Panels mulling quota criteria in educational institutions could well take a leaf out of Tariq Chouhans book.

While filling the application forms for the Common Admission Test (CAT) to gain entry into any of the six prestigious B-schools of Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), Tariq, a student of Nirma University, had two options — he could either apply under the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category to which he belonged, or under the general category. He chose the latter.

The reason, says Tariq, was because he did not need any support to get into the IIM.

More : cities.expressindia.com

The countrys best known business school, the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmadabad, has introduced a short course on managing HIV/AIDS programmes for health professionals, the schools director said on Friday.

The weeklong course is meant for government health policy makers, voluntary groups and others working in the field of HIV prevention and care, said Bakul Dholakia, director of the school.

The focus of the programme is on managerial challenges involved in conducting HIV/AIDS prevention and care and their implementation, he said. With 5.13 million cases, India ranks second only to South Africa in terms of the number of people infected with HIV.

More : hindustantimes.com

Even though the Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday enhanced the previously-fixed August date of its hearing on the OBC reservation case to May 8, any delay in the admission process at the six IIMs in the country is going to cost premier private B-Schools, and students seeking admission into such institutions, the maximum, feels XLRI.

Also, the chain reaction activated by the delay in admissions at the IIMs this year is likely to be felt most by students who would have got admission first in any of the privately-run B-Schools in the country and were later shifting to another better-known privately-managed management academy, as there is going to be no protection on the fee front for such candidates.

According to the XLRI director Father N Casamir Raj, as the B-School has fixed June 25 as the effective last date for closing admission of students for the current year, it is expecting a large number of seats going unfilled this year if things didnt clear up in time

More : financialexpress.com

B-schools take lessons in candidate diversity

You could be a nuclear scientist and at the same time, be a suitable candidate for a premier B-school seat! Yes, we are talking about diversity here. B-schools across India are now all game for imparting their classrooms a diversified look. And its not just gender arithmetic they used to harp on in the past. They are increasingly looking at an eclectic approach in the form of international representation, rural participation and past work experience in their students profile.

The reality is, Indian management institutes are still competing with their global counterparts for a true representational character. Sample this: On an average, approximately only 1% of the batch strength in Indian B-schools comprises international students. This is minuscule compared to the global benchmark in B-schools like Kellogg, Wharton, Harvard where the percentage range is anywhere between 20-35%.

Although engineers still account for nearly 30-40% of B-school classroom composition in India, there is an emerging trend to admit students with diverse work experience and formal skills in non-technical subjects.

More : economictimes.indiatimes.com

These IIM students want to follow their own dreams

Eleven students of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA) have this year said no to attractive pay packages during the campus placement drive as they want to follow their own dreams.

A number of leading global and national firms had pitched their tents at the five-day placement event ending Monday at the IIMA campus here, offering salaries in the range of $225,000 to $300,000 for international jobs and between Rs.6 million and Rs.10 million a year for Indian jobs.

However, the 11 students of the prestigious business school either opted out of placements or rejected job offers to start their own enterprise, IIMA authorities told the media Tuesday.

More : theindiancatholic.com

These IIM students want to follow their own dreams

Eleven students of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA) have this year said no to attractive pay packages during the campus placement drive as they want to follow their own dreams.

A number of leading global and national firms had pitched their tents at the five-day placement event ending Monday at the IIMA campus here, offering salaries in the range of $225,000 to $300,000 for international jobs and between Rs.6 million and Rs.10 million a year for Indian jobs.

However, the 11 students of the prestigious business school either opted out of placements or rejected job offers to start their own enterprise, IIMA authorities told the media Tuesday.

More : indiaedunews.net

IIM-A whiz kids look to swadeshi plac

To be part of the great Indian story, more and more graduates of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) have shown preference to entrepreneurship and rejected foreign offers for Indian locations during the campus placement event here, according to data released Tuesday.

At the five-day placement event at IIMA ending on Monday, 11 students of the prestigious business school rejected foreign offers in order to take up jobs in India and be a part of the Indian growth story.

The salaries offered to IIM-A graduates have steadily increased over the past years, and this year was no exception, IIM-A director Bakul Dholakia told media. Both domestic and international salaries have increased substantially.

More : theindiancatholic.com

IIM-A graduates offered more moolah than before

The countrys premier business school, the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A), has once again proved that its the most sought after brand in the international and domestic corporate arena.

A typical example that is often cited is that 11 of the less than 20 students from the batch of 2005-07 in the just concluded placements season have walked away with packages over Rs 1 crore.

Interestingly though, two of these 11 students have rejected their to-die-for dream offers in favour of setting up their own enterprises. Said Prof Piyush Sinha, chairman of the placements committee, Normally, it is students with at least five to six years of work experience, who bag offers in the top bracket of overseas placements with packages of around Rs 1 crore, and are usually around 28-29 years.

More : financialexpress.com

Leo Burnett leads the ad agency comeback

It has to be a case of the six-year-itch. Leo Burnett, one of Indias leading advertising agencies, has returned to the IIM campuses after it was last there in 2001. Last week, the agency picked up six management graduates from IIM Bangalore for management trainee positions in its Mumbai and New Delhi offices. This is in stark contrast to the last couple of years, when advertising agencies did not get invited to IIM campuses for placements. Leo Burnett has made offers of Rs 8.5 lakh to six candidates from IIM-B. While this figure isnt in the league of what consultancies or investment banks are offering, it is well within the ballpark of what most marketing companies would offer management trainees from IIM campuses.

According to Arvind Sharma, chairman and CEO, Leo Burnett, and an IIM-A alumnus, For an industry that is now growing at 20% and more, we require highly talented individuals to sustain and manage that growth. With this high growth rate and limited high-calibre talent, we need to look at these options both at entry level and more senior levels.

According to Mr Sharma, Leo Burnett had received a total of 79 applications for the six positions that were on offer. The agency has carved up its client servicing function into four different verticals — brand strategy, consumer insight, brand services and project managers. The IIM graduates will occupy a very specific role in brand strategy. To attract these management graduates, the agency will let them work on a variety of brands rather than a single brand that a strict marketing job would have. This year, sources say that HLL and Pepsi made offers in the Rs 9.2 to Rs 9.4 lakh range at the Indian School of Business.

More : economictimes.indiatimes.com

Payback time less than Ivy League

The annual salary turnovers at IIM-A has shot up by 19%, thanks to the growing demand for these graduates worldwide. Put together, the 224 graduates, who opted for placements this year have bagged total salaries (annual salary turnover) worth Rs 56 crore a year.

This is over 19% higher than last years total annual salary of Rs 47 crore bagged by 235 students. This also indicates that the payback period for a graduate at the IIM-A is now less than a year as against a pay-back period of over four to five years at Ivy League B-schools.

On an average each student at IIM-A has bagged over Rs 25 lakh a year in salary compared to last years Rs 20 lakh, registering a growth of 25%. While in terms of expenditure incurred, students at IIM-A spent less than Rs 3.20 lakh for the two-year flagship programme, the returns in terms of salary, domestic and overseas put together, have been as high as Rs 25 lakh a year.

More : economictimes.indiatimes.com