Good news for Indian B-schools: Finally climbing international rankings!

4 Indian business schools out of 6 in the list have finally made the mark amongst top 10 B-schools in the Asia-Pacific region, according to QS Global 200 Business Schools Report. IIM-Ahmedabad is ranked second, IIM-Bangalore is ranked fifth, Indian School of Business has been ranked seventh and IIM-Calcutta is ranked eighth.

IIM-A and IIM-C have shown the biggest improvement in employer opinion this year in the region by notching up four places. On the other hand, S P Jain Institute of Management and Research is at the 16^th place and Indian Institute of Foreign Trade at the 21^st.

What is the QS global report all about?

The QS global report begun to be published in the early 1990s. It provides a detailed overview of the most popular business schools around the world based on information given by global recruiters. They report lists out 200 business schools from which employers prefer recruiting MBAs. The ratings are made according to the region namely Africa and the Middle East, Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America and North America. The report this year was further based on a survey conducted between March and July 2011 in which 12,100 employers answered questions about MBA recruiting, reported Wall Street India.

QS Global 200 report states that "Business schools in India continue to climb up the rankings… In an economy that is rapidly growing in global importance, the rise in employer opinion of MBA graduates is extremely promising."

Scope for further growth: Limitations to overcome

Although this is great news for Indian B schools, there are areas that need focus and attention. In comparison to 90 percent international enrolment at INSEAD Singapore, IIM-A saw only 1 percent, IIM-B saw 10 percent and IIM-C saw 5 percent. About 5 percent non-Indian representation has been recorded in Indian B school classes, reported Wall Street India and TOI. In fact schools from China and Hong Kong too have reported high international enrolment.

India has never been viewed as an international destination for students even after Indian B schools started meeting international standards. That’s because of the surrounding infrastructure. India doesn’t have a system where international students can work alongside study, there are not enough options for subjects, there isn’t much flexibility of taking semesters, exams and enrolments, the technology used in classrooms still isn’t at par with international standers and so on.

The kind of exposure that a student gets by studying in a class made of students from different countries can provide a completely different perspective and edge. The report further observes that most Indian B school graduates have been restricted to being employed in companies based in India and a few surrounding countries.

“While employers recognize the skill sets and ability of MBA graduates from India’s well-respected business schools; their lack of international exposure during the study course results in an inability to operate on an international scale." - Nunzio Quacquarelli, MD of QS Quacquarelli Symonds and author of the report  [Source]

The report goes on to state that most schools in Asia Pacific, especially in India are still not the preferred choice for employers over schools like Harvard Business School of Wharton Business School, for instance.

"Though Indian business schools are becoming more reputable, an employer based in the U.S. for example will always prefer to recruit from a top business school like Wharton or Harvard than a school based on another continent. And they will clearly be able to find some of the brightest, India-familiar, management talent on those campuses too." says Nunzio.

India has come a long way in notching up the quality of its management education. Will it be able to export education and bring in more revenue by attracting international faculty, international students and international curriculum? Do we have the power to create Knowledge Cities that Gulf countries have managed to?

If we can, we will only see Indian B schools surpassing Australia and Singapore in the rankings in future QS reports.