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First came the international accreditations. And then the elevation in FT rankings.
In the last two years itself, the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Calcutta, India's oldest IIM, has bagged accreditations and memberships from AMBA, AACSB and CEMS - the latter being an elite club of 29 global B-schools, thereby making IIM-C the only member from India. IIM-C says it has been bagging at least one accreditation almost every year since 2012.
Now, IIM Calcutta has outperformed IIM Ahmedabad (IIM-A) in the FT Masters in Management (MiM) Rankings 2014 released this week.
At 13th position for its post graduate program (PGP), IIM-C not only emerged as the top non-European B-school but also bettered its previous debut rank of 19th position in 2013. As against this, IIM Ahmedabad moved just two places at 16th position for its flagship post graduate programme in management (PGPM) as against 18th position last year. The FT's MiM ranking, now in its 10th year, features the top 70 management degrees for students with little or no previous work experience.
IIM-C attributes this feat to its "continuous quality-enhancing method" of internationalisation.
The parameter which both the institutes consider crucial to their positions in global rankings like that of FT is internationalisation - be it terms of students, faculty, curriculum or research. This is something which the institute focusing on since sometime now, says Ashok Banerjee, dean - new initiatives and external relations, IIM-C.
"We have internationalised the curriculum because we believe in offering a global perspective to our students. While we have managed to bring visiting lecturers from the top institutions around the world, we have also recruited 15 permanent faculty," said Banerjee adding that it is not easy to get good teachers for a high quality course as is taught at the IIMs.
The rankings too are based on several parameters such as salary in US $, weighted salary in US $, value for money rank, careers rank, aims achieved rank, placement success rank, employed at three months (%), female faculty (%), female students (%), women on board (%), international faculty (%), international students (%), international board (%), international mobility rank, international course experience rank, languages, faculty with doctorates (%), maximum course fee (local currency), course length (months), number of students enrolled 2013-14, and company internships (%).
One of the salient features of the ranking was the 'Careers Rank' which tracked the career progress of the student over a period of three years. IIM-C, whose 2011 batch was considered for it, topped the list.
Banerjee believes that this is due to the innovative course structure of the institution which changes according to industry requirements.
"We offer some innovative electives like investigating corporate social responsibility and marketing at the grassroot level which is unique to IIM-C, that makes our students capable of superior performance when they join an organisation," he said, admitting that though while developing infrastructure the institution has focused on improving the pool of faculty, the need for more to be done is felt on that front.
According to Banerjee, one of the areas IIM-C had been focusing on was internationalisation.
"Whatever we do, it should have a global perspective. For instance, we began looking at courses that should have more global context, more institutes for student exchange programmes and increased foreign students footfall. We offer a PGDM where as foreign students look for a relevant master degree rather than a fellowship or diploma. We have also been focusing on global accreditations which we have been receiving every year now since 2012," said Banerjee, adding that the recent Accreditation with Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) being awarded to IIM-C also helped it improve rankings.
Moreover, Ajit Balakrishnan, Chairman of IIM-C board, who is also an alumni of the institution credits this success to high quality of faculty, stringent selection criteria and research-oriented activities. "We have a competition ratio which is higher than that of Harvard. Last year, IIM-C has produced around 200 high quality research papers, it would increase this year," says Balakrishnan.
However, there are other parameters where IIM-A has done better than IIM-C, according to Ashish Nanda, director of IIM Ahmedabad.
"First, we wish to congratulate IIM Calcutta for their ranking. They are a wonderful institution and deserve to be highly ranked. In comparing IIM-A and IIM-C rankings, most noticeable at first glance is the fact the two institutions are roughly comparable on most dimensions. On two dimensions, IIM-A scores better: starting salary (IIMA average is $ 94,478, IIM-C average is $ 83,397) and course fee (IIM-A is Rs. 12 lakhs, IIM-C is Rs. 13.5 lakhs)," says Nanda.
On two other dimensions, IIM-C scores better: value for money and aims achieved wherein value for money calculates ratio of salary of alumni three years after graduation to course fee.
"The ranking suggests IIM-C alumni must be earning significantly greater that IIM-A alumni three years out. Frankly, we are a little mystified, particularly because IIMA starting salaries are higher and course cost is lower and, in our judgment, IIM-A alumni do at least as well as IIM-C alumni during their first three years after graduation. Aims achieved measures the extent to which alumni felt they fulfilled their goals for doing the program. IIM-C alumni were more satisfied with what they had achieved than were IIMA alumni. We will endeavor to learn from our alumni how we can help them achieve their goals better," says Nanda.
Both the institute agree there is more to be done. "Though we have been ranked top in the alumni-progress criteria, we could not do well in parameters like international mobility and international course exposure," noted Banerjee.
"We continue to lag on measures of international diversity (our international students, faculty, and mobility rankings are low) and will endeavor to make a significant difference on this dimension in coming years, while maintaining our commitment to quality," Nanda assures while adding that while IIM-A is sensitive to the rank we get, since it is an indicator of how we are faring in achieving our objective, a high rank is the consequence, not the objective, of our endeavors. "We pay attention to rankings because they help us learn where are doing well and what to do better, but, as an institution of learning, we have chosen not to play the "rankings game," where the goal of the institution simply becomes achieving higher ranking."
