Several of you wanted to know my views on the Business Today b school rankings which were published recently. Well, here they are.The piece is titled 'The Trouble with B School Rankings' and has been published in the latest issue of JAM magazine.
In a nutshell, I think it's a case of applying a methodology best suited for widely advertised FMCG products to educational institutes, whose excellence must be measured by completely different parameters.
I wish more discretion had been used, because these ranking surveys may mean nothing to the creamy end of the student layer. But they can and do mislead those with limited access to credible information...
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ReplyDelete"""I wish more discretion had been used, because these ranking surveys may
ReplyDeletemean nothing to the creamy end of the student layer. But they can and do
mislead those with limited access to credible information..."""
100 % True. This is what i posted on www.pagalguy.com
here is the link
http://www.pagalguy.com/forum/other-exams-xat-fms-jmet/
16694-business-today-2006-rankings-they.html
I have lost faith in surveys on best B-schools, best colleges, best hospitals, best, best, etc, which appear as cover stories in leading magazines, year after year. On comparison, you will find that no two surveys will have similar lists. I am sure if you make your decisions based on those findings, you're doomed. Look at it, smile at it, and forget it!
ReplyDeleteHi!!
ReplyDeleteCheck this
http://www.pkblogs.com/mbajunction(since its blocked, its actually www.mbajunction.blogspot.com)
:-My views on the rankings, which has had a lot of support from my batchmates, also since u said the point well...Seniors and friends indeed tell one the truth....u need to talk to them
Cheers
Shankar
scmhrd, Pune
Totally agree with you!! The best rating I can give this ranking is "What a Zoke!"
ReplyDeleteEvery week Business Today needs to release a book spanning some 100 pages. If they don't write such stuff (whether they do research or not is another matter), then the book will not be filled.
ReplyDeleteHence all such articles like
Best B Schools
Best Arts college
Best schools
etc etc....
Princepas in the second comment has highlighted the same thread which I have quoted on my blog 10 days before.
ReplyDeleteOne can read a B-School Students view on the episode.
http://mbajunction.blogspot.com/2006/07/b-school-rankings-perspective.html
Cheers
Shankar
i shuddered looking at the BT B-schools 2006 rankings....i mean you put IIPM,ICFAI & its ilk in Top 30 and you expect us to believe you??? Whom are we fooling here??? Definitely not the readers...I think there should be some limit & decency even in rigging & corruption...but BT has crossed all limits...
ReplyDeleteThere definitely can be more than enough question marks that can be put to these surveys organized by any magazine.
ReplyDeleteOften the parameters are decided based on what would suit certain institutes and not oterwise.
As said, asking MBA aspirants is not a very good idea since they are the looking for information and their views could be biased in favour of institutes visible daily in newspaper rather than those who do not advertise at all (e.g. S.P.Jain, and a perception survey does not carry any value, since you dont have to take admission into an institute just because your perception was good about the place.
Looking at any of the ranking produced by these magazines, varying from educational institutes to hospitals or best cities, the concapt of ranking them as 1,2,3 ...... itself is not correct. The differnces are often small at the top but still rank 2 and rank would seem distant from each other (which actually might not be the case)
These categories can be rated as elite, very good, good , sufficient, below ordinary etc. This will not only highlight the facts such as IIMA, IIMB or TISS would not be different in terms of educational quality but this might seem so otherwise in the ranks due to their courses opted by the mass students(e.g. courses offered by TISS would not be something most of the students would want to opt for).
One question that comes to my mind is after these magazines publish their ratings, almost all the other sources of information start publishing their own content describing the possible flaws in their rating, and now even the aspirants have started lookin for other sources, but still year after these magazines publish these ratings and the copies sell like hot cakes , why ????
Possibly because most of us get the copy only to check what funny ranking they would have published this year, but through this isnt the purpose of the magazine solved(sell as much as you can).
On a slightly different note, how does ISB shape up against IIM-A, especially for candidates who have a couple of years of experience? And what is with ISB and these rankings, is it still too new an institution to feature here?
ReplyDeletebusiness today = zero accountability.
ReplyDeletethat reminds me , i have a balance sheet to balance :D
As usual BT continues to baffle us with their strange rankings...i remember a few years ago they had ranked elphinstone collge (mumbai) amongst the best science colleges in Mumbai and Xaviers (mumbai) amongst the best commerce colleges in mumbai...as far i remember xaviers had an evening commerce course which people hardly knew about..
ReplyDelete2 IIPMs in the top twenty says enough about the credibility of these rankings...
hope outlook does not do something on similar lines when they release their rankings in september...
Funny enough, the rea #1 b-school of India does not even figure on this list! This is probably just as well, I am sure ISB Hyderabad would be pretty happy to leave alone applicants from the pool that BT used for conducting its survey.
ReplyDeleteHi Rashmi
ReplyDeleteThis is abt ur article in JAM. You have already listed the schools which do not figure in BT rankings but will figure in JAM rankings ... now this gives a hint tht even u r goin to base ur rankings on perception ... u already have in mind which instis will be thr in ur rankings ... just a sugggestion try to avoid such biases ...
"Quality of students
ReplyDelete- Admission procedure
- Quality of faculty
- Achievements of its alumni"
factors on which jam says a bschool's repute depends on.. how come publication/research by faculty doesnt makean appearnce here.. as far as i know the best schools are those which have faculties who are widely published and regarded as pastmaster authority in thier fields.. shouldnt that be a prime judging factor??
We conducted a survey on our site http://www.pagalguy.com asking users which B-School ranking you believe in. As of now we have 2150 responses. 46.9% None , the other choices being Business Today (22.9%) , BusinessWorld (22.2%) and Outlook having measly 7.9%.The poll is still on the Home Page and can be seen.So what do we surmise from this? Print Media sells!!! Business Today-AC Nielsen gets a database of 450 odd people , compiles it and earn 50-60 Lakhs from it.Beautiful , I would say.And here we are , discussing about it too :).Am glad the rankings this year has been worst than previous years. People ( i mean the common junta, the parents and students from semi-urban and rural cities of India, who rely in a big way on media for taking admissions in big cities) will soon realise that ultimately its a dirty business out there.
ReplyDeleteI have been asked by few Deans, of so called upcoming institutes, hey post something GOOD about us and we will give you 25% commission on each admission. Sorry , cant write here my reply , otherwise Rashmi will block me for offensive content ;).
This is the reasn we have never encouraged ranking on PaGaLGuY. We have always insisted, make use of the discussions, ask your queries and find out , do you fit in this particular institute? Every B-School has its own pedegogy, qualities and distinct features. Concentrate on that.And do research before you join a college.Ultimately you are going to spend two valuable years of life there and yes a nice sum of your money is at stake too.
@Mumbai Monsoon - What ISB has done in 4 years , many of the IIMs and other top B-Schools have not done in 20 years.Lets wait which way IIMs go once US B-Schools open their shop here.As one of our esteemed users on PaGaLGuY.com says , "IITs and IIMs are a national waste".Tax payers salary is spent in the education of these II'ans and then they collect the booty in foreign salaries.Aaargh..but thats a different topic altogether, isnt it Rashmi?
Rohit Awasthi
Head of Marketing,
PaGaLGuY.com