Back

Frequently Asked Questions


Who can participate in the survey?
The survey is generally restricted to institutions approved by AICTE or recognized by the UGC. However, at the discretion of Business India and keeping in view the high quality of academics and brand equity some schools are admitted to our Rating process every year.
The institutions in their own interest are requested to contact Business India for your eligibility in case your school is not listed under AICTE or approved by UGC.

Please mail atraman@gmail.com for details.

Disclaimer: Please note that the onus of responsibility of providing authentic and reliable data rests with the B-Schools responding to this survey. Business India or its associates will not be responsible for the factual content or the authenticity of the data and information provided. We may however, reserve the right to validate the data and information provided and decide not to admit the questionnaire on the basis of our findings. Business India or any of their associates would not be held responsible for the quality of data or the consequences of using the same for rating or ranking of any B-school. The use of the Rating or Ranking scores by the institutions concerned is based entirely on the responsibility of the schools concerned and Business India or its associates will not be held accountable for the use of the Rating or Ranking scores in the merchandise or promotion of the school concerned. The Schools should bear in mind that the rating and ranking is only for the PGDM or MBA courses and not for the entire school. Compliance of the local laws is the most desirable qualification in participating in our Rating process.

Why is it my institution is included even when I chose not to return your survey form?
The Business India B-Schools survey is a voluntary effort to quality benchmark the Indian B-Schools and your cooperation in furnishing the details using our questionnaire would make our effort easier. However, in cases where the questionnaire is not returned by the institutions and in the interest of our readership we feel that it is imperative that we benchmark the institution, we would do it on the basis of available data. We, therefore request all the b-schools to participate in the survey.

Where do you source your data in case where the school has not responded?
The data is derived from all available open source information channels, including websites of the schools concerned, industry websites, AICTE, UGC and MHRD websites and also from individual faculty, alumni, students and recruiters.

Whom do we get in touch with for Survey related queries?
The Survey Team is headed by A.Thothathri Raman who can be contacted at atraman@gmail.com or seaastandards@gmail.com

What is our responsibility in providing the data?
All data being provided should be authentic and fully verifiable. The data being collected, collated and sent should have an official approval. While you submit the final submit button your data is deemed to have been authenticated by you. We would assume all data being provided as coming from the responsible management of the team and as such would accept these as such. The onus of responsibility of providing the right set of data and statements lies with the management of the B-Schools. Please see the disclaimer above.

What aspects one should consider while filling and sending the questionnaire?
The answers should be provided only in the columns listed for each. Wherever the annexure are asked for these could be provided. No questions should be altered or its sequence changed while answering our survey form.
All answers should be sent in electronic form. While in extraordinary circumstances we would permit the school to fill out and send the questionnaire in hard copy form, under no circumstances can a handwritten form would accepted.
The filled out questionnaire is to be emailed to us and also sent by CD along with the annexure. Even the annexure, wherever possible should be set in electronic form and sent as attachment.
The photographs should be of high resolution and copied to the CD being sent. or sent as an attachment.

Do all the survey details carry marks?
Generally all the details that are being asked for would have due weightage while computing marks. The institutions are requested to carefully fill out each and every detail to avoid any disappointment or dispute over the survey outcome.

Do the stakeholder survey carry any marks?
A combined scale has been evolved for the stakeholder survey markings and this would be used mainly while ranking the B-Schools. The stakeholder survey marks would not be separately indicated.

Are all the institutions ranked?
No. Not all the institutions are ranked for survey purposes. Only a select number of institutions are ranked every year. Until the Seventh Survey was carried out in 2006 we had ranked only 10 institutions and in that year the Ranking list was enlarged to 20 based on industry feedback. Last year the ranks were raised to 50 even though the difference between the schools were marginal. The rest of the institutions are being Rated under the clusters A++ A+ A, B++ B+ B, C++, C+ and C giving the widest range of choice of clusters among all surveys.

Do the institutions have access to survey details?
Almost all the details of the survey are published in the Business India issue carrying the cover story on the Best B-Schools survey. The www.bibschoolsurvey.com site would also be carrying the details of the survey. However the individual break up of marks and how these have been added up would not be available to any institution.

