How to choose an MBA institution
Graduation is still considered in India as basic qualification, after graduation most of the students go for master’s degree either in pure academics or applied area. Progression to the applied area is mostly limited by the subject one has studied in Graduation. But MBA is one stream of postgraduate education which welcomes graduates from almost every stream, subject to qualifying required entrance test or similar kind of screening mechanism being used by various institutions. MBA, Master of Business Administration as the name suggests is a program which grooms the student to be able to handle the various administrative and other assignments associated with the processes of running the business. Mostly the specializations in MBA are pretty general and are applicable to almost every business and every organization, specialization like Human Resources, Finance, Marketing, Operations, IT. These verticals are there in almost every organization and in almost every industry. This omnibus applicability of MBA makes it one of the most popular programs not only in India but across the globe.
As the program is omnibus so are the institutions, there are more than 5000 MBA colleges that offer more than 8500 diverse types of MBA courses in India. This number and claims and counter claims of the institutions as to which is best, and then the list of top 10, top 30, top fifty, and top one hundred colleges published by various magazines and websites adds to this confusion. MBA fees in India ranges from INR 20,000 to INR 40 lakh for two-year full-time program. MBA college fee in India depends on several factors like infrastructure, hostel facility, extra-curricular activities, and pedagogy. For example, if an MBA institute offers an international immersion program wherein the candidates must visit a foreign university for a semester or a certain duration, the course fee of that institute will be high. On the other hand, if the MBA institute is funded by the government, the fees will be low. Is the amount of fee charged directly proportional to the quality of education and career prospects? No, not necessarily. Because at the end of the day the prospects of an MBA graduate depend on his competency, the name of a prestigious college may get his CV preferred by an organization, but this preferential treatment stops at the interview and other tests conducted by the organization because there it is the competency of the student which matters not the name of his institution nor the fee, he has spent to get that degree.
There are no set rules or list of recommendations which can tell you which institute to join to do your MBA, but there certainly are some parameters which you can use to evaluate a Management Institution for your studies.
1. Your Career Objective
At the outset you should ask yourself why you wish to spend your time and money doing an MBA. What goals and objectives do you wish to achieve after gaining the knowledge imparted through this course? For example, If you wish to pursue your career in the area of Business Analytics, you should look for an institute which provides this course, and when you find a list of such institutes you should move to next step.
2. Make a List
This is a preparatory step, a data organization step, because once you have a shortlisted list of your preferred colleges based on your objective, then you can filter this list based on other parameters of selection.
3. Colleges Accreditation
Though the industry is getting more liberal on this parameter, but still majority of organizations in India still believe in this criterion and sometimes filter out candidates who do not come from an institute approved by an accepted accreditation agency like a university recognized by UGC or AICTE or AIU. But if you are confident about your mettle and know that the college you are selecting has all the desired attributes to help you achieve your goal you may let go of this criterion.
4. Faculty
The faculty as THE most valuable resource of an academic institution, MBA being a practical and applied subject, the faculty should have an excellent grip on the academics and be aware and connected with the industry and updated with the changes happening in the local and global business environment. Go through the website and other information resources to find out about the faculties. Look if there are enough faculties and what is the percentage of Ph.D. faculties. Are there a considerable number of permanent faculties or mostly guest faculties, with few great names from the industry, who you also know cannot be able to take regular classes and own the responsibility of the batch. As the cost of hiring a full-time faculty is extremely high and is a perennial expenditure, some promoters of the institute hire mostly guest faculty who come for few weeks and finish the syllabus and go. You can also verify it from some of the ex-students, the best way could be look for alumni pages of the institute and discuss with the alumni of that institutions, they would be glad to help you.
5. Pedagogy & Curriculum
MBA is an ever-evolving program, so it cannot be taught with old methodology and pedagogy. Also, the curriculum should be future proof of global standard, not an old one. Find out when the curriculum was modified last or discuss with the current students if you can find them. What kind of interactions do the students and faculty have, is it only funnel model lecture system or are there discussion forums and other methods applied to inculcate the knowledge and skills?
6. Additional Relevant Certifications & Programs
Great colleges are aware that just an MBA degree is not good enough without some additional programs and certifications provided through workshops, seminars, and conferences. Find out what frequency of workshops, seminars, conferences and MDPs are being organized by the institution. You can easily get this information from their website, where they must have posted such information. You can also try and interact with students in various discussion forums.
7. Infrastructure
Good infrastructure is now a hygiene factor in management colleges. Any good college would have smart classrooms, with all the modern amenities. But a website is not the right place to evaluate it, only a personal visit to the institution can help you verify it. If a college has good infrastructure as claimed on its website, they would be more than happy to show it to you.
8. Legacy of the College
Legacy matters, promoters of the college matter, the vision and mission statement of the institution matters. There are many tell-tale signs; one significant sign is the average work span of the faculty in the college. A great college with an impressive legacy would have many faculties working there for years. Any college where the average working span of a faculty is over 10 years can be considered a good college, not neglecting other parameters. The brand equity and its alumnus working with the industry can be another source for verifying it.
9. Placement Record
One may like it or not, but an MBA institution in India and elsewhere is mostly known for placement, and both the student and the faculty are fully aware of it. Find out the placement record of the institute and profile of the companies regularly recruiting from the college. Big companies are very particular about the colleges they choose for hiring, so if an institute has few great companies which are consistently hiring from the institution, you may take that as a vote for their quality and consistency.
10. Alumni
Alumni of an institution are the best people to get information from about the institution. Any good student always remains grateful to their alma mater, if he feels that his college has contributed towards his career and inculcated the right attributes and skills which is helping him scaling heights in his corporate career. They are the best source for getting authentic and honest information about the institute.
11. International Exposure
International exposure is an icing on the cake and is helpful and getting a better job opportunity. Any good institution would have academic association with other international institutions for various student and faculty exchange programs. MBA being an alive and practical subject, it is best learnt than taught. International exposure can teach you a lot more than you can ever learn in a classroom.
12. Location
The location of the college is an added advantage if it has business and companies in the vicinity. It gives ready advantage for internship opportunity and placement opportunity, but it is only an added advantage if the college has other attributes, because a company would not hire from any institution, just because it is next door, even if the institution is not producing quality professionals. There are many good colleges located in non-metro cities and may have locational disadvantage for want of industries and companies in the vicinities, but if they provide quality, industry centric education, companies won't mind going far away placed to recruit.
You may use the above-mentioned objective criteria to evaluate any institution falling in your list, and any institution shortlisted as per this objective criterion should meet your academic as well as career objective requirements. Best of Luck for your management studies.