The Hindu Business Line : ‘Slowdown impact limited in long-term’

The Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad, is not worried about the adverse impact of the economic slowdown on management education and is planning to go ahead with its previously planned expansion programmes.

The business school, which collects nearly Rs 20 lakh as fee for a one-year course in management, is hopeful that the student community also considers the poor campus placements this year as part of the “business cycle.”

“Educational institutions like ISB are here to stay. Placements — better or worse — will not impact them in any manner in the long-term,” Ajit Rangnekar, Dean, ISB, told The New Manager.

For the first time since its launch in 2001, over 140 students of the Class of 2008 (which had 460 students) failed to find placements in the campus placements programme. However, with a host of special efforts by ISB, most of them are now employed.

But admissions in the current year have improved despite a fee hike of Rs 1.5 lakh. The intake has gone up to 560 from 440 last year. “The fee-hike was only to take care of the inflationary impact. But the students’ response has improved as career growth calls for a long-term perspective,” said the Dean. The interest among foreign students has also been growing, he added. About 5 per cent of ISB students have come from aboard this year.

Expansion

He pointed out that rather than worry about the slowdown, business schools should focus on capacity building. “Actually, business schools have been converted into job-shops. The focus has moved away from education to jobs which should not happen,” he said.

Now, most schools are trying to strengthen their academic credentials to remain competitive in the slowdown. “That way, the slowdown is an awakening to management education,” Rangnekar said. Since business cycles were common and “unavoidable,” they should not impact the vision of institutions of learning, he added. “As such, we will go ahead with expansion programmes such as strengthening our faculty,” he said. From 30 last year, ISB recently ramped up its faculty strength to 40.

“In fact, this is a good time to hire quality faculty as most of the American business schools are not hiring,” he said. ISB would also focus more on research. “We are also looking at opening new centres of excellence besides increasing the research thrust in our existing centres,” Rangnekar said.

ISB plans to rope in leading institutions/companies to take up collaborative research. It has recently tied up with the State Bank of India and Biocon. The proposed second campus of ISB in Mohali is likely to be functional by 2011-12. “We still need to get possession of 70 acres of land from the State Government. We will invest about Rs 200 crore initially in the infrastructure,” he said.

Talking about how management education was perceived by students during a slowdown, he said students should de-link education from jobs. “There will be no dearth of opportunities for those who are meritorious. Besides, one should look at entrepreneurial opportunities in a slowdown,” he added.

Even job losses should be taken in the right perspective, he said.

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