Institution of Eminence: Where does ISB stand in its pursuit for IoE?

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Aeshwarya Tiwari | June 26, 2018 | 05:11 PM IST

NEW DELHI, APRIL 27: With more than 100 Institutions including central and state universities and specialised institutes putting their claim for Institutions of Eminence (IoE) status, the UGC empowered committee may have a tough time deciding the best 20 institutions to be finally selected as IoE.

A case in point is Indian School of Business (ISB), which boasts of twin international accreditation of EQUIS and AACSB along with multiple collaborations with top management colleges across the globe. The private institute which has a galaxy of international academic and corporate faculty also competes with IIMs in offering quality education.

But, the B-school remains bereft of any recognition from Indian regulators. The reason is simple, in their quest for supremacy; the ISB had neither sought recognition from regulators nor they ever cared for any benefit associated with the approval from the regulatory bodies. The institute which started with offering certificate in management programmes way back in 2001, still continues with that without bothering for a better value associated with degree or diploma in the Indian education system.

So, what are the fine lines that UGC empowered committee responsible for selecting 20 institutions for IoE, 10 each from the public and private domain, will need to draw when analyzing the claim of this particular institution? Careers360 delves into a few key areas to find contradictions that the UGC committee may come across.

No recognition from regulatory bodies; boasts AACSB, EQUIS tags

The ISB, though considered to be offering best management programmes for executives in India, is not approved or accredited to any Indian regulatory body such as AICTE or UGC. As a result, the programmes it offers do not have the revered tag of ‘degree’ or ‘diploma’.

The institution’s Post Graduate Programmes (PGP) is, however, accredited by the AACSB (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business) and EQUIS. With these international accreditations, the ISB stands in an elite league of Indian B-schools. Apart from ISB, only five other Indian B-schools carry the tag of AACSB accreditation and there are only three B-schools (IIM-A, B, C) with EQUIS tag.

No Degree or Diploma; only Certificate programmes

The institute offers one-year Post-Graduate Programme (which is a certificate course) and several other short-term executive programmes in its two campuses Hyderabad and Mohali.

Since certificate programmes do not come within the ambit of regulators, it also means that ISB is not bound to follow any government regulation or AICTE norm on intake and fee structure. Also, the one-year master’s level programme offered by the institute does not fit into the UGC criteria for approving an institute.

Trusted by GoI for Personnel Training

The credibility of ISB can also be established with the fact that Government of India sends its bureaucrats for training and skill enhancement under the government-sponsored category. 

The RTI data from Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), reveals that the government of India sent its bureaucrats to ISB to study management programme and for that it spent around INR 20.5 million for the year 2015. A batch of 18 bureaucrats was sent to ISB campus to study one-year hybrid programme - Management of Public Policy Programme (MPPP), the RTI data suggested.

Similarly, many other ministries also send their officers to the Institute for study and training on account of ex-chequer. This despite the institute being listed in the unapproved category by AICTE. It is listed at index number 223 (reference number: AP-37) under Telangana State in AICTE yearly records of 2016.

As per the AICTE, no institution shall offer technical program or course without approval of the council which again raises the question why has the Government invested public money for sending their bureaucrats to such an unapproved institute?

Where does ISB stand on eligibility for IoE?
Now coming to the eligibility part for getting IoE status as per the Gazette notification, ISB scores well in terms of global reputations, high-quality faculty, student-teacher ratio, research output etc. On all the twelve parameters mentioned in clause “4.1” as per the Gazette, ISB qualifies to get IoE status.  

The notable features required for IoE includes:

  • Highly qualified faculty, with freedom to hire from across the world
  • Existence of academic, administrative and financial autonomy
  • Excellence in research
  • High quality of teaching
  • High levels of funding
  • Adequate financial assistance to meritorious students to support a need-blind admissions process
  • Selection of students through a transparent system so as to ensure intake of meritorious students
  • A significant proportion of international students
  • Autonomous governance structures
  • Well-equipped facilities for teaching, research, administration, and Student life
  • Tangible and intangible contribution to the society; and
  • Ability to leverage alumni and alternative funding sources, autonomy to utilize these resources

Student-faculty ratio: While the standard teacher-student ratio should not be less than 1:20 for quality education, ISB has a bright spot here. It boasts of a student-faculty ratio of 1:5. If the participating faculties are excluded then the ratio comes to 1:14 which is well above the standard parameter. Considering the latest available data from AACSB website in the ISB institute profile, ISB has a total of 1230 students (excluding fellow programme) and a total of 46 full-time faculties; 161 participating faculties and 42 supporting faculties.

