Why MBA aspirants should pay attention to ‘Graduation Outcome’ Scores in NIRF Ranking ?

NIRF Ranking 2022: The 7th National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) rankings was released by the education ministry. Within hours we could see institutes offering higher education, competing for space in the social media with respective NIRF rankings proudly displayed.

Read: NIRF Ranking 2022 Updates. IIT Madras Tops in Overall

And why not? After all, this is the only ranking in the country, among several rankings published by business magazines, education portals etc. which is being accepted and respected when it comes to credibility.

Why is NIRF ranking the only ranking considered genuine?

NIRF ranking is perceived as a genuine approach with honest intentions by the government to rank the Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) of the country to help the students community. In the first attempt, 50 HEIs from various sectors were ranked by NIRF followed by 100 and which was increased to 125 institutes this year.

Most importantly, since NIRF Ranking is published by MHRD and not associated with any business group, the rankings are not seen as ‘purchased’ and perceived to be unbiased. That takes the NIRF rankings to a different level, sets high standards and separates from the rest which are full of discrepancies. Lesser talked about, the better.

But, how effective is the approach of NIRF ?

Ever since the first official domestic ranking of the top universities, engineering colleges and management institutions in the country were released in 2016 by MHRD, it has been drawing criticism from a large section of the academia due to anomalies in the rankings.

Some institutes were ranked higher than the ones which really and truly deserved to be on top slots. NIRF underwent several upgrades and the framework was revised in each of the categories which were also increased from 5 to 11. Attempts were made by NIRF to remove the glaring gaps in the process to certain extent. A great deal of deliberations also happened in the academic fraternity on the 5 components in the rankings.

However, anomalies continued as some parameters lead to conflicting outcomes. For example an institute which enjoys the status of University and offers large number of UG/PG courses, is seen ranked higher than a standalone institute (which is not a University) and offers only management courses – MBA/PGDM.

Here what we see is Amrita, Amity University is ranked higher than IMI and GLIM.

Again, LPU is ranked higher than XIMB/XUB and GIM.

Graphic Era University is ranked on top of IIM Sambalpur.

These rankings are raising questions and in the process creating confusions. Now if you observe the Graduation Outcome Scores of the institutes ranked on top, you will notice the scores are lesser compared to the institutes ranked below.

Why should the ‘Graduation Outcome’ parameter be considered while shortlisting B Schools ?

Graduation Outcome is the parameter which evaluates the placements of the institutes. Combined metric for Placement and Higher Studies (GPH) and Median Salary (GMS) are the key factors considered here. While placement may not be the only criteria for evaluating an institute but undoubtedly it remains to be one critical selection criteria for any MBA aspirant. That’s where the ROI or Return on the Investment is seen by students.

Find Top 30 Private B Schools as per Graduation Outcome Scores 2022 & 2023

B Schools	GO 2022	B Schools	GO 2023	Avg Salary 2023
SPJIMR	98.87	SPJIMR	98.64	33
XLRI	97.94	XLRI	98.07	32.7
MDI G	96.71	MDI G	95.98	27.5
SIBM Pune	94.58	SIBM Pune	94.37	26.77
NMIMS M	91.83	NMIMS M	92.06	26.63
XIM Uni	91.82	XIM Uni	91.4	20
Fore School of Management	88.94	IMI Delhi	88.12	17.5
IMI Delhi	88.08	Fore School of Management	87.38	14.5
MICA	87.56	IRMA	86.81	14
Krea Uni	85.33	MICA	86.7	19
GIM	84.94	Krea Uni	85.21	13.5
GLIM Chennai	84.12	GIM	84.66	14.87
TAPMI	83.09	NIBM	84.08	15.22
IRMA	82.5	K J Somaiya	83.15	13.79
BIMTECH	82.46	TAPMI	82.54	14.6
IMT G	80.36	BIM	82.5	N.A
NIRMA	80.3	BIMTECH	81.64	11
IMI Kolkata	79.94	GLIM Chennai	80.93	14.5
Jaipuria Ins	79.23	WE School	80.76	N.A
IMT H	78	Nirma Uni	80.74	12.2
GLIM G	76.56	Jagan Institute of Management Studies	79.48	N.A
BML Uni	75.97	IMT G	79.33	17.35
IBS Hyderabad	75.89	NDIM	78.97	N.A
Amrita	74.74	IMI BBSR	77.35	11.3
Chandigarh Uni	67.01	Jaipuria Institute of Management, Noida	77.15	N.A
Amity Uni	63.3	PSG College of Technology	76.7	N.A
LPU	62.21	IMI Kolkata	76.32	10.45
UPES	62.06	Jaipuria Institute of Management, Jaipur	76.25	N.A
KIIT Uni	53.91	Jaipuria Institute of Management, Lucknow	76.06	N.A
Thapar	51.24	IMT H	76	12