Rashmi Sanyal (name changed) completed her MBA in financial markets this May from the inaugural 2011-2013 batch of a Mumbai-based institute. She and 40% of her batchmates are yet to land a job.

"I am still hunting," says Sanyal, who spent 4.50 lakh for a two-year programme.

Saloni Kesarwani, who graduated from Amity International Business School last year, didn't have luck with placement either, but eventually landed a job at training and development firm Elements Akademia through personal reference. Many of her friends who managed to get placed started with salaries in the 3-4 lakh range. The MBA cost 9 lakh.

The MBA is no longer a passport to a successful career. Almost two-thirds of graduates passing out every year - barring the handful of top B-schools, including the IIMs - are struggling to find meaningful employment, according to multiple estimates. There is plenty of anecdotal evidence to back this up. Even the IIMs took longer than usual to place their entire batch this year.



Less than 4 lakh students sat for national-level B-School entrance tests (MAT, CAT, XAT, CMAT etc) in 2012-13, compared with a 2008-09 peak of 5 lakh plus, according to AIMA. It also said some estimates suggest that 400-odd startup B-Schools have shut shop during the past year or so.

With the economy in a prolonged slowdown, there is hardly any new job creation in many sectors. But that's not the only reason MBAs are losing sheen. Several surveys suggest the enormous gap between the top MBA colleges in the country and the tier-2, tier-3 and tier-4 colleges in terms of access to research, quality of faculty and their linkages with business and industry.

"Management education is supposed to be built on the strength of these factors and a robust industry interface is lacking at the tier-2, tier-3 colleges," says Naveen Narayanan, global head-talent acquisition at HCL Technologies.

Training and development firm Elements Akademia, which studied 4,000 students across 200 tier-2, 3 and 4 MBA colleges in 20 cities in April this year, found poor corporate interaction, inexperienced faculty members and dismal placements at these institutes.

Problem of Plenty

Several surveys suggest the enormous gap between the top MBA colleges in the country and the tier-2, tier-3 and tier-4 colleges in terms of access to research, quality of faculty and their linkages with business and industry.

"Management education is supposed to be built on the strength of these factors and a robust industry interface is lacking at the tier-2, tier-3 colleges," says Naveen Narayanan, global head-talent acquisition at HCL Technologies.

Training and development firm Elements Akademia, which studied 4,000 students across 200 tier-2, 3 and 4 MBA colleges in 20 cities in April this year, found poor corporate interaction, inexperienced faculty members and dismal placements at these institutes.

Most tier-2 B-schools managed to place only 30-40% graduates. A majority of those who did find jobs started off with a pay of only Rs 12,000-18,000 per month. In 197 of the 200 B-schools, students expressed regret at joining their college.

Source : ET