Student's corner

Dear Students,

LAST WEEK WE ASKED: Do you think more and more B-schools should adopt IPRS to promote transparency in placement reporting?

BEST RESPONSE

It is a prudent move for a B-school to adopt IPRS to validate its placement data. This validation provides accuracy of the placement reporting and imparts credibility to the B-school. This transparency measure exhibits the self-assurance and poise of the B-school, and instill trust in students. However, the concern of change in reputation and constricted support from recruiters, may prove to be a deterrent for many B-schools to adopt IPRS.

-- Akshay Chadha, NSIT, Delhi.

OTHER RESPONSES:

The IPRS standards is a step towards standardising B-school placements and is the way to follow for all B-schools as it will help in better decision making for aspiring students. This is because students are misguided by lack of standardisation and clarity in placement reports. IPRS has specified a well worked out format for reporting aggregate statistics to bring uniformity in salary and non-salary information related to placements. This would lead to a fair and healthy comparison between B-schools and will lead to a better informed choice.

-- Anurag Srivastava, Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA).

One of the deciding parameter for choosing a B-school among others is the placement history of the institute. In reality, different B-school do window dressing and used different formats to report their placements in the media. The lack of standardisation and clarity may result into misinterpretation of the data which may act as a hindrance in comparison among B-school and lead to wrong decision making by the potential candidate. By adopting the placement reporting mode through IPRS, a breeze of transparency will flow among the B-school and various stakeholders will be able to make comparison between B school on multiple parameters.

-- Harsh Mehta, St. Kabir Institute of Professional Studies, Ahmedabad.

In order to create ethical as well as value-driven managers, it is the responsibility of B-schools to start the process from within by getting their systems, operations as well as other data being audited by a reliable agency. The transparent and honest placement reporting will not only help aspiring MBAs to make a decision as to which B-School to join but will also help current students as they can now know about their Cost to Company (CTC) as well as salary break-ups and other incentives.

-- Poonam Binaykiya, FPSB India.

Promoting transparency in placement standards is most vital for any student to take admissions into any college. But the problem is that what if some colleges don't follow the IPRS. it will produce ambiguity and will distort bonafide ranking of the institutes. The ministry of HRD should pass the resolution or instruct the B school to follow IPRS or some thing similar to it, so that the student don't suffer because of the treachery of the institute. but the problem with IPRS sort of proposal is of implementation on pan India level.

-- Nilaya Mitash Shanker, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Roorkee.

Placement data of B-schools have become an over-hyped phenomenon and not only the second rung B schools but even the premier ones have joined the bandwagon, creating hypes regarding their placement figures. IPRS is a welcoming move to promote transparency as aspirants have started to gauge the credentials of a B-school through its placement figures which itself are fudged. This can have serious implications on their future career as there is a lot more to a B-school life than just the CTC. With so much of fees to pay these days, students need to know the exact details.

-- Prateek Parimal, Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA).

Your responses should reach us at edu@business-standard.com by Monday evening every week. Please ensure that your responses do not exceed 100 words. Avoid attachments and email your full name, institute's name, batch and complete mailing address. The student who gives the 'Best Response' will be awarded Rs 500.

THIS WEEK'S QUESTION: Do you think the new IIT-JEE format will be more stressful for students?