-School marketing USPs that fall flat
By Soumik Ganguly
In the previous decade, there are some common things that private business schools in India have showcased to lure students to their MBA or equivalent programmes. Due to the excessive usage of these so called 'unique selling propositions', these terms have become irrelevant, and are no longer associated with the way aspirants choose a B-School.
The following terminology is what is often used by B-Schools to attract aspirants. We will take you through each one and explain why none of them are actually worth boasting about at all.
1. Approvals from the AICTE, NAAC, UGC, etc.
This no longer holds significance as most of the 2,000 odd b-schools with these approvals are the ones that sulk the most, and are possibly the worst examples of how a b-school shouldn't be. The only quality AICTE-approved b-schools are the ones that have been around for long and will flourish despite or without AICTE approvals
2. Air-conditioned campus
Does this really matter?
3. Well-stocked library
Shouldn't this be the bare minimum requirement of any MBA programme? How is it unique?
4. Free laptop
This sounds like some kind of a free alarm-clock-cum-radio being offered along with a magazine subscription. Why would someone worry about a laptop worth Rs 20,000 when they are investing Rs 6 lakh in fees and expenses? More so, how can this be a 'salient' feature?
5. 100% placements; 'Placement partners'
A closer look will reveal how much of this is true. There are some horrific stories spoken about in the industry about how certain HR department companies are paid money by B-Schools to give the student an offer on the condition that they can chuck him out after three months. If this is true, then it's a huge scandal in itself. The important question you need to ask yourself is -- "Do I want to join an educational institute or a placement agency to find me a job?" Moreover, even the top-20 (by any definition) b-schools do not manage 100% placements, so how can these private b-schools even dream of doing so?
6. Additional programmes in SAP, super-specialisations
This is actually laughing-stock material. I mean, there are so many more elective course credits available for students in some of the best b-schools, that claiming something like this sounds hilarious.
7. Hostel facilities
What is so special about having a hostel on a campus?
8. Visiting faculty from XYZ B-Schools (usually the IIMs or XLRI)
This means that the school's own full-time faculty strength is poor. By relying on visiting faculty, the B School is only trying to save costs. This means that a large part of the fees that are being charged by them are going straight into some personal pockets of the owners but certainly not into too many professors' full-time salary account.
9. Hygienic canteen
So is the food in other college canteens killing students with diseases?
10. Wi-fi campus
This is the biggest farce of all. If someone belonged to the 1980s, they may say 'wow'. But to the current young generation, who takes technology for granted, it will sound amusing.
11. Scholarships
This usually means a 'discount'. Using this terminology sends out the communication that the institution treats education as some kind of bargainable commodity. This word has been overused and aspirants have no respect for such things anymore. Most students now perceive 'scholarship offers' like these as desperate attempts at advertising. Moreover, any B School that thinks about education as a bargainable commodity is likely to treat it exactly like that when it comes to delivering the goods.
12. International curriculum
Some even go the lengths of claiming that their curriculum reflects those of Harvard's or Wharton's. For the small section of people who are not in the know, this might sound like an attraction, but for any MBA aspirant who does even a little bit of research, this will prove to be a lie. One can never replicate the curriculum of any of these universities. This is because course credits available in those schools and the resultant number of teaching hours require a faculty strength (more than 300 staff members) which even the best schools in India have not been able to achieve.
13. Ranked so-and-so-number in India
There are so many b-school ranking bodies in the country now, that every private b-school has a chance to get into a 'top' position in some ranking or the other. So many private b-schools claim to have a good rank that it has become a redundant word now.
14. Backed by IIM alumni
Great educational institutions are formed by academics from top universities and not business professionals who have been trained to work in the industry. Moreover, there are all kinds of people graduating from an IIM -- some become good managers and some don't. Without getting into the individual credentials of each of the purported IIM alumni backers, this argument merely sounds like rhetoric. In many cases, this IIM alumni promoter is a rich man with lots of spare cash who isn't averse to making a small side-investment in an educational venture as long as he doesn't have to involve himself in the day-to-day functioning -- and in exchange the b-school copiously uses his name for marketing itself.
7 tips to interpret b-school ads
Now is the time of the year that your email and SMS inboxes will start getting flooded with advertisements from private business schools. For many of you, these advertisements may also uncover options that you hadn’t considered or heard of. But beware, as this is also the time that b-schools go on an overdrive to fill up their seats, often making claims that are roundabout or sound too good to be true. Here are some clues that you can use to call their bluff so that you know what you are getting into.
