Methodology

o rank the best business schools, Marketing & Development Research Associates (MDRA) designed a rigorous methodology involving all stakeholders—recruiters, faculty, and students. First, a comprehensive list of B-schools was prepared. The basic criteria: they should offer a two-year full-time management course; are recognised by the government; are at least five years old; and have minimum of three batches that have passed out. So, institutes like ISB Hyderabad (which offer a one-year MBA) were not considered. Subsequently, a panel of 18 experts from the corporate sector and academia were selected to establish the parameters and their weights for the ranking.

In the second phase, 108 recruiters in 10 cities (metros and Tier-I cities across the geographies) were contacted and asked to select and rank the top B-schools from the master list as well as those from within their zone. A list of 100 colleges was finalised for the field survey. “Satisfaction levels” on the performance of B-school graduates whom they had recruited during the past three years was also taken to prepare a “Recruiters’ Satisfaction Index”. Subsequently, trained field researchers visited 89 institutes (seven institutes refused to participate in the survey; they were not ranked) to administer structured questionnaire-based face-to-face interviews among senior faculty members (both permanent and visiting) and final year students from different streams. In all, 539 successful interviews were conducted all over the country (43 cities in 18 states).

An array of information was taken from the senior faculty and students about their institute—they also rated and appraised their institute on various sub-parameters, which included satisfaction against expectations. In a parallel exercise, an objective questionnaire was also designed and put on Outlook’s website. Then, based on the expert panel, the weights were decided for the various data inputs: ranking scores allotted by the recruiters (50 per cent), own-institute satisfaction rating by faculty and students (30 per cent), and faculty and students’ ranking of B-schools (10 per cent each).

First, the cumulative satisfaction ratings obtained from students and faculties for every sub-parameter were normalised against the highest rating obtained for that particular sub-parameter. Marks were then calculated using the weights decided by the expert panel. The ranking score given by the recruiters, faculty and students were then divided among the five parameters in proportion of the weights allotted by the experts. This total score for each institute was used to assign the final rankings.

Weightages
Placements	18.1%
Selection Process	18.7%
Personality development & industry exposure	23.1%
Academic excellence	22.7%
Infrastructure & facilities	17.4%
Placements	Points
Percentage placed	49
No. of recruiters visiting campus	28
Salary offered in campus placement	29
International placements	20
Summer placements	31
Performance of placement cell	24
Selection Process
Type of entrance exam	105
Cutoff in entrance tests	82
Infrastructure and Facilities
Physical Infrastructure	35
Knowledge facilities	44
Residential facilities	43
Sport facilities	31
Availability of support staff	21
Personality Development and Industry Exposure
Soft skills	44
Extracurricular activities	31
Student exchange program	28
Industry interaction	47
Opportunity to try out new ideas	27
Involvement in the framing of vision and growth of the institute	24
Participation level in institutional building activities	30
Academic Excellence
Student-faculty ratio	16
Quality of permanent faculty	19
Quality of visiting faculty	22
Pedagogic process	15
Course curriculum and its relevance	16
Student’s role in institute’s research and consultancy	15
Faculty participation in seminars	10
Faculty exchange programmes	11
Research and consulting opportunities for faculty	13
Papers and books by faculty	12
Faculty interaction with industry	17
Accessibility and responsiveness of top management	11
Participation of faculty in designing of the curriculum	15
Consultation with industry in designing of curriculum	14
MDP/PhD programs	11
Emoluments to faculty	10