BRAND DOESN’T MATTER IN MBA

by Rumana Maner

The College Brand might be less important when it comes to certain subjects or degree level (say the undergraduate degree or a technical diploma). Alternatively, if you are someone with 7+ years of work experience, the college brand might not be as critical as your professional achievements.

But, if you are a fresher or having less than 2/3 years of work experience, the college brand will matter to some extent. More importantly, if you are thinking of pursuing an MBA, then the college brand will be very important.

College Brand is Very Important While Choosing a College in India

But, in India, the college brand does matter to a great extent (especially when it comes to getting your first job or first three years after graduation) even if you are from a science, engineering or humanities background.

India ranked third in the annual World GDP contribution and soon it would become the 5th largest economy in the world. But you must also understand that India has the second largest population of this planet. The current job market in India is extremely competitive.

Statistically speaking, the real jobs markets of India are few and the No. 1 spot is taken by Bangalore with its 2 million IT professionals racing to overtake Silicon Valley by 2020. Next comes Gurugram, which has emerged in the last few years as a name for providing jobs and its proximity to Delhi makes it a perfect choice for the job seekers. Then comes the Bollywood city Mumbai, which is also regarded as the commercial capital of India and being a port city, it has a variety of jobs in Logistics, IT, healthcare etc. The last but not the least, Delhi, the national capital which is one of the finest locations where one can look for jobs. This is also an extremely-important economic center for India with 1.5 lakh professionals working here from states like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and NRC regions. But these so-called “job markets” have become extremely crowded and the scope for future employment looks bleak.

Problem with Non-Tier 1 Colleges in India

Now, comes the talent pool. In India, the basic problems with the low-tier colleges are the questionable quality of teaching, lack of exposure to practical training & strong (or resourceful) alumni network, and limited access to the industry network in those colleges. More than anything, it is the lack of employable skills that affect the employability chances of the students and graduates from the low-tier colleges.

So, as you can see, the college brand is quite important for any subject area in India. But, when it comes to MBA, the brand is even more important. To remain relevant to the primary objective of this article, we will now focus on the MBA vertical.

Why Brand is Important While Choosing a Business School

Today the world is all about brands. People wear brands, eat brands, listen to brands, and they’re constantly telling others about the brands they love. A strong brand is critical to generating referrals. You yourself are a brand in today’s social, corporate & competitive world and Branding differentiate you amongst others. As a brand, you represent the different brands you are associated with, in this context, your education.

Talk about a job interview or a business meeting, a major impression of yours gets built based on the reputation of the institute you graduated from. Top schools are believed to produce top students. Thus, selecting a reputed brand becomes very crucial while pursuing higher education, especially where students spend tons on their education as this is one of the key factors for their career growth and in the rising tide of expectation, we all are looking for measurable return of investments on our education – in terms of academic qualities, facilities, and most importantly employability.

Talking about employability and career opportunities, MBA is one of the degrees with better career opportunities and salary potential. The degree provides a holistic development of managerial skills through exposure to case studies, teaching, industry training, consultancy and research and interaction with various industry leaders.

All these aspects in management education help students to inculcate practical and efficient skill sets required in the industry. When management students enter the corporate arena of the global business environment where challenges faced by organizations are of a dynamic nature, they not only efficiently identify various issues but also come up with best possible solutions to tackle them through their developed skill sets.

In India, however, it is only the top business schools who are able to provide such an extensive talent who are able to meet the current industrial demands.

Talking a little bit amount emergence of MBA, in 1991, the private sector boomed with economic liberalization and demand for MBAs shot up. Companies were willing to pay any whopping amount to this new breed of graduates who were believed to fast-track the existing businesses. Management became a desirable career for students as it came with money as well as status. And even those who managed to get into Tier 2 and 3 business schools made a decent living. In short, MBA became the key to success in life.

But is the story the same now? Does this degree still mean success irrespective of the brand you come from? In today’s business world and shrinking job market, the degree from a Tier 2, 3 or 4 institute does not hold the same prestige.

BUT THAT DOESN’T MEAN NON-BRANDED B-SCHOOLS CAN’T GET GOOD OPPORTUNITIES AND OFFERS OF PLACEMENTS AND JOBS.

The Non-Branded B-School also brings good opportunities of Internships and Placements.

But now, comes the talent pool. In India, the basic problems with the Non-Branded B-Schools are the questionable quality of teaching, lack of exposure to practical training & strong (or resourceful) alumni network, and limited access to the industry network in those colleges. More than anything, it is the lack of employable skills that affects the employability chances of the students and graduates from the Non-Branded B-School & colleges.

The Branded B-Schools and Colleges Help the students to have theoretical, practical as well as technical knowledge which helps the students to boost their personalities and prepare them to compete in the corporate world.

Non-Branded B-schools don't give much technical and practical knowledge. Only give theoretical knowledge about the Course related subject. So the student doesn’t have much confidence level, communication skills, and personality development.

But the internship helps to gain technical and practical knowledge and that helps them to get experience in the corporate world. And make them ready to be competent. And with the help of Internship, we will be able to get Placed in good company and help us to get placed in our dream company.

Even if we are doing the Internship in any Startup company it will help us to work hard, understand the market and the competitions and mostly the start up takes students in a firm as a Employee and not as an intern so it helps the student to understand the work deeply and Thorley.

AirCrew Aviation P Ltd Internship:

The AirCrews Aviation P Ltd gives Internship to the Best Candidates who’s pursuing MBA in Marketing, Human Resource, Operations, Finance. They help the candidate to groom for the corporate world. They never see a candidate as a Intern they see them as a manager and train them to be the best version of you as a manager.

Those who dream of hitting the skies can do so for a living, whether it be in the pilot’s seat or on the ground. Careers in aviation offer many opportunities for advancement in piloting, engineering and mechanics, airport operations and aircraft manufacturing. These jobs often take place in commercial airlines, private manufacturing companies, airports.

Rumana Maner [MBA]

HR Manager