Buzz up!1. Ask for explicit disclosure of the nature of the degree offered – Many private b-schools offer a 2-year fulltime course (with lectures and placements) but give you a distance-learning degree affiliated to private or state universities at the end of it. These degrees are usually correspondence MBA degrees from universities such as Sikkim Manipal University, Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University, Madurai Kamraj University and many more. If the b-school hasn’t been explicit about the exact nature of degree it is offering, ask it. If you feel that the school is avoiding being upfront about the degree, stay away from having anything to do with the school.
2. Beware of university-affiliated PGDM – All recognized Universities and Deemed Universities in India have the legal power to offer full-fledged Master’s degrees. So if any b-school is offering a Post Graduate Diploma in Management affiliated to a University, something is definitely amiss. An example is the Pune University PGDM that is offered by several b-schools in and around Pune. Unlike the AICTE-approved PGDM, the Pune University PGDM is not a full-fledged MBA-equivalent Master’s degree. Its eligibility requirements clearly state that you don’t even need a Bachelor’s degree, either of passing class XII or having an engineering diploma is enough. So you may join a b-school that offers this degree and even get placements in the end, be aware that this degree will not allow you to pursue further studies.
3. “100% placements assistance”, “Placement partners” - Even the IIMs have stopped talking about guaranteed or 100% placements, so for a private b-school to do so begs for skepticism. These days, a lot of b-schools are tying up with job consultancy companies or job-portals to find jobs for their MBA students — something you can do independently too. Others have the audacity to list every corporate visitor to their campus as a recruiter. There are also horror stories of b-schools bribing junior HR staff of companies to take their students as trainees for a couple of months under the gard of a placement. For these reasons and more, it is best to check the placement claims of a b-school with existing students or alumni.
4. Check faculty credentials – Beware of b-schools that rely too much on visiting faculty. A b-school that is shying away from hiring a healthy amount of fulltime faculty is basically pocketing your money without giving you the rigour expected of a post-graduation program. Also, ask the b-school clearly how many of their faculty are fulltime and how many visiting. Among the visiting faculty, ask how many attend for just one lecture and how many teach for an entire course. You might end up being surprised how ill-staffed the b-school is. Stay away from b-schools that are being ambiguous about their faculty breakup.
5. Specialised MBA – Any good general MBA program offers elective courses in the second year wherein you can study advanced subjects about a particular industry sector. Which makes the specialised MBA (such as retail MBA) a scam of sorts, because you can study specialised subjects in the second year even in a general MBA. The trouble is, that a specialised MBA forces you to narrow your career choices from the word ‘go’. Unless you are extremely passionate about a particular industry sector, there is no good reason to join a specialised MBA. Actually, a lot of private b-schools offer Retail Management MBA in order to hide their inability to hire anyone other than marketing faculty. Since marketing faculty are available aplenty (mid-level sales managers of companies acting as visiting faculty and making some money on the side), b-schools find a convenient way to spin off a Retail Management MBA and make some additional money from the fees. So unless the b-school has a history of commitment to a particular sector (such as Mudra Institute of Communications, National Insurance Academy, etc), chances that you’ll get good education in a specialised MBA are less.
6. Direct GD-PI call – Often, you might get a call from a b-school saying that they are offering you a direct jump to the GD-PI stage. The b-school has probably gotten hold of your contact information from your coaching institute or from the database of entrance tests sold illegally in the black market. In case you do attend the GDPI and find that everyone around you is clearing the various stages, then the GDPI is clearly an eyewash. Do realise that by joining such a school you may not be satisfied with the quality of your classmates as the school gives admission to anything and anyone that walks.
7. Scholarships – In the olden days, scholarships used to be given to the very select few who had achieved something very exceptional in their past. But for several private b-schools these days, scholarship is another name for ‘discount’. You may want to think why a b-school is treating education like an electronics outlet treats washing machines, and whether it in any way also reflects how it will treat the two years that you will spend in it.
Remember, b-schools that fall in the above mentioned categories may not be bad options. But if the schools aren’t transparent about the limitations of what they are offering or are being ambiguous by hiding behind sweet-sounding marketese, you know you need to be careful.
