Should You Take the NIRF MBA Rankings Seriously?

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How does the NIRF make the MBA rankings?

The process is quite systematic and considers five key parameters for evaluating business schools: Teaching, Learning & Resources (TLR), Research & Professional Practices (RPP), Graduation Outcomes (GO), Outreach & Inclusivity (OI), and Perception (PR). The following are the weights assigned to each parameter, used for calculating a weighted score for each b-school.

The TLR dimension evaluates the core teaching and learning aspects, such as student-faculty ratio, faculty experience, and financial resources. RPP assesses the research capabilities, quality of publications, and the impact of the b-school's research and executive development programs.

The GO parameter gauges the placements (including the median salary) and higher studies progression, while OI emphasizes social impact, looking at the geographical diversity and opportunities for economically, socially, and physically challenged students. Lastly, the PR metric takes into account the recruiter and academic perception of the institution.

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Does this methodology for ranking b-schools make sense?

Now, onto the big question: does NIRF's methodology make sense? For the most part, yes. It encapsulates key aspects that contribute to a holistic learning environment and measures both objective and subjective elements. But if you look deeper, some gaps reveal themselves.

First, the focus on research output seems to be somewhat heavy handed (30% weight). While research is important, especially in a postgraduate program, its relevance to an MBA degree could be debated. This is akin to the Financial Times' latest inclusion of 'carbon footprint' as an evaluation parameter, which largely has nothing to do with the quality of an MBA experience. Factors such as industry exposure, practical learning, leadership development, and networking opportunities — things that really make up the MBA experience — don't seem to get the warranted importance in the NIRF rankings (though some of these can be tough to quantify).

With 20% weight, the 'Graduation Outcomes' (placements, basically) parameter — arguably the most important parameter amongst all of them — is underrated. For those looking at these rankings to make admission decisions, placements is a much bigger factor than anything else, simply because the average Indian MBA (and everywhere else in the world) is so expensive. Aspirants want ROI, and they want it fast.

Even so, the rankings based purely on graduation outcomes seem erroneous. If you look at the salary data of top b-schools in the last couple of years,

• SIBM Pune outranking IIM Indore
• The new IIMs, MICA, NMIMS, XIMB, and FORE outranking IIFT
• GIM, Krea University and others outranking SJMSOM IIT Bombay
• IMI New Delhi outranking IIMs Udaipur and Trichy

doesn't quite track. There are other anomalies students and alumni have pointed out which indicate that something's amiss in how the NIRF's rankings are calculated.

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Should you take these rankings seriously?

Do some Google-ing, and you'll find that since its inception, the NIRF MBA rankings have been largely dismissed as inaccurate. The disillusionment is now quite apparent amongst students, alumni, aspirants, and academia.

Credit: Anindya Longvah's LinkedIn Post

So, should you take these rankings seriously? The short answer is: sort of.

Are these rankings as the gospel truth? Not at all. But are they a good place for you to start your research? Absolutely. In fact, it would make sense to filter these rankings based solely on the graduation outcomes parameter (because, that's what really matters) and begin your research process from the list you get (we've done it for you, right at the beginning of this article).

Our view is that no decision should be based solely on any rankings published anywhere; that's not even the intent of rankings. The intent is to give you a general idea of relative b-school standings, which then behoves you to scrutinize every b-school to make a calculated decision.

The bottom line: don't rely only on what a b-school advertises on its home page banner; do your own fact finding.

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Read Next → XLRI Prof. Explains the Fundamental Problem With NIRF MBA Rankings

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