FAST FACTS
Location: Ranga Reddy District, Hyderabad
Director: Prof D S Rao
Approval/ Accreditation: AICTE approved, NAAC & SAQS accredited
Flagship programme: MBA
Student intake: 810
Fees (full course): Rs. 750,000
Board & lodging (two years): Rs. 120,000
Admission test cut-off: IBSAT - 95%
Full-time Faculty: 124 (Professor: 14, Asso Profs: 23, Asst Profs: 87)
Faculty with industry experience (over 10 years): 36
Average placement salary: Rs. 4.8 lakhs
Top recruiters: Citigroup, Global Trust Bank, IBM, Infosys, On Mobile
International conference themes: Green growth, marketing & business growth
Student activities: TRISHNA, AAVEG
Web site: www.ibshyderabad.org
Other programmes Executive MBA 12 months

IT'S a strategically planned, self-contained campus, spread over 92 acres and with all infrastructural elements that go into then making a great B-School. The MDP halls, executive and faculty residences, are also fast nearing completion.

”All elements are in place. The academic DNA is already established. It’s a matter of time before we beef up the MDP and consulting domain,” says Prof. DS Rao with a sense of pride.

A certain quiet confidence is visible on campus. Having solved the regulatory quagmire (the school is a deemed university), the school is now focused on consolidating. The erstwhile ICFAI Institute for Management Teachers is merged with IBS, as its constituent PhD programme. “We spend about 20L on our PhD Scholars and about 25 PhDs have graduated so far. The school takes its faculty development quite seriously,” says Prof. Rao.

Students are an interesting lot. The school has moved to a completely case-based learning approach, with nearly 40-50 percent of the assessment devoted to class participation. With half the class comprising freshers who are used to a “lecturing style” of education, there’s a tremendous undercurrent of optimism, excitement and frustration, all visible at once. “It is a challenge to get it going,” accepts Prof. Sheshaih, Dean, Research. “But if we have to be a great school, this is a must,” adds Dr. Rao. Students suggest that if the school has to make a success of the case-study method, the profile must favour people with at least two or more years of experience.

Academic processes are fully in place and it is one of the few schools among the 60-odd ones we reviewed, which could give us the entire curriculum with session plan and reading list for the whole programme. Students agree rather grudgingly, “The school is monstrously efficient. All course material and reading lists reach on time. So, we have no excuses.”

Research, as of now is tilted towards quantity. They produce a large number of journals and magazines. Case development has been a core activity for ICFAI, and the activity is currently under the IBS. “They have nearly 13 books with cases related to different aspects of management. The integrity of the peer reviewed process and the level of acceptance of papers in these journals are issues that IBS must address to increase the credibility of its journals,” says Dr. Seshiah.

One of the few campuses exclusively devoted to business education, IBS is fully residential with a host of facilities such as a gym, swimming pool, jogging track, a clinic and canteens. The hostels have their own facilities. Infrastructurally we are pampered, says a student, and the best part is the campus is exclusive, she says.

Students are also too finicky about the brand. They feel IBS, Hyderabad is a cut above the rest and must not dilute its brand equity by lending the brand name to smaller, lesser known entities. Counters another student, “It makes no difference. IIM-A is different from IIM-K, even though both are IIMs.” Managing the contradictory pulls is the biggest challenge before the IBS.