National HRD Network (NHRDN) joins with People Matters to conduct the first ranking of business schools in India developed with input from over 30 corporate members. The ranking evaluates schools on parameters like academic excellence, infrastructure, industry-academy interface, and alumni performance. Industry leaders comment that previous rankings lacked consistency and credibility, and that this ranking conducted by HR professionals will provide a trusted benchmark for students, employers, and schools. The rigorous methodology includes validating data provided by schools. Business school directors praise the credibility and fairness this ranking brings.

1. www.peoplematters.in

2. Which B-School Will you
Choose?
In a first-of-its-kind endeavour, National HRD Network joins hands with
People Matters to gauge and rank B-schools in the country. It is the only
ranking to have involved more than 30 senior corporate members in its
design and execution

3. The Scoring Parameters

4. The Ranking

5. The Ranking

6. The Ranking

7. The Ranking

8. The Ranking – As per location

9. The Ranking – As per streams

10. The Why, What, How and Who of the rankings
Industry leaders from NHRDN tell People Matters why employers and
aspirants should take this B-school ranking seriously and how it will
be a game changer

11. “In the absence of any consistent ranking system
with high credibility, we received feedback from B-
school aspirants who were unable to take an
informed decision and were often misled.
Organisations themselves were not able to choose
the B-school most suited to their
requirement, because the data wasn’t
comprehensive enough. Lastly, it made complete
sense for NHRDN with over 12,500 HR practitioners
as full time members who play a major role in
recognising, discovering and nurturing talent, to
undertake this exercise and provide a benchmark
ranking which all stake-holders can look up to and
trust.”
S.Y. Siddiqui, National President, NHRDN and
COO-Administration (HR, Finance, IT, Company
Law & Legal), Maruti Suzuki India
Why is this ranking needed?

12. “There are many players in the space of
management education, however, there isn’t any
focus on quality. NHRDN is acting as a facilitator
to get back this focus on quality and to make the
process of grading B-schools more stringent, robust
and objective. NHRDN initiated this ranking
because others are to some extent based on
perception. The purpose of doing the ranking is to
do it more professionally, with more transparency
and in an objective manner to help all the key stake
holders, namely the educational
institutions, students, employers and community
at large. The idea is to get a win-win for everyone.”
P. Dwarakanath, Past National President, NHRDN &
Director, Group Human Capital, Max India
Why is this ranking needed?

13. “This is the first ranking being done by the users
themselves. They being the key customers it is
important for them to ensure that the process is
authentic, legitimate, reliable, accurate and
relevant to business requirements.”
Dr Santrupt Misra, Past National President, NHRDN, Director
Global HR & CEO, Carbon Black Business, Aditya Birla Group
Why is this ranking needed?

14. “The biggest differentiating factor is the rigorous
process involved in the ranking. The jury and
advisory committee had representation from
industry and academia, and the data received from
B-schools was validated by the research agency in
collaboration with a member from NHRDN. The
committee constituted a set of criteria which
included parameters such as academic
excellence, infrastructure excellence, corporate
governance of
the institute, performance of the alumni, industry-
academy interface etc. The validated data became
the basis on which we ranked the institutes.”
Dr Arvind Agrawal, Past National President, NHRDN and
President, Corporate Development & Human Resources, RPG
How was the ranking done?

15. “Any information in the public domain should be
backed by people who know the subject. NHRDN
being an association of HR professionals, has the
required expertise to create a credible B-school
ranking and set a benchmark of how educational
institutes should be ranked in the future.
Most of the rankings done in the past have
been done on the back of people who are reporters
going and making that assessment. This is one
where we have a panel with people from the
industry and academia to make judgment calls on
the evaluation.”
S.V. Nathan, Regional President-South, NHRDN
What makes it different?

16. “This is the first ever ranking process which has
every data point validated and comes across
as a unique study wherein we have also focused on
functionwise ranking for various colleges. There was
a felt need among all the stake-holders for a
reliable, professional study to be conducted by an
organization, which has got no vested interests. This
is why we decided to take this up as a social cause.”
Kamal Singh, Director General, NHRDN
What makes it different?

17. “I am personally not a great believer in ranking
because decision by students to join an institute
is not decided by the ranking alone but by
availability of admission.
Similarly, organisations do not necessarily rely upon
ranking alone for hiring decision. However, ranking
does help in spurting an educational institution to
set higher benchmarks – in which case it does serve
a worthwhile purpose.”
Dr Aquil Busrai, Past National President NHRDN and CEO, Aquil
Busrai Consulting
Who benefits from it?

18. “Even though B-school rankings in India are carried
out by various agencies/ publications/ magazines,
the feedback received so far from various quarters
suggest that the process can be improved to reflect
the true spirit of Rating and Accreditation,
thereby bring quality, credibility and transparency to
this important initiative.”
S. Varadarajan, Regional President-North, NHRDN & Executive
President-HR, Tata Teleservices
Who benefits from it?

