Raising the B-school bar
In 2000, the then Andhra Pradesh chief minister, N. Chandrababu Naidu, breaking protocol, drove to Hyderabad’s Begumpet airport in a luxury bus to receive a group of industrialists scouting land for a business school.
Naidu’s labours helped.
Indian School of Business or ISB started functioning from Hyderabad in 2001, disappointing many other suitor-chief ministers.
In seven years ISB has become a leading B-school.
Its one-year post-graduate programme in management is one of the most sought after courses among working executives — but only one out of every 50 applicants gets selected.
“Take infrastructure, faculty, international affiliations, placements — it (ISB) is on par with the best schools in the world,” said Ankur Warikoo, of the 2006 batch, who along with Vivek Pahwa, another ISB alumnus, started Accentium, an Internet products and services company in Noida.
ISB’s student profile makes it unique. “In that sense it is much better than the IIMs. The average experience of an ISB student is five years, which makes a great difference,” said Warikoo.
ISB has over 100 visiting international faculty from Wharton, Kellogg, London Business School, Cornell, Chicago, Duke, UCLA and other leading business schools, said V.K. Menon, senior director, ISB. “We also have student exchange programmes with 30 top international schools,” he said.
In 2007-08 leading British business newspaper Financial Times ranked ISB 20th globally. In 2008-09 the ranking climbed to 15.
Another perceived strength of ISB is the shorter duration of the course. “The one year programme - not only reduces opportunity costs but also replicates the time constraints of the real world, enabling decisive thinking and intelligent time management,” said Keshav Kanoria, of the 2009 batch.
The school takes care of the students’ every need — dining, laundry, housekeeping, banking.
Architects have tried to merge buildings with the existing rock formations and tree canopies in ISB’s sprawling 260-acre campus.
A large artificial lake collects rainwater.
The academic centre houses an extensive library, air-conditioned lecture theatres, a computer centre, meeting rooms and an auditorium.
Author: Ashok Das
Date: 4th Nov., 2009
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