Research: In terms of research, ISB has eight research centres and institutes at its campuses. Most of the faculty members are engaged with top global B-schools where they are collaborating for research and using latest research methodologies.

International collaborations: As per the ISB officials, the institute has academic collaboration with the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, London Business School and MIT Sloan School of Management and The Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy, Tufts University and many other top-ranked institutions.

Student exchange: The institute also runs multiple exchange programmes with top-ranked B-Schools from across the world. As per the institute, its student exchange programme is held in collaborations with SDA Bocconi (Italy), Bond University (Australia), Darden Graduate School of Business (USA) among other.
Thus, ISB holds a strong position for getting IoE status in the cluster of private standalone institutes under 'Greenfield category', a category where non-degree awarding institutes are considered.

ISB's Claim to Fame:

Inaugurated in 2001 by the then Prime Minister of India, Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Partners with IIM Bangalore  to promote teaching excellence amongst India’s B-Schools
Top global corporates on the governing body
Claims exceptional placement and better salary packages and number of offers in comparison to top IIMs and other reputed management institutes in India

Where is the challenge?
Based on the ISB FAQs, the Institute neither offers a degree nor a diploma. They only offer the certificate for their students. Therefore, in case the institute gets the status for Institute of Eminence, it will automatically be authorised to award degrees by virtue of getting IoE deemed-to-be-university status. This, effectively, will result in turning its one-year certificate programme into a degree course.
This is contradictory to the established framework of Indian Education system which does not allow one-year Master’s degree. If this is allowed, then the similar equivalence will have to be given to all one-year master degree programme from abroad also.

‘Why’ Vs ‘Why Not’

WhyWhy Not
Ranked under top 50 best global B Schools by financial timesNot participated in any Indian rankings
Has global accreditation from AACSB and EQUISListed in the unapproved category of AICTE records
Gets government-sponsored bureaucrats to study in its campusesIf it is not approved then why does government invest public money in sending their officers to study there 
Offer globally acclaimed management certificate programmeDoes not award a ‘degree’ or ‘diploma’

 
Comments still awaited from ISB and academicians:
Careers360 here publishes response from ISB Deputy Dean. It was not part of the story published on April 27 as the response from ISB was awaited for this story. We contacted a number of academicians previously associated with the institute and some policymakers to share their views. They, however, refused to speak on the record.

Response from Professor Sanjay Kallapur, Deputy Dean, ISB Hyderabad

Deputy Dean ISBThe Institute of Eminence scheme is an acknowledgement that educational institutions need autonomy to function at an internationally competitive level. It gives that autonomy while holding institutions accountable for performance, i.e. for being ranked at the top levels internationally. International rankings depend on the quality of teaching and research. 

ISB has always benchmarked itself to international quality levels in teaching and research. It is the first Indian business school, and globally the youngest ever, to be ranked among the top 20 MBA programmes in the Financial Times world rankings (we are currently ranked 28th). It is also the only Indian business school to be ranked in the top 100 worldwide in research in the UT Dallas rankings (we are currently ranked 90th). Our claim to be an Institution of Eminence is therefore based on having already achieved the performance expected of Institutes of Eminence. 

It is indeed true that the HRD minister himself has said that although ISB is not recognized by the regulatory system it is well recognized by the marketplace. As I mentioned above, the Government's move to give autonomy to high quality institutions is based on the recognition that the existing regulatory system hinders rather than helps high-quality institutions. 

ISB has a post-experience MBA programme--every student is required to have a minimum of two years' work experience (on average they have five). In contrast, most other Indian programmes don't require work experience. So our student selection criteria and placements differ from those of the other Indian programmes. Our competition comes mainly from schools outside India--our applicant pool typically decides between us versus schools abroad. Therefore we have not participated in the Indian rankings. While the top IIMs have now started post-experience programmes like ours, their main programmes continue to not require work experience. That's one difference between us and the IIMs. The other is that our focus on and performance in research are similar to that of the top schools globally. 

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