19. “We wanted to do something beyond the
rankings, as in improving the whole quality of
education and contribute towards the community at
large. Based on the gaps identified in the ranking
process
NHRDN will create modules where we could work
with various B-schools to either deliver those
modules in their schools or to create tie-ups
between the B-schools or with industry.”
Rajeev Dubey, Regional President – West NHRDN and President
(HR, After-Market & Corporate Services) & Member of Group Executive
Board, Mahindra & Mahindra
The road ahead

20. “Our prime objective is to contribute
to the society, to mentor B Schools to attain next
level of excellence and help them build
an industry ready talent pipeline.”
Sourav Daspatnaik, Regional President- East, NHRDN & CEO, Bengal Shipyard
Who benefits from it?

21. The academia have high expectations from the NHRDN-
People Matters B-school Rankings as they believe the
former lends credibility and fairness to the survey
The B-School Perspective

22. “The fact that it is NHRDN who conducted
the exercise gives it credibility. I trust that the
ranking will be far closer to reality in terms of
what exactly a B-school is adding towards the
development of the workforce.”
Dr Bibek Banerjee Director, Institute of Management Technology
(IMT), Ghaziabad
“We have developed a programme called ‘We care’. In
this programme, students have to spend three years
at a stretch with an NGO. This sensitises them towards
social realities, helps them understand the world and
makes them better human beings and managers.”
Dr Debashish Sanyal Dean, School of Business Management, Narsee
Monjee Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai

23. “NHRDN is a nonaligned, non-partisan and
non-commercial third party of HR professionals. HR
professionals interact with MBA graduates the most
during the hiring process. So, their views on how a
B-school or its graduates are doing should be of some
value.”
Prof. Gautam Sinha Director, Indian Institute of Management (IIM),
Kashipur
“Our commitment to inclusive social change, to
diversity and alliances across sectors in the industry
and with institutes across the world makes us unique
in all aspects and helps us create socially sensitive
managers who can work towards building a
sustainable organisation.”
Prof. Bino Paul Chairperson, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai

24. “We are glad to note that NHRDN and People Matters are
collaborating in bringing out a national
B-school ranking survey based on a multi-dimensional
methodology. We look forward to the survey and sincerely
hope that this collaborative effort raises the benchmark in
a definitive manner.”
E. Abraham S.J. Director, Xavier Labour Relations Institute (XLRI),
Jamshedpur
“This ranking is being done by an association that has
first-hand experience about the quality of management
education and knows the gaps between industry
requirements and offerings of business schools of India.
Also, the framework chosen by NHRDN evaluates a B-
school on parameters based on logic and market
perception.”
Dr H. Chaturvedi Director, Birla Institute of Management Technology,
Greater Noida

25. “The current ranking system in India is full of errors and
there have been a lot of misgivings as far as rankings are
concerned. NHRDN is a professional body that is high on
ethical conduct and I believe that they will do a fair
and credible ranking for the benefit of all
stakeholders.”
Dr Jitendra K. Das Director, FORE School of Management, New Delhi
“This country has been manipulated by rankings that are
based on perception and impressions, where muscle power
can influence the output. The NHRDN – People Matters
ranking is the only ranking that is linked to pure
data, validated, integrated and authenticated by
students, faculty and academic deans. The robust
methodology
and process will help in modifying perceptions by
validated information.”
Dr Pritam Singh Director General, International Management Institute, New Delhi

26. “It is a wonderful initiative. No other organisation
but an HR organisation can understand the impact of
education on students and employers. Most of
the rankings are done purely on quantitative figures
without any evaluation of the ability of an institution to
impart education.”
Dr Renu Luthra Director, Galgotias Business School, Greater Noida
“Our vision is to nurture holistic, socially responsible
and employable resources. Because of our focus on
employability, students have to go through a
mandatory internship of six months in the last two
terms, which prepares them for their corporate careers.”
Sanjay Padode Secretary Centre for Developmental Education
Society, Bangalore, IFIM Business School, Bangalore

27. “We emphasise on student partnerships to inculcate
entrepreneurship and leadership skills. Our CEO Forum, a
weekly session of experiential learning, is a unique
platform that helps students interact with
business leaders and understand corporate
realities.”
Dr Sanjeev Bansal Director, Amity Business School, Noida
“Our institute is run by an industrialist and hence they
know the finer nuances of what the industry requires. Our
curriculum is continuously revised by industry experts and
they also participate in the delivery of the course. This not
only makes our students employable, but it also helps in
building Entrepreneurship skills.”
Dr S.R. Musanna Director, Jaipuria Institute of Management, Lucknow

28. “Till now, most of the rankings have been done by
magazines, journals etc. and I doubt their understanding
of the education system plus their research
methodology is perhaps not appropriate leading
to bias. Since NHRDN is an association of HR
professionals, the ranking should be more
appropriate.”
Prof. S. Sriram Executive Director, Great Lakes Institute of
Management, Chennai
“The fact that the NHRDN is involved in the ranking makes
it more interesting because it is similar to stakeholder
feedback and this feedback can be used constructively.
Also, NHRDN, through its methodology, evaluates B-schools
on qualitative and quantitative parameters unlike other
rankings.”
Prof. Dr Uday Salunkhe Group Director, Welingkar Institute of Management
Development & Research

29. To read the complete story click here
“Which B-School Will You Choose?”

30. For Further Information
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May 2013
www.peoplematters.in