Industry Specific MBA Programs From A Good Institute Fetches You Good Placement !

About 2 lakh students complete their MBA every year. And of course, the middle management and senior management jobs are not that common. Hence, the industries look forward to select candidates with qualifications that are closer to the exact job roles they need to fill. Hands-on experience of the students, research projects they have done, and B-schools that have close link with corporate world and offer industry-specific MBA programs can help one find the right kind of placement.

Here are some of the industry-specific MBA programs (and the B-schools offering them) that have already made a niche in the job market:

Rural Management

Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA) at Anand, Gujarat was established in 1979 to provide management education, training, research and consultancy support to rural development organizations and co-operatives in India. It has turned around the dairy industry by introducing a two-year diploma Programme in Rural Management (PRM), which has produced skilled and professional rural managers. On an average, PRM graduates get a starting salary package of 4 to 6 lakh rupees per annum while the highest salary package can fall in the bracket of 9 to 10 lakh rupees per annum.

PRM leads to Postgraduate Programme in Rural Management (PPRM) (approved by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), which is considered equivalent to Master's degree by the Association of Indian Universities (AIU)). It also offers Fellow Programme in Rural Management (FPRM) that aims to impart quality education with sectoral focus to those who are interested in management of rural co-operatives and development organizations, NGOs and funding agencies. Campus placements at IRMA have a strong track record and graduates of IRMA's programmes are highly valued by rural sector focused companies.

Forest Management

Indian Institute of Forest Management (IIFM) is a premier Indian institute that offers expertise in natural resource management and forestry. Since it is an apex institute in this field, IIFM also offers training to teachers for education institutions offering related courses. For over two decades, it has consistently maintained a 100% placement record. In 2010, more than two jobs were offered per IIFM student from both public and private organizations working in sectors related to forestry, environment, rural development, and micro-finance. The average domestic salary package offered was Rs 6.47 lakh per annum while the highest domestic salary package was Rs 7.8 lakhs per annum.

The two-year Postgraduate Diploma in Forest Management (PGDFM) Programme offered by IIFM includes summer internship as its essential component, where students work on independent projects with government agencies, corporate houses, and national and international development agencies. PGDFM is a residential full-time programme where any graduate with at least 50% marks can seek admission, if they qualify Common Admission Test (CAT) conducted by Indian Institute of Management (IIM) and clear the Group Discussion and Interview Round conducted by the institute.

IIFM also offers an AICTE approved Doctoral level Programme called the Fellow Programme in Management (FPM) that offers specialization in the following areas:

• Communication and Extension Management
• Ecosystem and Environment Management
• Environment and Developmental Economics
• Financial Management
• Human Resource Management
• Information Technology and Quantitative Techniques
• Marketing Management
• Sociology and Community Development
• Technical Forestry

To get admission in this programme, one should have a Masters degree in relevant discipline with at least 55% marks or a four-year Engineering degree with at least 60% marks. To get selected, one would need to declare their IIM CAT, GATE, GMAT, or NET scores and clear the Interview and Personal Discussion Round held by the institute.

Retail Management

K. J. Somaiya Institute of Management Studies & Research (SIMSR) has been consistently ranked among the top 20 B-schools in India for about five years. The faculty-student ratio of the institute is 1:15 and all the faculty members are highly qualified and most of them have rich industry experience too. K. J. Somaiya has tie-ups with several international institutions to offer dual degree, student exchange and faculty exchange programmes. The consistent placement record of the institute in top Indian and international organizations makes it programmes popular in students.

The Post Graduate Diploma in Management - Retail Management (PGDM-Retail) offered by K. J. Somaiya is a two year full-time programme which is approved by AICTE and has a course intake of 60 students. Closely linked with leading Retail chains, the programme fulfills the present needs and requirements of retail industry. The students are shortlisted on the basis of their CAT, XAT, or MH-CET scores followed by their performance in written Communication Test, Group Discussion and Personal Interview rounds held by the institute.

Welingkar Institute of Management is the first A Grade B-School to be awarded the ISO-9002: 1994 certification, which was later upgraded to ISO-9001:2000. It is accredited by National Board of Accreditation (NBA). The institute integrates research with its teaching and management development programs as well as facilitates global internships for its students. To expose its students to international business practices, Welingkar has tied up with several renowned universities such as The Fox School of Business, USA; Hamamatsu University, Japan; CASS Graduate School Of International Management, Belgium; Nottingham Trent University, UK & Newcastle Business School, Northumbria University, UK.

Associated with leading industry bodies such as CII, CRISIL, AMDISA, AACSB, IMC, Welingkar's Centre for Retail Studies offers Certificate Program in Retail Management (CPR), Diploma in Retail Management (DRM), and PGDM Retail Management in association with Pantaloon Retail India Ltd. The main features of the Retail Management Programmes offered by Welingkar are Gemba Kaizen which means Continuous Improvement at the Workplace, Competency Mapping, Knowledge Management and BTS Model. The BTS Model means Build for Quality, Transfer to the Corporate, and Support for Continuous Improvement.

The PGDM Retail Management Programme offered by Pantaloon India and Welingkar Institute of Management covers specialized courses such as Category Management, International Retail and Retail Strategy, Retail Store Operations, Consumer Buying Behavior, Franchising, Retail Law, Buying & Merchandising, Retail Selling Skills, and Visual Merchandising. The Mumbai campus of Welingkar is inspired by some of the best B-schools in the world with a wide range of dedicated facilities while the state-of-the-art Bengaluru campus is equipped with latest amenities and skilled faculty.

Keep scanning our Flavor of the Week section on Shiksha Homepage for another article with some more industry-specific MBA programmes coming soon.

Source: Ruchi Shrimali (Shiksha Team)