IIMs and or Non-IIMs ?

This editorial is in continuation with the earlier submitted story – Difference between IIM and Non IIM. Apparently there is no difference as long as the comparison does not include the top 4 IIMs of the country – IIM A, B, C, L. 

It’s worth mentioning here that long before any Indian Institute of Management came up it was XLRI which was established in 1949 followed by IISWBM Calcutta in 1953 and FMS Delhi which was established in 1954. 

The top 3 IIMs – Calcutta (being the first IIM established in 1961) then Ahmedabad (later part of 1961) and Bangalore (1973) are the oldest and most respected IIMs. Later on other IIMs came up – first the ‘New generation of IIMs’ and later the ‘Baby IIMs’. 

XLRI and FMS Delhi still retain top slots in any ranking of management institutes and are the most preferred B Schools of the country now. There are plenty of instances where students who may have converted for IIM A and FMS Delhi both, eventually opted for FMS Delhi. The lowest fee (almost negligible compared to IIM A) and the steep salary of FMS (at par with IIM A) is a huge factor which goes in favour of FMS.

Barring these 4 elite B schools there is not much difference between IIMs and it’s Non IIM counterparts provided the comparison is done in a similar bandwidth. 

ISB Hyderabad however gives all these 4 IIMs  a very tough competition. So does XLRI Jamshedpur to IIM Lucknow. 

 For clarity, find the listed IIMs and the non IIM B Schools which compete with them. 

In fact, until a few years down the line when IIMs offered PGDM and not MBA (before IIM Act 2017 introduced by GoI), many students who wanted to go for higher studies, fellowship or research opted for universities which offered MBA. 

The scenario changed and competition for IIMs increased a few notches when the IITs started coming up with their own management institutes.  The trend started with IIT Kharagpur launching VGSoM in 1996. 

From a brand perspective for many of us ‘brand IIM’ may appeal more but one needs to understand that not all IIMs can be classified under the same brand name just for the namesake.

Some Non IIM B Schools considered at par with : 

*consideringFees/Avg.Salary /Recruiters Profile /CutOff /Faculty /Infra /ROI /Brand perception

One major factor which carries a lot of weightage for students when shortlisting the preferred campus is the specialisation one has opted for.