Are Colleges All About Public Perception?

By Glen Abraham

It is around this time when people, who got through the gruelling GD-PI processes and are waiting for their colleges to declare results or are spending their time in just plain anguish, wait for the day they set their foot in it. Then there are some who have the new-found resilience to have a go at all the MBA entrance exams all over again. And then finally there are those who have just begun their search for the perfect college, gradually working their way out into cracking the wretched exam.

When I started my journey back in Oct 2016, I was one of those happy-go-lucky people who found it hard to pick his target colleges, besides the obvious (IIMs, FMS, XLRI, SP Jain, XIMB, IMT G ..... and so on), but the challenge lies in finding out the truth about other colleges, with most websites and forums just painting a picture with the numbers game (Most of them are bloated values anyway). Though placement numbers are an important factor in deciding which MBA colleges lie in your best interest they don't help you decide on what you can get out of the course and how it will affect your career in the long term.

Things are better now since there are websites especially to guide students on which colleges offer good Undergraduate and Post-graduate programs across India. 5 years ago this wasn't the case since the awareness and the prowess of the Internet was not utilized to its full potential to share knowledge, moreover even colleges were hesitant to reveal about themselves.

Finally, if not in other areas, this might be the dawn of the much awaited " Achche Din ", at least in fronts of parameters by which a college should be judged and ranked so that every student gets to make an informed decision on where he has to put his money and what is he going to get out of it. Yes, I am talking about the NIRF ( National Institute of Ranking Framework ), which has been set up by Ministry of Human Resource Development ( MHRD ) in 2015 to grade and rank institutions providing higher education based on set parameters such as Teaching, learning and resources (TLR);Research, professional practice and collaborative performance (RPC);Graduation outcome (GO);Outreach and inclusivity (OI) and Perception (PR). It has been running for 2 years and a lot has been taking shape in the framework. It currently has been set up only for Engineering, Architecture, Pharmacy and Management Institutes.

Since investing in education is a big step in shaping our future, let the decisions be supported by facts verified by the government. I hope you check it out and choose a college of your choice based on your expectation of parameters to yield the best possible outcome from each course.

NIRF Website