How has SIBM evolved over the years?
We have been around since 1978 and when we started we were affiliated to the Pune University. Everything was controlled by the University back then and we had to abide by the rules and regulations of the Government of Maharashtra. There was no freedom to design courses as you had to follow the University curriculum, no freedom to select students or faculty or decide upon student reservation. Generating fresh ideas was not possible. Later, around late eighties AICTE came into picture and brought in its own set of regulations.
Despite this, we could create solid branding for ourselves. We brought in innovations by introducing courses such as Masters in Personnel Management (MPM), which we ran without University accreditation so that we could have the freedom required. At that time the course was only next to XLRI-Jamshedpur and TISS-Mumbai’s personnel management courses.
After 2002, we became a full-fledged deemed university and everything changed. Along with that, our ranking among business schools started rising and I attribute it to the freedom we suddenly had. We were now allowed to implement fresh ideas and bring about change. We brought in features like the Alumni Policy Note, wherein we decided to build long term relationships with our alumni. Last year, we were ranked 4th overall in India by the Business Today rankings.
The only obstacle we have faced is that we are not a residential campus and there are infrastructure limitations. But we’re moving to our new residential campus in Lavale in March 2008 and even that obstacle would have been crossed.
SIBM is seen mentioning its Business Today ranking a lot. How do you advise an MBA-hopeful to use B-school rankings?
B-school rankings should only be used as a navigator or a sort of a guideline. But applicants should not follow rankings blindly and they should research a B-school before applying to it.
How is SIBM different from other Symbiosis management institutes? Do you see SCMHRD, the other well-known Symbiosis b-school as a competitor?
As far as I am concerned, we are only competing with IIM Calcutta, IIM Bangalore and XLRI-Jamshedpur. Within Symbiosis, of the 97,000 odd students that sat for SNAP 2006 nearly 87,000 gave preference for SIBM over 70,000 odd who gave preference for SCMHRD. That should tell you that we have already surpassed other Symbiosis institutes in terms of popularity.
In terms of how we are different, I would say that firstly, a lifelong relationship is assured at SIBM. For me students are consumers and I have to struggle a lot to get them the promised quality of education. It starts from struggling to get applicants to buy our prospectus, then getting them to apply for the SNAP exam, then ensuring that they select SIBM in their institutes of preference and if they’re shortlisted for the Group Discussion, they actually attend it and if they get a final admit, they confirm it.
We organize events like Coffee with SIBM, where we meet each of our potential students in person in each city. After they are admitted to SIBM, we have a buddy system between first and second year students. So the lifelong relationship begins as soon as they register for SNAP on the Internet.
What was the SNAP cutoff for GD-PI calls at SIBM in 2006?
The cutoff was 83.25 marks.
Briefly, on what criteria do you evaluate candidates for final admission?
We mark them on a total score of 180. Of this 180, the SNAP score has 30 marks, The Academic Performance, Work Experience and Essays asked for in the application have 10 marks each. The Group Activity and Case Study each have 30 marks and finally the personal interview carries 60 marks. That’s 180 marks in total. For the SNAP component, we convert the candidate’s SNAP score out of 200 to that out of 30 and use that number.
How many experienced students do you take in a batch?
It was 55 percent in the batch that just came in. But frankly, I don’t believe in the theory that advocates work experience for MBAs much. Several times, having experience goes against students during placements.
How many faculty members do you have and how do you plan to expand it?
We have 14 fulltime and 7 associate faculty members right now which we plan to increase to 30 fulltime and 20 associate in the near future.
Tell us about the new SIBM campus at Lavale.
The campus is on the outskirts of Pune and situated on a hill. It will be a world class campus with all the facilities, including hostels, health centre, recreation facilities and more. The Symbiosis International University will also have its office there.
Why are there ‘Mobile phones not allowed’ signs across the SIBM building?
Do I need to say why? Youngsters misuse the mobile phone facility a lot these days. Mobile phones disturb the academic environment of the institute and are therefore strictly not allowed on-campus.