My visit to ISB with my AIGAC colleagues

My visit to ISB with my AIGAC colleagues

Apr, 05, 2024

Last month, I had the pleasure of visiting the Hyderabad campus of the Indian School of Business with seven of my Association of International Graduate Admissions Consultants (AIGAC) colleagues on March 4th and 5th.  This was one of the highlights of my third trip to India.

 

My first blog post on ISB was back in 2008 for a Q&A with ISB’s then Assistant Director of Admissions. It was a few years later when I first helped a client with ISB  PGP (MBA) application, and I now do so regularly. Given that 40% or more of my clients are Indian, this is no surprise because my Indian clients apply to and attend ISB as they view it as a good alternative to global MBA programs. Given its ranking, job placement opportunities and ROI, ISB represents a real alternative, especially when looking beyond the US M7, LBS, and INSEAD. Given that even increasing numbers of Indians going abroad to study are now returning to India because of the opportunities available, this makes complete sense.  Assuming India’s continued growth, this trend is only likely to increase.   My first client to go to ISB ended up working in Singapore immediately after graduating at one of the FANGs and is now at the company’s US HQ. He is a good example of  how attending ISB can enable a global career. When I think about the ROI that this particular client had in terms of cost of the MBA and his post-degree career, going to ISB got him the same kind of outcome he would have had at US top ten school at a fraction of the cost and in half the time. For details regarding ranking and recruiting, please see https://isbhydmoh-my.sharepoint.com/:p:/g/personal/amit_tyagi_isb_edu/Efo-sQ10Nw1PsipdGRupFjUB2FeVF8Nwcp7GPR7YAECI2Q?rtime=JUKqa_9G3Eg, which is the presentation that  my colleagues and I  watched during our visit.

 

Wanting to learn more and knowing that my colleagues in India would also be interested, we arranged a visit. We were hosted by Professor Ramabhadran (“Ram”) S. Thirumalai, Deputy Dean, Academic Programmes, Associate Professor of Finance (Practice) with our visit organized by Amit Tyagi, Associate Director of Admissions.  Fortunately we came in force:

 

In the central courtyard: Anju Goela (The Red Pen), me and my wife, Natasha Mankikar (The Red Pen), Krithika Srinivasan (Career Labs),  Poonam Tandon (My Essay Review) and her husband, Niketa Desai (Admit Beacon), Nupur Gupta (Crack the MBA), and Prashant Tibrewal (AdmitSquare Consulting and ISBmantra).

 

 

Beyond being   some of the world’s top admissions consultants, we all are a part of AIGAC including current leaders (I am the current President and Prashant is the Board Member in charge of membership), two past Presidents (Krithika and Nupur) and a long standing member (Poonam). The Red Pen’s Preeti Wadekar is also on Board and while she could not make it, it was great to meet with Anju and Natasha for the first time.  Niketa, one of our newer members, was the primary author on our internal report for the rest of our members (I was the second author and editor).  I have used some of the same content here.  Having the opportunity to learn about ISB with such esteemed company made it all the more a great visit.  Plus its fun to talk shop.  (My wife and I were also thankful for advice from Krithika on the advantages of auto rickshaws for getting around fast, which proved valuable after our visit to ISB when we engaged in our biryani tour of Hyderabad. We want to go back to Paradise.).

 

Visiting ISB gave us all further insight into why it has succeeded. Its focus on academic excellence, strong recruiting relationships, focus on innovation, and the beauty of its campus set it apart. We had the opportunity to visit academic facilities, student housing, and collaborative learning and recreation spaces.  The admissions team educated us on the academic structure of their business programs.

 

The Campus:

By any standards ISB Hyderabad is a huge campus and a lovely one. Many universities don’t have 260 acres! The natural environment, which includes, the academic building structure is centrally located within the campus, with student housing (Student Villages) surrounding it.

The academic building of the Hyderabad campus houses a library with an impressive circular stairway and skylight, a live stock trading lab (wired to India’s prominent stock exchanges – NSE and BSE), and a central courtyard and dining facilities on the ground floor. The space is vibrant and thoughtfully designed to provide quiet time and ample opportunity for peer interaction for a 500-strong student body. The campus has four student villages, faculty housing, and housing facilities for PGP Pro and executive education participants, all of which are fully managed. The student housing is thoughtfully designed, co-ed, and inclusive with a central courtyard and on-site facilities such as a creche for students with young children. At the time of our visit new buildings were being constructed with plenty of space available for further expansion.

Having visited many business schools and universities around the world, I can say that ISB  has a world class campus. Based on the plans for expansion, it will only get better.

 

The School’s Philosophy and Programs:

ISB operates with a ‘1 school 2 campuses’ philosophy and offers its flagship PGP programs at its  Hyderabad and Mohali campuses. All teams, including academics, career services, and admission work to ensure that students get the same academic experience across both campuses.  The admissions team particularly highlighted how they strive to achieve diversity, gender balance, and similar cohort and peer learning experiences across both campuses. In that spirit, students can indicate a preference for the campus at the time of application but cannot choose the campus.  The placement process embodies this philosophy, too. Final placement for the entire cohort occurs at one of the campuses, and students from the other campus are flown (at ISB’s cost) to the host campus.

They showed us this really great video on the two campus philosophy that makes this point.  A more recent and much longer video, Two Campuses, One ISB: Celebrating 21 years of ISB is something I would recommend watching for anyone interested in learning more about ISB. Except for ISB, the only other top business school that has been able to fully implement a robust two campus approach is INSEAD.

