About PGPX and IIMA debuting at #11 on FT.com’s Global MBA Rankings 2011

On January 31^st, 2011, FT.com released their 2011 Global MBA Rankings (Read Here). IIMA made its debut in these rankings at #11. This is the best ever debut, but more on that later. 

When an iconic business school that has, over the last five decades, defined its contribution to the society through leaders who have led big changes in the Indian and international arena debuts on the MBA ranking scales in this manner, there is a lot of surprise. Why? Because owing to technicalities in ranking processes of international MBA billboards, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad never qualified for the rankings before. For the record, no other IIM has qualified, so far.

There is no doubt that MBA rankings recognize the School and not just the Programme. Because the school is what makes the ecosystem for learning; made possible by best in class faculty who do top of the line research, and using tools and pedagogy honed over years of research and student feedback, enable learning in their unique ways. Alumni of the institute keep the flag flying high and attract larger numbers of aspirants to the school. The students thrive in this environment and later as alumni themselves, through their real contributions and progression in their careers carry forward the alma mater’s glory and contribute to it.

In the context of rankings the change began when IIMA started to redefine the IIMA class, in more ways than one, with the PGPX programme. (Read about PGPX here)  PGPX, the 1-year full time residential programme, attracts applicants with substantial work experience. A PGPX student, on an average, has 10 years of work experience, before he or she joins the full time residential programme. Additionally, international experience is recommended, though not mandatory. Now, the international MBA programmes in other countries, typically, admit students having about 4-5 years of work experience. Over the last couple of decades, while the IIMs have seen large growth in student numbers for the PGP batches (the 2-year full time residential programme), the classes continue to have substantial number of students with nil or minimal (by international standards) prior work experience. This constitution is what prevented IIMA from getting qualified for the MBA school rankings, all these years. The much needed, much deserved recognition in the world of MBA schools was left much awaited for IIMA.

At IIMA, FT.com ranking was sought since the qualification criteria were met in 2009, when the third batch of PGPX graduated. Now, FT.com ranking process includes a mandatory survey of graduates who have been working for 3 years after completing the programme. But that requirement changed when FT.com clarified that they needed the 4^th batch out before IIMA could qualify. Therefore, the evaluation of the IIMA for the ranking was made possible only in 2010.

The debut of IIMA at #11 is the ‘best ever debut’ (Read the release here) and it is no simple achievement for a business school from India to do this. Right behind IIMA, on the FT.com rankings is Indian School of Business (ISB, Hyderabad, India). They were quick to clarify in their press release (Read ISB's press release here) that it was the PGPX programme that qualified for these rankings. They have enough reason to make this clarification.

But, as should be well understood, the ranking belongs to the entire Faculty, the Alumni, the managers and administrators and students of IIMA who’ve made possible the millions of aspects that go into building an iconic institution. A great way to begin a year when IIMA celebrates its Golden Jubilee!

Prashant John's first degree take on "our" Second Degree

Just put down this awesomely funny rendition of 1-year-long-mid-life-mid-career break at IIMA. Prashant, from the pioneering batch of PGPX takes an equilibrised look at the going-ons in the corridors and classrooms of the hot bed of management education that IIMA is. (Note the author's disclaim- this is a work of fiction.)

Having withstood this place and programme two years after Prashant (that makes me an 'X3'), I could relate to the flaps in the ebb and flow of PGPX year that he recounts. I must admit I was following this book before the launch, but somehow lost track of it. I picked it up, on a friend's (another X3, the 'Bandit') reminder,  while out for ConneXion 2010 . Being on campus, reliving the times again over a long weekend, had already stirred up memories of my travails from 30 to 18 months ago. On top of this 'Second Degree' came as a 'Red Bull for memories'.

From a 'can't be true, am I here?' to 'what the.., am I already leaving?' the PGPX year passes by in a jiffy, much like a vaccine shot you dreaded as a kid. But, life is fun and life is topsy-turvy at PGPX (not in the same order, though). A deep dive in to the making of aN X-ian is what this book is all about. Prashant has handled the narration in a very touching manner, candidly exploring the joys, fears and dilemmas that every student (including his/her spouse) at PGPX faces.

Every year a little world lands in the New Campus- men, women, little boys and girls, toddlers and their fathers & mothers with their bikes, cars and cradles and sometimes even their maids and babysitters. Every batch has its own set of characters in the play of PGPX that gets produced every year. Like an improvisation (a comedy only to a sadist outsider) plots and sub-plots vary in flavour a little, but the storyline is the same. In several ways, each X-ian is a Prashant  and shares his struggles as a student. Prashant the author, though, really knows how to make you laugh.

The book is bound to pleasantly shock those who are aspiring PGPX and at the same time wake from stupor those (the PGPX-ians) who have gone back to the relatively slower life that post-IIMA life invariably becomes.

For PGPX Alumni the familiarity and the "familiailty" this book invokes makes it all the more of a souvenir to keep along side other memorabilia they carry with them. When I got through PGPX admissions, in order to mentally prepare myself for what I was to endure, I read Snapshots from Hell . If you are considering IIMA PGPX, Second Degree is your own customised and in-your-face 'Snapshots from Hell'. Read it.

NID Professor innovates boldly. Nothing else to it.

Some absurd claims in media (Read here) were brought to our notice by a PGPX co-alumnus of ours (Read here ). Apparently, this news has been, today, picked up by a television news channel also.

It is unfortunate that certain people have misconstrued and consequentially misrepresented the objectives of the course and actions of the professor. Actions of the professor, to be sure, in my experience in this course, were that of "professing"/talking in a challenging manner and demonstrating meditative exercises. And in full earnest, the professor forewarns people that it is not for the faint-hearted, not for any reason (we realise later) except that they will be reaching within to free themselves of their fears & inhibitions.

