ICFAI Business School (IBS) Student Community

[leo_ve_2000 (Gaurav Gupta)]

It sucks. And we all know that. The cover-up is good. The branding and PR is done nicely to attract more students (revenue). Worst is the Placement committee which is pathetic.

During 2004 placements they had told the recruiters that you may reduce the salaries by half but take double the number of students.

4 students were placed with Shaw Wallace at a promised CTC of 2.2 + Bonus, as Management Trainee. They were also promised that after 1 year they will be confirmed as Asst. Managers.

Reality…..They joined Shaw Wallace. After 1 month of joining they received offer letters (offer letters were not given in advance) with CTC of 1.5Lac/annum and a confirmed designation of Executive – Sales & Promotions. The location was Bangalore ( talk about residential costs).

From Executive grade to Asst. Manager in Shaw Wallace takes 3 years. Management Trainee to Asst. Manager was 1 year.

After receiving the letters when they questioned college authorities, but no body took the responsibility. College also refused them to re-participate in the ongoing placements.

[chiragchiz19 (Chirag)]

Point well taken mr.Gaurav
And since u r my senior i need to consider what the serious facts u stated.
I totally agree that the management is questionable here.
At mumbai the students now don't have to sit in library 'cause there's hardly any place to keep books
ther's just one building, and >700 sutdents
even the companies wanted some other place during placmnts
and incentives are a major thing behind bringing companies to campus.
the more are the comp and more is the incentives to the plcment team

but i won't argue much.
there's smething i hv learnt frm the expr here.

Corporate world is no different!!! (as shown to you by Shaw Wallace)
there r people lilke u i know. and my utmost sympathy with u. i hope u r havin a blast of fantastic career.

but hw many instis are there which places >5000 students PAN India every year.
Hw many instis are there who r ready to take up the challenge to increase the capacity and still think to palce them

u know what i was told when i questioned the authorities just like you?
"THe placemnt is just an assistant to the students and not a guarantee"

But my question to you is "Is the placement the only thing for you?"
WHat abt the course curri; what abt the faculty resource; what abt the projects; wht abt the case stud;
and mind u- these things r very good here. i hv frinds in other instis; i hv talked to seniors of other instis; nmims; symbio; jbms; and even SPJ and IMT gha; all of them don't have as good a project based and case study based curri there.

but i do think that placements are the highest priority but management studies r not for placements but to knw the corporates, to knw the business, to knw the way to move up in the CO. by ur experience and learnings.
(i agree that the price is a little higher!!!!!) and there can always be more debate..........

and yes IBS has to work a lot to achieve the Best International Status. domestic ratings do show the dicey pic
thnks to fact bringing....

[Zarine (Zarine)]

Let's play the Devil's advocate here.

Who has asked you to place 5K students in the first place? When you induct them, its your responsibility to make sure they get placed. Placement is not a guarantee, alright...why harp about it in your media campaigns then?

Just placements dont matter...quality of placements do. I have batchmates who are still struggling with their careers. And yes, we also have cases who have done well...guess, we can leave it at that. Works both the ways.

Am from HR and constantly intereact with Placement agencies & head hunters. Sadly, IBS is not Brand IBS for them. The campus matters and so does the program. Mention ICFAI Business School...and 2 questions are shot at you for sure.."Full time? Which campus?"

Harsh reality is Hyd sells the most. Initially Ggn followed it close but now its Mumbai & thats where they stop. Hyd & Mumbai garner a look of respect whereas the rest get a "Hmm".

The point isnt to rank one campus against the other...but for the recruiters it matters.

Well, that was a reply in tune with the thread's flow...but how was the whole ICFAI experience like? In a B-school, apart from curriculum & faculty what matters most are the peers. How much you learn & share...the quality of inputs, the experience they bring, the discussions etc. Fortunately, my batch had some real gems who made the whole experience worthwhile. So if I rem'ber my 2 years...its coz of them...but tht's again thanks to IBS, I guess .

