Successful placements result in increased admissions this year
After a lacklustre response during the recessionary period, the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) are back to attracting working professionals to the campuses for one year management programmes.
Batch sizes at the IIMs have risen 20 - 40 per cent this year. The IIMs which conduct one year post graduate programme for executives, say the rise is a natural outcome of successful placements of last year and there is a considerable rise in applications as well as batch size.
“Since we were able to place all our students successfully last year, this year we saw around 30 per cent rise in applications for our post graduate programme for executives (PGPEX),” said Pandurang Bhatta, Chairperson PGPEX at IIM Calcutta (IIM-C).
However, due to infrastructure constraints, the institute has not been able to expand the batch size of 50. The institute intends to increase the batch size post infrastructure expansion including addition in hostel rooms.
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Ditto at IIM Lucknow, which has seen around 40 per cent rise in its batch size. IIM Lucknow also saw considerable response for its one-year full-time, International Prog ramme in Management for Executives (IPMX). With the batch size rising from 48 last year to 67 this year, the institute believes it is the buoyant placement scenario that has changed the tide.
“We started this programme during recession but we got a good lot of 45 people in the first batch in 2008-09. However, in the second batch, things began to improve. In the initial two years, all the IT companies were holding on to their offers. But this year we hear Wipro and Infosys are now recruiting in bulk,” said Archana Shukla, Dean Noida Campus and Chairperson IPMX at IIM-L.
Even IIM Ahmedabad (IIM-A), whose PGPX programme was ranked 11th worldwide in the Global MBA Rankings 2011 by Financial Times, has for the first time seen the batch size of its post graduate programme in management for executives (PGPX) crossing the 100 mark. The 2011-12 batch this year has seen 102 students, up from 86 last year.
“The students have joined the PGPX 2011-12 batch from a large application pool and after an elaborate selection process,” said Shailesh Gandhi, Chairperson of PGPX at IIM-A.
At IIM-A, recruiters who participated during the 2011 placements include — A. T. Kearney, Arthur D. Little, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Corporate Executive Board, Philips, Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, Google, Facebook, Infosys, TCS, Accenture, CapGemini, Mindtree, Amazon, Polaris, HCL, Hero Honda, Reliance Industries Limited, and RPG Group among others.
What could also reiterate buoyancy in these one year programmes for working professionals is the return of the regular sectors. According to Bhatta, working professionals mostly from IT and related sectors used to opt for the programmes, something which had tapered off during economic slowdown. However, this year, regular sectors like IT and telecom have returned to the campuses.
“Mainly IT consultancy, and manufacturing are the regular sectors which have returned in terms of applications for the programmes. Last year it was the telecom sector that came in large numbers. Moving forward, we are talking to public sector companies and are interested in diversifying batch profile to enhance the programme. With buoyancy returning, next year we may also market this programme in West Asia as well,” said Bhatta.
The IIMs select candidate based on professional experience, academic record, GMAT score and personal interviews. While IIM-C charges Rs 14 lakh for the one year management programme, IIM-A charges Rs 21 lakh for the same.