IIM-A tougher than Stanford, Harvard

AHMEDABAD: Is the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A), the country’s premier business school, better than the best international management schools like Stanford or Harvard when it comes to the executive management programme? The answer is yes if the comparison is based on the GMAT scores required for admission.

The minimum GMAT, or the Graduate Management Admission Test, score required for admission in IIM-A’s one-year post-graduate executive management programme (PGPX) for the 2009-10 batch was fixed at 722 out of 800. This figure exceeds the score required for admission in prestigious institutes like Harvard or Stanford, where the GMAT cut-off is between 710 and 715.

While the IIMs use CAT (common admission test) scores for admission in their flagship management programme (PGP), they accept GMAT scores for the one-year executive management programme. GMAT scores are accepted by all top universities globally for taking in executives for management training.

“We have invited 85 candidates for admission to the 2009-10 PGPX course. The GMAT cut-off score required for admission in IIM-A is higher than those required by even top global B-schools such as Harvard and Stanford,” Arvind Sahay, IIM-A faculty & chairperson for the PGPX course, said. Last year, the GMAT cut-off for the course was 728.

Apart from a good GMAT score, IIM-A also looks for a good academic and career record in candidates interested in joining the course. In the current batch, candidates represent sectors like power, FMCG, financial services, government services, IT/ITeS, consultancy, manufacturing, media, shipping, telecom, healthcare and BPO.

The institute had introduced the diversity criteria for selecting candidates that led to the number of candidates having experience in the IT/ITeS sector — who dominated PGPX batches — coming down significantly. While around 50% of the candidates in the current batch have a background in IT/ITeS sector, the new batch comprises just 30% of such candidates.

“We have tried to make the sectoral profile of candidates more diverse than before, which might be a reason why more non-IT/ITeS candidates made it to the final list. Such candidates did well in the interview round, too,” Mr Sahay added.

There has also been an increasing trend of executives settled abroad joining the course as a stepping stone to begin careers afresh in the country. Close to 25 of the 30 students of the 2008-09 batch — who were working abroad and are enrolled for the course — have made up their minds to settle down in India.

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