I am currently pursuing MBA Marketing from a Tier 2 B School in Mumbai. During the course, I have learnt the fact that MBA builds confidence in you and trains you for the corporate world much more than any other course could probably do. I also learnt to enhance my skills on various domains of Marketing & Management. But seldom have I asked myself “is there an equal job opportunity for all the management grads passing out from non-premier B-Schools”?
To start with, let me make it clear that I am not at all considering the prime B-school in my purview of observation. They definitely are a different ball game altogether. I am, however, considering the set of MBA institutes which are categorized below the prime B-Schools of the country. My experience which is one from a non-premium B-school says that it is not about the Brand of the institute that matters, but it is the knowledge and the skill set that is attained during this stint.
These days what a B-school is evaluated on is the quantum of placements it has managed to get on campus and the highest pay package delivered to the students. Not being from the premium B-schools the institute definitely lacks the advantage of getting the students placed in the so-called Mckinsey’s and the Bain’s of the industry, however, tries to place them in companies that are good for the students to help them in giving the right start to their career. For an institution like ours, who manages to get the best faculty to impart the knowledge still lacks to get the best companies on board for placements.
So is it really the student’s efforts that get appreciated or having a good connect with the industry veterans? In this case, what does a non-premier MBA college do, when it doesn’t have established alumni?
It doesn’t mean that they don’t have the best talent to serve the industry but the right connect to get the students placed is somewhere missing. Certainly a B-School like ours, that is merely 10 years old, lacks this edge over other competitors. Another point I would like to mention here is that it the alumni of a college that helps them to get the students placed with good pay packages at the earliest. Having a good connect with the network of alumni helps them to leverage it for their placements.
So what can be done to change this anomaly?
I propose that there should be nationally administered post qualification examination on the lines of UGC NET, Civil services, IBPS, Banking Personal Services, SSC, which can be taken by all the management students wherein the students will be evaluated on their analytical ability and apply their innovative managerial approach in the real time case studies. Based on these scores, the students will be evaluated and those who manage to get a decent score will get a shot at the best companies.
This will be fair as far as the students from non-premier B-Schools are concerned because they will no longer be evaluated on the Brand of Management Schools they come from but on their knowledge and skills that they have learnt in the period of two years. Also, the test can be taken by any student of any college, and based on the scores they can apply in the company they want. This system will give the companies a chance to look at the best talent available across India instead of just going to the top league of B- Schools and practicing discriminatory salary incentives. This will also help the institutes who don’t have a successful alumni cloud in getting the students placed.
In my opinion, this will solve the problem that is presently prevailing in the current education system of Management in India and make the hiring of suitable Management Graduates transparent.
P.S: Times are changing; students are proving their worth in the interviews. Few companies are realizing the potential of Non-premier B-schools and are giving them a chance to prove themselves. Big companies like HUL, ITC, Reliance etc. have recruited students from my college this year and mind you, all these have been pool campus placements, wherein our students compete with the top B-schools. This only shows that MBA from a top tier institution doesn’t really matter, but what matters is your hard work and the opportunity to prove yourself!