Getting together a motley bunch of learners...

IN CONVERSATION

what the returns on such investment of resources are.

Isn't it true that after a certain age, all the learning can be self-driven, whether it is financial nuances of an accounting sheet or marketing mantras? Why this move back to the class?

Let me ask you. Are all people reading? Are people following learning methodologies which keep them up to date? How many people manage to keep themselves updated through self-driven initiatives. You can read a lot. I am reading a lot. A lot of things are still amiss. Reading or learning through other methods supplements classroom learning.

So what does one get in the classroom (at the picturesque 262-acre campus) that one cannot get otherwise?

Almost 60 per cent of our revenue in the executive education field is from custom-designed programmes, which are specific to the needs of a company. We invest significant time doing the homework on a company and come up with practically oriented programmes. This learning contributes directly to organisations.

This customised education sounds very similar to consulting. You sit with the company and together evolve what needs to be done?

But there is a big difference. Consulting gives solutions. Education gives the tools to find solutions. We will not give you solutions but rather open your mind to help you solve your own problem.

Is there no convergence between education and consulting then?

Models are evolving. Consulting may have an element of education. Consulting firms could also become executive education service providers or business schools could get into consulting or there may be some sort of partnerships between the two.

There are a lot of faculties who also do consulting work and a lot of executive education may result in consulting assignments.

And have you attempted to measure the return on investment (RoI) on such executive education?

We have done that for some companies. We realise that executive education service providers are going to be asked to demonstrate RoIs. Education has to increasingly play a role where they can demonstrate RoIs. It is not so much done today.

ISB's philosophy is to focus on "global best practices which have relevance to Asian and business context". Don't you think global best practices could emerge from India? Are you looking at Indian case studies?

Some global best practices may emerge from India. In fact, India is being taken as a laboratory for emerging markets mostly for (new) products and in management practices too. Indian case studies are definitely on our agenda.

EDUCATION
ISB's latest batch brings together a chef, a model and a lecturer

While the last batch of the Hyderabad-based Indian School of Business (ISB) was in the news for bagging the highest remuneration package (Rs 1.04 crore), the current batch of 2007 is already setting new benchmarks.

To begin with an increased student intake to 418 working professionals (against 345 last year) has put ISB in the league of the largest B-schools in the world.

Moreover, the standards are higher this year with 53 per cent of the students securing a GMAT score of over 700.

Says Professor Rammohan Rao, ISB dean: "The average GMAT score has increased to 706 from 694 last year. This is comparable to GMAT scores of students at the world's top B-schools and is a matter of pride for the ISB and Indian management education."

Though ISB doesn't have an official cut-off score for GMAT and maintains that it is only one of the several criteria indicating the abilities of the candidates, the GMAT score does appear to hold considerable weightage.

"But when it comes to professionals with higher work experience, the scores may be lower," points out Bhuvana Ramalingam, director, communications.

Another highlight of the new class is the significant increase in the number of women students from 67 last year to 87.

"We make special efforts to increase the diversity of the class and also to increase women students," says Ramalingam.

Interestingly, while ISB claims to have always had an interesting mix of professionals from diverse fields, this year, besides entrepreneurs, architects and urban planners, there is a model-cum-television actor, a lecturer of an engineering college and a chef along with several people from the Indian armed forces. Evidently, the institute attaches a lot of significance to interactive learning.

ISB, incidentally, follows a portfolio faculty model with a mix of resident and visiting faculty which Ramalingam claims "makes us immediately international". The current batch will be taught by a mix of 20 resident and 55 visiting faculty from the top B-schools of the world, she informs.

Moreover, with a huge placement office working round the clock on profiling and marketing their students, and a curriculum committee to revise the curriculum every three years to suit international standards, the six-year old ISB claims to have achieved global standards.

PRAKRITI PRASAD