ISB is ahead of Said, Kellogg, Yale and several others in the Financial Times' Global Business School Rankings 2010. ISB has moved up from 20th rank in 2008 to 15th in 2009 and 12th in 2010.
No mean achievement for sure and I am proud of this achievement by my alma mater. It is for sure going to swing the masses in ISB's favour in the coming years. Nevertheless, do rankings really matter? What is the sanctity of these rankings? And now the bigger question of does ISB really deserve a 12th rank? Globally? Well, I am sure many of friends are going to hate me for even pondering over this question. But the doubting Thomas that I am, made me go through the fine text in the ranking.. Some of the things which I did not understand or things that had a bulb glowing over my head were..
1. Its strange that ISB does not have an Audit Year mentioned in the ranking. FT's website defines "Audit Year" as the year in which KPMG obtained evidence applying specified audit precedures relating to selected survey data. Does having the "Audit Year" as "Nil" mean that an audit was never conducted in ISB? Incidentally only 3 out of the top 100 schools have this problem of not having an Audit Year.
2. The weighted average salary for the 2006 Alums today is US$ 141,291 which is approximately Rs. 66 lakhs. Well, it does sound huge, but what does it really include? Is it comparable with the figures quoted for other B-Schools? I remember, ISB's average salary figure for my batch (2008) and the 2-3 years prior to that were in the range of Rs. 15-19 lakhs. Assuming that the batch of 2006 had an average salary of Rs. 17 lakhs at the time of passout, their salaries must have grown at a CAGR of 40% over the last four years to reach this magical figure of Rs. 66 lakhs. Hmmmm... Did we have the worst financial crisis in this period??
3. Another interesting number.. The salary percentage increase is quoted as 166%. This is defined as the percentage increase in average alumni salary from before the MBA to today as a percentage of the pre-MBA salary. Let us back calculate. A 166% increase would mean that the average pre-MBA salary of the 2006 alumni would be about Rs. 40 lakhs (assuming that their present salary is Rs. 66 lakhs). At least 95% of ISB applicants are Indians. Doesn't a Rs. 40 lakh pre-MBA salary for an undergrad, ring a bell in your head?
I rest my case your honour.. This post is definitely not to demean ISB or its worth. I had the best of my times at ISB and have a really high regard for the school. But I do not understand this ranking business.
Sincere advice to the few who still do read my blogs.. Don't be swayed by external rankings. Do your own research and be convinced.
