 |
| Illustration: Susanta Das |
Indian politicians are always good at timing — timing things wrong, that is. Even as HRD minister Kapil Sibal is talking about creating a homegrown Ivy League of educational institutions, comes a study that makes one wonder if the Ivy League is all what it is made out to be.
According to a survey by the US News & World Report, Ivy League schools do produce a large number of Fortune 500 CEOs — Harvard, Columbia and the University of Pennsylvania together contributed 99 CEOs. But No. 4 on the list was the University of Wisconsin-Madison, which had 17 CEOs. (Incidentally, 15 of the current crop of US Congressmen are from Harvard; people do end up in the strangest places.)
But the Ivy League has clearly not done as well as it should. In fact, Harvard and Wharton alumni seem to have done much better in India, according to a survey of the top 200 Indian companies by EMA Partners. The same survey shows, however, that as a source for CEOs, the IITs and the IIMs do even better (see box).
The IITs and IIMs are established brands and draw students from many other countries. The IIMs are the most difficult B-schools to get into, globally. So why is Sibal bent on establishing new education brands while the government is trying to destroy the ones that are already going strong?
Ivy League colleges that were planning to come to India in the wake of the education bill (which could be passed when the Lok Sabha decides that it can’t behave irresponsibly all the time) are very clear about one thing —they will not set up campuses here and dilute their brand. But the Indian government is busy setting up more and more IITs and IIMs. The intention is to cash in on the brand image. What is happening instead is that the original IIT and IIM brands are losing their sheen. In the 50th year of IIM management education, the whole model is facing a crisis.
There is a crisis brewing at the Ivy League too. There is growing criticism about the quality of teaching at these hallowed places. At ratemyprofessors.com, which consolidates feedback from students, Harvard Business School scores a low “professor average” of 1.72. Other Ivy League schools don’t do well either. The top rated was Princeton at rank 111 and a score of 2.85. At the top were relatively unknown small private schools.
“If you want education, don’t go to the IITs or IIMs,' says Mumbai-based HR consultant D. Singh. “You would do much better at a smaller institute where both students and professors feel they have to prove a point. But if you want success in your career, the IIMs are still the best bet.”
Singh explains that there is a halo effect at work; the average IIM grad is regarded as a cut above the rest because some of his peers have done exceedingly well. Second, there is the networking effect. Though top Indian schools are nowhere near the level of networking of, say, a Wharton Business School, it still works. Today, as Indian schools seek to tap their alumni for money, the networking is being given an organised form. “One of our focus areas is to build the IIM, Calcutta, brand,” says dean Sougata Ray.
So should you chase an Indian brand or a foreign brand to improve your job prospects? Singh says it matters only in your initial job and the first few years. After that everybody is on a level playing field. It begins mattering again when you are reaching the top, when your industry-wide networks, negotiation skills and interpersonal relations come into play.
“But if you need to fall back on your graduation school for that, you don’t deserve to be at the top,” says Singh. “Besides, there are enough examples of successful CEOs who didn’t even graduate.” Let’s not take names; some of these degree-less wonders are ashamed of it.
ROUTE TO THE TOP
India
■ IIT engineers 16
■ Non-IIT engineers 15
■ PGDM (IIM) 33
■ BCom-CA 12
■ Sciences 3
■ Economics 3
■ BA 3
■ Law 2
■ Others 13
The US
■ Engineering 22
■ MBA 13
■ Arts 8
■ Economics 16
■ Accounting 8
