ISB among top 20 B-Schools

ISB among top 20 B-Schools globally” was the subject of the email I received from Mr. Rao. The content of the email is reproduced below:

Dear Arnav,
Today, the 28th of January 2008, is a red letter day in the history of the ISB.

The latest list of the 100 top Global MBAs in the world released by The Financial Times today ranks ISB at Twenty (20), making it perhaps the youngest institution ever to be ranked among the top business schools in the world. The fact that we have been ranked 20th in the first time we have participated in rankings, makes this announcement so much more gratifying. (The details will be shortly published on http://www.ft.com/businesseducation/mba)
We set out in 2001 with a vision to be an internationally top-ranked, research driven and independent management institution that grooms future leaders for India and the world. It is therefore a great moment for us, as it marks the accomplishment of an important part of the vision that guides and inspires every action that we take.

Sincerely,

M Rammohan Rao, Dean

Indeed! As I checked the Financial Times Rankings, ISB was right up there at 20. Ironically one of the schools that supports ISB, namely Kellogg, was at 24. But after having written two exhaustive articles on this blog and , I am tons wiser than just be bewildered by a Rank!

A quick look at the entire table and even analysing it as in the second article cited above, (ISB is included in that analysis, I suggest you read it) the most important ranking, the “Recommends” rank for ISB is 85. Which means that recruiters would prefer hiring MBA graduates from 84 other institutes before they choose to come to ISB.

The “Aims Achieved” rank is 68. Calculated on the basis of how pertinent was the MBA education in the life of a student considering his/her pre and post-MBA employment/goals, a rank of 68 is not something to be proud of.

Astonishing though is that the ISB and the Shanghai Jiao Tong University could take part in the rankings at all. After all, in the published FT participant requirements it is explicit that the school “must be internationally accredited by an organization such as AACSB, Equis or Amba.” That however, at least according to the websites of the three organizations – is not the case for both schools.

In any case I feel that as a school ISB is good for people with good work experience (say 5-10 years), in a different field, who are not looking for a major career change. How far will ISB go, only time will tell.