Can we ask for a detailed comparison of our institution vis a vis peer institutions?
Yes, we are planning to commence a rating card service to help institutions benchmark themselves against their peer in specific subject areas. For details contact www.atraman@gmail.com, marking “rating card”. This would be a paid service.

What is the formula for assessing the details provided for the survey?
The survey details being provided would be authenticated and assigned marks based on a formula that the Survey Team would use. A comparative statement of the previous three surveys (2005-2006,2006-2007, 2007-2008 & 2008-09) should give an idea of how the final methodology evolves.

Description 2008-09 % 2007-08 % 2006-07 % 2005-06 %
Brand value 300 30 300 30 300 30 300 30
Intellectual value 400 40 400 40 400 40 435 43.5
Growth 100 10 100 10 100 10 165 16.5
Total 1000 100 1000 100 1000 100 1000 100

The four parameters further expand in the following manner with each sub section being accorded marks based on the industry average scores that emerge in our final analysis.

I. Brand value and market positioning   (300)

  • Director's background and years of experience
  • Year of establishment
  • Whether part of any corporate, engineering college, university
  • Expansion to other cities and  overseas  location
  • Connectivity to overseas Universities
  • Placement performance percentage
  • Batch performance
  • Exchange students, faculty facilitation
  • Corporate participation
  • Summer placement
  • Gross revenue
  • Gross expenditure
  • Alumni activity
  • Alumni support
  • Visit of management gurus
  • Industry sponsorship
  • Visits of CEO
  • Senior level programmes
  • Placement facilitation
  • Faculty participation in consultancy
  • Faculty on corporate boards

II Intellectual Capital (400)

  • Details of Flagship PGDM/MBA programme
  • Evening programme
  • Executive MBA programme
  • PG diploma course
  • Distance learning programmes
  • e-learning programme
  • Professional PG courses
  • Courses with  foreign tie up
  • PhD/fellow programme
  • IT  orientation in MBA/PGDM
  • Centres of Excellence
  • Entrepreneurship  and incubation initiative
  • Visiting / Adjunct faculty / Practicing Managers
  • International faculty number of courses taught
  • Titles of the book
  • Papers / journals
  • No of Indian articles 
  • No of cases developed 
  • Faculty development budget
  • International conferences attended by faculty
  • International teaching assignments / exchange faculty
  • Admission test used
  • Cut off scores for latest admissions
  • Application and admission track record
  • Fee structure  
  • Curriculum revision
  • Corporate participation
  • Pedagogy of PGDBM/MBA
  • Pedagogy

III Learning Ambience (200)

  • Infrastructure
  • Connectivity speed and ease
  • Access to computing  and learning resources
  • Seminar halls, amphitheater
  • Hostel within campus
  • Faculty resident in campus
  • Campus size
  • Details of other facilities
  • Details of major infrastructure additions
  • Access to campus
  • Library information

IV Growth (100)

  • Faculty numbers
  • Ratio of industry background to total  faculty
  • Growth in number of papers published
  • Growth in total seminars attended by faculty
  • Growth in faculty development  budget
  • Increase in batch strength
  • Growth in admission applications
  • IT and library investments
  • Growth in median placement salary
  • Growth in international placement salaries (maximum
  • Growth in total income
  • Growth in expenditure

Who should fill out the questionnaire?
A responsible faculty person or group of persons should fill out the questionnaire with the active participation and direction of the Director, Dean and the Chairman of the Board of Governors. Since institution sensitive information may be provided in the questionnaire it is in the best interest of the institution authorities to allocate responsibilities to get the best results.
Please do not allocate questionnaire filling work to students even though you may take their help. Correspondence between the survey team and the school should be only through the head of institution or a responsible senior faculty not through any student. Any deviation would result in your filled in questionnaire being resent with a request for redrafting resulting in delays and consequent.

Will the information provided be used only for the survey?
No the information being listed for the survey may be used for the Best B-Schools Directory of Business India and also the Management pages of the fortnightly magazine. This would however, expand the visibility of your institution.

Is it compulsory to advertise in the Business India’s special survey issue?
No. It is not compulsory to advertise in the issue. However it should be borne in mind that the survey copy would be read by the highest pool of readership of India as Business India has the largest readership base in the country. Also the B-School directory being a pioneering effort also has a large loyal institutional and individual readership. Both the issues have long shelf life ensuring that your message stays longer in the minds of your readers.

