|| MOHAMMAD RAFIQ LONE
Management has become one of the most sought after fields in modern higher education not only in the big states of India but in Kashmir as well. A large number of students opt for undergraduate and post graduate studies in business management with the hope of making a mark in the corporate world and entrepreneurship as the opportunities of absorption in government services are drying up with each passing day. Something that must be seriously taken care of while opting for a Business school is the ranking of a B-school since the rankings provide an insight into the efficiency of a B-school on certain fronts like the quality of education being imparted, placement record and so on.
While many magazines, agencies and even TV Channels (like Careers 360, Business today, Zee Business etc) come up with ranking of B-schools operating outside the state, unfortunately no effort earlier has been made to rank business schools imparting post graduate business management education (MBA) in Kashmir valley. This write-up is based on survey project by the author and an attempt has been made to rank B-schools of the valley. The facts and understanding gained from the study needs to be put in the public domain in order to help the students help choose the Business school based on its efficiency on various fronts. These rankings carry relevance this time significantly since it is the time for the aspiring candidates to look for B-Schools of their choice as the session for admissions is about to begin.
The rankings are expected to be of significant help to aspiring candidates once they score well in the CMAT (All India Test for admission MBA conducted by AICTE). The methodology used for arriving at the rankings is more or less the same as used by the leading magazine, Business Today. Today there are as many as seven B-schools in the valley imparting full time MBA program; The Business School, Kashmir University (TBS,KU); PG Department of Management Studies, Islamia College (PGDMS, ICSC); School of Business Studies, Central University (SBS,CU); School of Business Management, Islamic University (SBM, IUST); Department of Management Studies, South Campus-Kashmir University (DMS, SC-KU); School of Business Studies, Iqbal Institute of Technology & Management (SBS, IITM) and The Business School, SSM College of Engineering (BS, SSM). Overall rankings of these institutes were calculated on the basis on the basis of five broad parameters; brand value, learning experience, living experience, return on investment and future orientation.
The parameters were in turn dependent upon variables like affiliations, accreditations, cut off scores, number of applications, teaching pedagogy, qualification and expertise of the faculty, publications, student faculty ratio, course content, infrastructure, fee structure, industry experience, placements and so on.
The current and pass out student’s feedback was primarily taken on ‘Return on investment’ variable and ‘Learning Experience’ while as that of B-schools was taken that of other variables like brand value and future orientation as well. The Business School (Kashmir University), School of Business Studies (Central University) & PG Department of Management Studies (Islamia College) rank amongst the top thee respectively. On the basis of Future orientation as reflected by the response by the faculty of the Bschools, TBS, KU again tops the list. SBS, Iqbal Institute of Technology & Management ranks lowest on all the parameters based on business school feedback. Even though SSM ranks healthy on some parameters; being a private college the fee structure is higher as compared to government run institutes. SSM College of Engineering also ranks low on Brand value and Future orientation.
Since it is a perceptual study and that the recruiter’s perspective is not covered, this study like any other study may have its limitations. Also the data has been collected over a period of time and therefore may show some redundancy. Moreover different methodologies may result in slightly different results due to different weightage assigned to various factors; but the main aim here is merely to make the interested parties aware of the parameters they must be looking for while selecting a B-school, be it an aspiring candidate searching for an admission or a prospective recruiter looking for management trainees.
