ISB uses the 'one school- two campuses' model to keep placements bias-free

ISB (Indian School of Business) may have found an answer to a dilemma that many top colleges and institutes in the country are struggling to solve -  companies across the country are now narrowing the focus of their placements, not only to the brand of an institute, but to a specific campus. In response to this problem, ISB has started the “one school, two campuses” process.

ISB, ranked 20th in the FT London Global MBA ranking 2012, has started admitting students to both its campuses – in Hyderabad and Mohali, without basing it on ranking. Students, who are admitted to both the campuses, were as per a source, equal in terms of education, work experience and accomplishments, allowing placements to be ‘bias-free’.

Furthermore, ISB has started flying its students to both campuses in an effort to keep placements neutral and offer all students similar opportunities. Students from Hyderabad are flown to Mohali during its campus placement and soon after, students from Mohali are flown down when the ISB placement season goes south to Hyderabad.

This problem seems to be hitting the country’s best institutes like IIM (Indian Institute of Management), IIT (Indian Institute of Technology), NIT (National Institute of Technology) and many others. The problem seems to be a lack of homogeneity in students, across campuses. Recruiters are aware that a student from IIM – A would be very different from that of any of its other campuses. It is a similar problem in IIT’s and other institutes with multiple campuses.

Traditionally, the home campus is considered to be superior to all of its other branches. This is due to the fact that students with lower ranks opt for some of the newer branches. An example of this would be the BITS (Birla Institute of Technology and Science) campuses. The original BITS Pilani campus is based in Rajasthan’s Jhunjhunu region and is acknowleged to be superior to its other branches. Most reputed companies would rather its recruiters endure a long bumpy five hour ride to Pilani than visit the newer, easily accessible campuses in Dubai, Goa or Hyderabad. Prospective recruiters are invited to visit the college campuses for their annual placements and are given the choice to visit the campus they prefer. Most of them flock to the reputed ones.

Some colleges choose to conduct independent placements in their campuses. The Mumbai based Narsee Monjee institute offers management courses in Bangalore and Hyderabad, but openly acknowledges that its Mumbai campus garners the best response.

Most IIT’s and IIM’s have rejected the integrated placement model suggested by review committees. These institutes, which educate the brightest minds in India, continue to grapple with the rampant recruitment bias.

Source: The Times of India