The Better India, as many of you might know already, is an initiative started by us (the Mrs. and I) over a year ago. It has been slowly, but surely, making its presence felt – as is evident from its  steadily growing readership.

Now, we’ve been invited to speak at the entrepreneurship summit of IIM-A. We will be talking on the influence of media on social change and of course about The Better India. Catch our talk at IIM-A’s campus post noon on the 12th of January.

The entrepreneurship summit is on the 12th and 13th of January. Here is the complete list of speakers http://www.iima-dbi.com/speakers.html and we are privileged to be a part of such a distinguished panel.

So, if you are in Ahmedabad around that time, do drop-by. It would be nice to chat over some dhoklas and chaa.

While reading this post and the letter written there by Prof. Abinandan (whose blog is highly recommended), I was left to wonder about the state of research in my engineering college.

Back then I had just stepped out of school and, admittedly, didn’t know much about college or engineering. Therefore, I was in for a surprise either way. Barring a few exceptional ones, most professors in engineering were keen on focusing on the examination requirements. Engineering never really got taught as a bunch of great concepts. It was taught as a bunch of highly probable questions for which you needed to know the answers. It is little wonder then that “less than 25 percent of our engineering graduates (and less than 15 percent overall) are deemed employable” as Prof. Abinandan puts it.

Except for a very few countable occasions, I do not recall any of the faculty talking about anything outside the book, or anything that they were trying to work on. Most talk was usually centered around the ‘curriculum’. I personally feel that most of my engineering knowledge was made ‘employable’ once I was out of college and started working. If any of you engineers out there feel otherwise, do let me know.

Stepping into a business school a few years later led to another interesting shift in perspective. Here, there was a concentrated effort on making research a part of the faculty’s repertoire. We had professors who were working on various fields of business, economics and finance and who would freely discuss their studies with us, including seek opinions. For someone who was deeply entrenched in the conventional exam-ends-all mode of studying, I found it rather refreshing. However, for the very same reason of having a conventional mode of education, I found it difficult to contribute and further the new and reformative discussions that would happen in class.

If research is made a mandatory part of all educational institutions, I think it would do wonders to our faculty by keeping them refreshed and recharged and also by giving themselves a chance to see something new everyday. This would have a spillover effect of course on the students and lead to increased collective participation in the topics being discussed.

Imagine the quantum of new work that would emerge by virtue of our professors sitting down and researching on stuff rather than just correcting answer papers, as they are currently asked to do.

A year ago, I had written about ISB (Indian School of Business) having made it to the number 20 spot in the Financial Times ranking of best global business schools.


This year, ISB has done even better. It was ranked at #15 by Financial Times, London.
Click here to check out the ratings.

Dhi better half and Dhi are quite pleased with this bit of news. Our alma mater, The Indian School of Business has been ranked No. 20 in the global B-school rankings released by Financial Times, London.

Here is the official press release:

Hyderabad, January 28, 2008: The Indian School of Business (ISB) has been ranked No: 20 in the global B-school rankings released today by Financial Times, London.

Congratulating the ISB students, faculty, and staff, Rajat Gupta, Chairman, ISB, said, “This is great news! The ISB graduated its first class in 2002 with a vision to establish an internationally top ranked, research oriented B-school in India. I am extremely proud that the students, faculty, and staff have achieved this in such a short time. I am also delighted that the ISB has brought such academic and international recognition to India.”

Within a short span of six years, the ISB has made a mark for itself as a premier, B-School in India. It has successfully pioneered several initiatives in the field of management education by bringing in international best practices and people. The ISB introduced the one year programme, unique portfolio model of faculty, accepting students with prior work experience and diverse backgrounds, the GMAT score as a selection criterion, lateral placements, international quality research and several other initiatives. Being ranked Twenty among global B-schools is a validation of the ISB’s effort to establish an international B-School located in India.

Speaking on the occasion, M Rammohan Rao, Dean, ISB, said, “This is a vision come true for all of us at the ISB. We owe a lot to our faculty for their research work and for publishing in top tier journals. Our students, who are all successful professionals today, and our staff, who are passionately committed to excellence, have contributed a great deal for our achievement. We are also deeply indebted to our Board members, our Associate Schools, the Area Leaders, and our visiting faculty whose unstinted support has made this possible for us.”

“This is indeed a remarkable achievement for us. ISB is committed to world class research and has actively encouraged the faculty to focus on publishing their research work in internationally acclaimed academic journals. It is wonderful to note that our work has earned international recognition so soon,” said Sanjay Kallapur, Professor of Accounting and Associate Dean – Faculty Development.

Celebrations started early today on the campus, when the congratulatory mail was sent to the ISB community in the morning. The entire campus is abuzz with students, faculty, families, staff, and alumni all gathering at the Atrium to congratulate one another.

“We are all thrilled about this news! This recognition firmly establishes ISB as a truly international school amongst B-school aspirants as well as industry, across the world. As alumni, we have watched our alma mater grow by leaps and bounds, we are all so proud of being a part of the ISB,” said Arjun Srinivasan, Founding President of the Alumni Association, ISB Class of 2003.

Going forward, the ISB will focus on ramping up its student numbers, increasing the strength of its faculty and setting up more research centres. The school is committed to becoming a research hub with a focus on emerging markets as well as a knowledge partner to the industry.

Having spent a year at the ISB, I can safely claim that the school has one of the best staff I have ever seen. And by this, I don’t refer just to the professors, but also the administrative and the support staff. Everyone of them is extremely courteous and go out of their way to help the students out. Overall, its a brilliant institution, especially considering the fact that it has been just 6 years since its inception.

You can view the entire rankings here: http://rankings.ft.com/global-mba-rankings
An interesting find: Kellogg, a partner school of the ISB, is ranked behind ISB at 24.