[abhishek1711 (shah)]

Zarine all things said id still say IBS placements cell deserves the credit for being able to place the huge batch strengths ! The admission decisons are taken centrally from Hydbd , but its the individuall placements cell which has to run around to get enough jobs to place the campus ....i am the placements Rep for my batch so can say have seen the drama and the effort that the placement cell makes (though motivated by fat commissions).yeah at end of day as u rightly said - Who Asked to admit 5k students in first place but fact is it does admit and does place too.

Peers is something which i really have missed in my MBA. i did find some very good friends...pple who i look up to and love being with. But i find the community feeling to be somehow missing. The cultural mismatch starts right from the students and flows right till the top of Brand IBS ! the funda here is - come, study, take a job and get the hell out of here !!! hehe

but then even in the process of doing the same , we do make some gr8 friends at a personal level. Wish there was less politics to help develop similar close relationships at a professional level too here. but then im generalising perhaps

[harish_govardhan (harry)]

Well, its great to see the seniors pitch in and give their views. Gives us a peek to the outside world before we step on to the big stage.

Here are my views. All points well taken about the strength of the students and quality of placements. Me, being a marketer look at it differently.

Advertising and PR work? Complaints being that its too extensive? I would give kudos to the PR team as they are in competition with biggies like IIMs and the other top institutes who have the first mover advantage. So why not advertise? Moreover you would say, back up advertising with quality placements. Right? Personally they have done it this year. Placing so many students isnt a joke and big cheers to them.

Quality of professors? I wouldnt say its great but thats the case with even the top institutes. Take any IIMs too, the ratio is the same - as in good vs pathetic! But because of the hype, we students fail to notice.

Is placement everything? No, it is not everything. It is one of the important aspects but no THE aspect. MBA is all about peer learning and if you connect with few in your campus and exchange ideas, nothing like it. I am a firm believer that placement is NOT everything. Just like the IIPM marketing goes, I would say "Dare to think beyond placements".

My experience? It has been really good. Firstly coming to gurgaon has been wonderful as I had been exposed to different walks of life from the safe atmosphere back home in Chennai. I have learnt a lot in MBA and I would proudly say that I dont have any regrets choosing brand "IBS". Not that I have got a placement, if you had asked me this six months before I would have said the same thing. Its all about OPTIMAL utilization of your time which I feel makes the difference between experiences in IBS.

One bad habit that IBS has given me. I just CANT sit idle!!! So used to the busy life, it is impossible to be a laid back person

Of course all isnt rosy!! Professors having the whip(a.k.a internals which makes the difference), ICFAI National college which is diluting IBS as a brand, Unnecessary number of students taken(also understood as going for quantity rather than quality) and most importantly over emphasis on PLACEMENT rather than learning is what I feel are the drawbacks. Might be more, this is what I see.

I prefer to see the whole chart rather than the black dots on it. Proud to be associated with IBS and I am sure it would be a brand which is immensely respected in the near future!

Regards

[rockstar11986 (nikhil)]

hey friends this is for those who say " Placements are not everything!!!!!!"

IBS fees is itself very high ...Ppl tend to take huge loans to pay the fees..Today our fees is 7.5lk..if u go for 8lkh (with other 2 yrs expenses approx) loan uve gotta pay 9lkh with interest...Now if u dont get good placement u might screw 5-6 years for jst repaying the loan,forget all other things....

So, if Quality Placements are not everything then its even not less than everything....

[vedyss (vedsrivastava)]

the very fact that icfai does't indulge in backdoor entries and admits quality,deserving students only speaks about the standard the institution is trying to build. such an institution ought to prosper and will emerge a strong brand in future. so if you are a part of it, you are in the right place at the right time.

[K2INCORP (kshitij)]

I would say that, we all have choices, we should face it that, the quality of the students is also a factor responsible for not so great placement statistics at IBS. I feel that "we" are aware of our strengths and weaknesses, so when we make a choice to get admitted into one of the IBS centres, its also our responsibility to be competetive and strive hard to eliminate all present weaknesses. Though having said that, I cannot judge whether, the current fee structure at IBS centres justifies the Avg. pay packets that students at these centres take home.

Also I'd rather advise ppl to strive hard and manage a scholarship or two in the firsts 2 sems, well I was awarded one and trust me, it was not very hard...