The course at IIMA (similar to NID's Strategic Design Management mentioned in the media article) is intended to develop a creative mindset. A basic point delivered is that in order to be creative, mental blocks (mostly unresolved notions) need to be overcome. Overcoming baseless notions leads to an uninhibited approach to generating new ideas. With a questioning mindset, our basal fears are identified and this further leads to freeing ourselves of them.

The suggestion that there was stripping or there were even suggestions to strip in the class is totally absurd. At the most the question asked by the instructor is- in a scenario that he were to make a suggestion to strip, how would participants respond? It is a question intended to urge participants to think why they would respond the way they would. It is intended to encourage students to examine the basis of their individual responses. Several such questions are asked that challenge our presumptions about norms, superstitions etc that normally lead to "in-the-box" or linear thinking. The professor takes an innovative approach toward developing an innovative mindset. He brings together nueroscience, evolutionary biology, space science (MFR technology), ancient yogic practices, psychology, modern design theory, innovation theories, management science among others, to provide holistic & experiential learning. It is sad that someone has totally misunderstood this and made a joke out of it.

The contract (touted as 'NDA' by the complainant) itself, by the way, if you understand the professor's purport, is intended as a first challenge- that of signing an undertaking to face the unknown. While we were told that such a declaration is legally binding (blah, blah), one only needs to step above the details to see through the exercise and appreciate the ingenuity of the approach. The declaration -handwriting it & signing it- is intended to drive in seriousness about the course, while challenging your mind and your fears. If you still don't get it, consider what your response would be if a total stranger approached you and asked you to write such a declaration? In daily work life, this is what happens. Someone gives us a creative task and our inhibitions prevent us from thinking freely and understanding the issues underlying any problem. Our solutions are, therefore, based on wrong or narrow notions. How many products don't fail in the market due to bad (sometimes, even stupid) design?

For the record, my experience of undergoing this course was clean and genuinely eye-opening. While I am not speaking on their behalf, I can confidently state that the female classmates of mine were not uncomfortable as far as I could understand and can recall. The course became a hit among those who joined it and was followed loyally. So much so, that a few wives of students joined the course and they completed it (no credits, though!) with full fervour. In the following term, Advanced edition of the course (Call it "Part 2") offered as an elective, again, had a dedicated following.

A set of people has totally missed the point. Correction... a set of people has totally missed the bus on what could have been a potentially transformational experience to them, had they made an earnest attempt to follow the message than throw muck around, over nothing (internal investigations are currently on, states the TV channel).

There might be more to the motive of this complaint/allegation than meets the eye. One doesn't need to have undergone the course to see it.

On your marks...

We arrived at the hallowed portal of IIM Ahmedabad yesterday morning. We had for company another batch mate R and her husband M on the 36 hour train journey.We were planning to travel lock, stock and barrel (and hence the choice of a train). But given that we wanted to feel 'at home' at Ahmedabad, our situation could be summed up as 'lock, stock and two barrels'.

For the first time in two decades, I travelled on a rail-trip lasting more than a few hours. So, while the stink and snafu that we associate with Indian railway stations and trains have not changed much, the AC two tier treatment was not bad at all. Chatting up with the electrical incharge of our train, I found out that the trains are apparently much more cleaner and quieter the South of the Cancer line. He associated the regional attitudes and the major ethnicity of the passengers to how clean or otherwise a train is when it cruises into the last station.

Another thing I learnt, during an unscheduled stop, was that, apparently, even if the train were to not move for another six hours, we would still arrive at Ahmedabad on time. The reason he said was that the current time-table had been made keeping in mind a maximum speed of 60 kmph. The reality is that most trains run around 100 kmph on most tracks. So, while most trains could have shorter journey-times, they just don't. Hmm...

First two days here have been all about setting up our on-campus apartment for the rest of the year and meeting many people. The atmosphere is almost like returning to college after a vacation. The reason I say returning and not joining, is because thanks to web 2.0 and collaborative technology we know most of us- have discussed online, emailed each other, have either spoken on phone and/or met several times- before meeting here. So, the ice was broken long back. Only a few who chose so or otherwise remained inactive in our online forum needed any introduction.

The fact that Ahmedabad, as we are finding out slowly, is a hospitable city is making things very easy and simple. I cannot imagine -saying this for all it is worth- travelling in to Bangalore as a student with a family and without a car and at the mercy of auto rickshaw drivers and then finding it this easy to settle down. So far, the auto drivers are not only super-congenial, they are very enterprising. One guy introduced himself at the end of a twenty minute ride and urged me to note down his cellphone number. He said he is mostly lingering outside the campus gates and will be able to service us anytime. Amen! Bangalore auto drivers sit on their backsides and with no hesitation refuse to carry passengers to just any spot. It shows that Bangalore drivers are not hungry enough, if you see what I mean.

After seeing the malls of Bangalore, I will say that malls here are huge. The ISKCON (name owing to proximity to a temple) Mega Mall, is impressively big. Put a Forum and Garuda and some more to get an IMM. And I am told that IMM is not the biggest mall in Ahmedabad. No wonder RelianceMart chose Ahmedabad for launching its Hyper format.

I will be unnecessarily biased toward Ahmedabad, if I do not say a few words about the driving sense in Ahmedabad. For the size of the roads, big, and for the type of roads, pristine, visibly reliable and well lit, the aggressive behaviour of the drivers is confusing. Bangalore suffers from bad roads; here roads are not an issue. I do not yet know where it comes from, but something is not right about the rush.

Anyway, first two days, despite having followed a day and a half long train journey seem conveniently normal. A nice city, a nice campus and a nice feeling.