The flagship PGP program is divided into 8 terms . The first four terms are core, each spanning 6 weeks. During each core term, students undertake four courses, 2-weekly sessions per class per week.  The first four terms consist of general courses decided by the school, while terms 5, 6, 7, and 8 offer flexible elective choices.  It is remarkable that despite the program duration being 12 months, it offers 660 contact hours, comparable to a traditional 2-year program providing 700 contact hours. Another standout feature of the PG program is the flexibility for students to switch campuses after completing the first four core terms.  Furthermore, ISB offers exciting exchange programs with 53+ partner schools like Kellogg School of Management and London Business School. These opportunities, available in terms 6, 7 and 8 (post-placement season in term 5),  safeguard students’ career prospects.  One advantage ISB has non-Indian b-schools is that the overall process for pre-placement recruiting at top educational institutions in India is simply much more organized and systematic than would be the case in other countries. I thought top Japanese universities had systematic approach to this but after working with many Indian clients since 200, some of whom actually served as organizers of pre-placement recruiting, I realized Indian institutes just do this more systematically.

 

 

Modular Degree Programs:

One of the core objectives of ISB is meet the wide ranging needs of the country. So beyond the PGP, ISB also offers 3 modular programs – PGP Pro, PGP Max and  PGP M.FAB, strategically crafted to expand ISB’s academic reach and cater to the diverse learning needs of the audience.

 

PGP Pro is designed for working professionals with 8 to 15 years of experience (akin to the Weekend and Evening MBA formats). Classes are held in four major cities—Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi, and Hyderabad— and enrolls 50 to 60 students each year. PGP Max is an advanced management program for seasoned professionals with 12 to 15+ years of work experience. It is offered at the Mohali and Hyderabad campuses and has a cohort size of 65. Given the extremely high cost of international EMBAs, not to mention the travel time involved,  these programs are meeting a very real need for mid to senior management education.

 

PGP M.FAB – The Management for Family Business program is open to individuals with 2-3 years of experience recommended but not required. With a cohort of 60, it combines a 60% focus on general business courses with a tailored 40% addressing family business aspects like succession planning and relationship management. Given the importance of family business in the Indian context, the program is addressing a nationwide need for supporting the modernization and continued growth of such enterprises. I think for someone who does not have time to attend a full-time program, this is a great way to get the business education required for supporting the growth of a family business. It is a really unique program as I know of no other school offering a degree specifically for those coming from family businesses.

 

 

 Insights on the Admissions Process:

The admissions committee walked us through ISB’s robust admissions process. Applicants are evaluated through a four-pillared scoring system, which evaluates academic achievements, professional experiences, extracurricular involvements, and standardised test scores. Amit and his colleagues emphasised that test scores are just one factor for admission. A score is assigned to each of the 4 pillars, and candidates who meet predetermined score thresholds (thresholds are set by a committee that includes faculty, career services, and admissions team) are invited to interview. Hence ISB’s selection process is very similar to that of peer institutions found worldwide.

 

The interview process at ISB is led by alumni and is ‘not blind’. Alumni have access to the candidate’s essays and entire application except their academic record during the interview. To its immense credit, ISB coaches its alumni volunteers through workshops, videos, and refresher sessions – so alumni can offer all candidates a standardized interview experience. Having seen recent reports I can tell that there is a high degree of consistency on how candidates are treated. Some schools are better at this than others and ISB is in the category of schools that make a real attempt to take the process seriously and give applicants a consistent experience.

 

Panels of 2 or 3 alumni conduct interviews, and ISB is mindful to pair prospective students with a panel of interviewers with similar professional backgrounds. These are two best practices- multiple interviewers and pairing based on professional background- that no other school has even attempted to combine. INSEAD requires one male and one female alumni interviewer and  HEC also requires two alumni interviews and Stanford does try to find a professionally appropriate alumni interviewer, but only ISB tries to combine these elements.  As a close observer of MBA interview processes, I am extremely impressed by ISB’s approach.

 

 

The Future: Academic Innovation, New Programs

Professor Ramabhadran Thirumalai emphasised the school’s commitment to improving the student’s learning experience and shared some key changes in the academic structure they are looking forward to implementing in the upcoming cohort – allowing students more autonomy in choosing core courses, elevating the Business Communication course to a full credit course (from a half-credit ) to address the pressing need to improve students’ interpersonal skills. Looking ahead, ISB is also gearing up to introduce a Block Week, offering short courses focused on emerging topics like innovation, AI, and Machine Learning. These block-week courses will be taught by ISB Faculty, Visiting Faculty, and industry practitioners and will ensure that the curriculum keeps up with the evolving needs of the industry. Another forward-thinking initiative is the introduction of gamified courses—an approach popularised by leading global B-schools.

 

The visit and the conversations – all showcased ISB’s influence and its commitment to academic innovation in business to groom industry-ready leaders. Among other things, the admissions team and the Deputy Dean also shared its  history, and its growing alumni base globally – particularly in Silicon Valley and Southeast Asia.

 

I look forward to see how ISB develops in the coming years. I would not be surprised to seeing increasing numbers of non-Indians attending the school in the coming years. Given the increasing importance of India to the world economy overall and its likely growth trajectory, it would be reasonable to assume that more non-Indians will be attracted to participating in the Indian growth story and that ISB can be a port of entry for that purpose.

 

Thanks again to Professor Ram and his wonderful team and to my AIGAC colleagues for making this an immensely memorable visit.