IIMC tops top Business Today-MDRA Best B-schools Survey 2021 beating IIMA

A record 305 institutes participated in this edition.

Last year’s top-rank holder IIMA topped three of the five primary parameters this year (learning experience, living experience and Selection Process, Governance & Establishment), and IIMC topped in the other two (placement performance and future orientation).

But it was IIMC’s big score in future orientation that finally helped it topple the perennial favourite for the first time.

In a close contest, IIMC pipped IIMA by a mere 0.1 points (897.2 versus IIMA’s 897.1).

The other notable feature of this year’s survey was the debut of another storied business school, IIM Lucknow (IIML), which finished at number 4, behind IIM Bangalore (IIMB).

The top four positions were taken by government institutes, namely the IIMs, while privately run SP Jain Institute of Management and Research (SPJIMR) of Mumbai came fifth.

Apart from the main ranking of the institutes, Business Today has also published ranks of schools based on each primary parameter, cities, zones, and return on investment (RoI) as well as separate rankings of private and government institutions.

In terms of salary trends, top schools have seen little difference between average salaries offered on campus this year compared to last year.

The top 10 B-schools saw an increase of 4 percent in the average salaries offered while the rest of the colleges in the Top 100 saw less than 1 percent jump in salaries.
Course fees increased at the top B-schools, meanwhile, have increased by 3-4 percent.

Government institutes that have lower fees have shown much higher RoI for students investing into B-school education.

The average RoI of government schools in the top 100 is 1.42, and for private schools the number is 0.8, according to the survey.

RoI is calculated as Average Annual Domestic salary/Course fees (Tuition fee + Other fees) for the entire course.

The institute that had the highest RoI among the 305 that participated in the survey was Department of Commerce, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi, with RoI of 33.3, followed by Aligarh Muslim University (RoI of 14.09), FMS Delhi (13.54), MS Patel Institute of Management Studies, Vadodara (13.0), and Sydenham Institute of Management Studies, Research & Entrepreneurship Education (SIMSREE), Mumbai, (8.97).

The other big trend in business education this year, revealed in the survey, is the distinct imprint of the pandemic on business school education.

As industries and companies have moved en masse to digital methods of doing business, B-schools have had to course correct and add modules on artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML) and other digital technologies to their MBA courses.

It has been observed that the Business Today-MDRA Best B-school Survey has established itself as a primary reference point for business education aspirants over the past nine years.

The process involves the aggregation of data from India’s top B-schools through a detailed questionnaire spanning almost 20 pages.

All data submitted were for the current academic year.