Can we advertise in the website?
You can. For rate card etc., please contact atraman@gmail.com marking “advt” in your mail.

What additional details I have to provide for the survey?
There are no additional details but most questions in the survey may require backup information. A checklist provided in the printed survey questionnaire has been reproduced for your information. For your convenience these have been placed in excel sheet format for easy filling up and storage.

What is the mode of submission of the survey form?
Best method is to send an e-mail containing as an attachment the completed questionnaire along with the annexure through courier. It is also advisable to send a CD containing the filled up questionnaire and annexure details. The brochures, photographs and other material could be sent by post or courier to our Mumbai or Delhi offices.

How do I use the online questionnaire?
The online questionnaire being used for the first time in the website with its accompanying polls for alumni, faculty and student, also in the online mode has been designed for ease and comfort in answering the questions. The user has to first log in by providing his e-mail as a login name and give a password of his choice which will have to be kept till the final submission of the questionnaire for use. The institute will have to nominate one person for handling the survey questionnaire and his or her e-mail is the one that should be used to register for getting the questionnaire.

The online questionnaire is designed for ease of use and there are no limits as to the number of times the user can access the questionnaire until final submission of the questionnaire

Annexure Check List

General
Short write up about the institute
list of Courses along with seats capacity
2009-10 placement Brochure
Promotional CD of the institute
Photographs
Director
School buildings, campus
Classroom (large, small, seminar hall)
Hostel room (girls and boys)
MDP room/conference hall
Library
Computer centre exterior and interior
Background
List of members of Governing Board
List of members of academic advisory board
List of Centres of Excellence with their titles and professors in charge
List of top alumni of the school
List of dates of annual school/student functions
List of national conferences organized by the institute
List of international conferences organized by the institute
MDP calendar of the season
Faculty details
List of permanent Faculty who are on current rolls
List of visiting Faculty
Faculty development plan for the current year
Faculty publishing record
List of corporate consultancy assignments of Faculty
Pedagogy and Academics
List of core Courses titles only
International Linkages
List of students who received gold medals
List of PhD topics currently being pursued at the institute
List of Case Studies

Please send all the annexures and photographs to

Marizinha Chitnis,
Business India Group of Publications
19, Adi Marzban Path,
Ballard Estate,
Mumbai 400 001.
Tel: 2270 2201/2207/2209/2208
2270 2210/2203
Fax: 2270 2202
Email: atraman@gmil.com or marizinha.chitnis@businessindiagroup.com

For any clarifications from Business India please contact

A. Thothathri Raman,
Consulting Editor (Special Projects)
Mobile: 9811297249

Business India ,
268 Masjid Moth,
Uday Park,
New Delhi 110027
Telefax: 91-11-41643047-53
E-mail: atraman@gmail.com

Contact Details for Advertising in
Annual Best B-Schools survey and Directory
Marketing, Advertising,
Administrative office.

Mumbai
19, Adi Marzban Path,
Ballard Estate,
Mumbai 400 001.
Tel: 2270 2201/2207/2209/2208
2270 2210/2203
Fax: 2270 2202
Email: bipladvtg.mumbai@businessindiagroup.com

Contact details for Circulation/Subscriptions:

In Mumbai:

Ravi Iyer
(Asst. General Manager)
Circulation Department,
Business India Group 1, 19,
Adi Marzban Street Ballard Estate
Mumbai 400 001
Tel: 022-22702207,22702209
E-mail: bigcirculation@vsnl.net,Bipl.cir@businessindiagroup.com

B Anand
(Asst. General Manager - Advertising Sales)

Aasif Iqubal Khan
(Senior Manager Advertising)
Mobile: 9818953342

Surinder Handa
(Manager Advertising)
Mobile: 9350877483

Business India Publication Pvt Ltd. (BIPL)
268, 1st Floor, Masjid Moth,
Near Uday Park,New Delhi-110049
Telefax: 91-11-41643047-53 (7 Lines)
Email:bipladvtg.delhi@businessindiagroup.com,aasif.iqubal@businessindiagroup.com,
surinder.handa@businessindiagroup.com

Circulation:

268 Masjid Moth
Uday Park
New Delhi 110049
Email: biplcir.delhi@businessindiagroup.com
ph: 11-41643047-53 (7 Lines)