Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA) may be considered among the top B-Schools in India, and top 100 in the world, but the premier B-School has struggled to attract international students to its two-year MBA programme, known as PGP.
In a batch of 400 students, IIMA has a 10% supernumerary quota seat set aside for international students, amounting to about 40 seats.
In the last five years, however, it has only received five international students, including two in 2019-21 from the United States and Australia each and three in 2017-19 from Nepal and Canada.
The institute did not receive any foreign students in the admission years of 2018, 2020, or 2021.
IIMA admissions office, however, said, “In 2021-23 batch, we did not offer any seat to international students as none was found suitable. In the 2020-22 batch, though we extended admission offer to one student, the candidate did not join the programme.”
According to those who have worked closely with IIMA, the institute has been unable to capitalise on its reputation. It’s possible that the problem stems from the company’s failure to promote itself in other countries in order to attract the best talent.
Prof Anil Gupta, a former member of the IIMA faculty, believes that the world’s East is becoming its centre, and that educational institutes like IIMA should grab global interest.
“I am an optimist. I believe the institute should improve its outreach. Even the IIMA alumni can come in handy. The central government must make efforts to publicise the best of its institutes to get quality students, improve diversity and make India a global education hub,” he said.
Prof. Gupta was surprised by the lack of interest from international students, claiming that IIMA has faculty with international experience and provides the best education opportunities.
Former IIMA Director Bakul Dholakia believes that the school’s failure to attract international students is due to poor planning and strategy. He insisted that prestigious educational institutions such as the IIMA should not have reserved seats unless the constitution allows it.
“When I launched the PGPX course in 2005, IIMA was the first institute from Asia to conduct admission interviews in New York and London. Against the batch strength of 60 students, 27 students were from overseas markets. In fact, the gold medallist of this one-year course was from Britain,” he said, emphasising that with the right kind of marketing and strategy, getting overseas students is not difficult.
IIMA website states, “In addition to the usual number of seats for 2022-2024 PGP Batch, 10% extra seats are reserved for foreign nationals.”
Notably, IIMA officials raised the GMAT eligibility score from 650 in 2019 to 700 in 2020 and 2021. According to Prof. Gupta and Prof. Dholakia, those who score 700 on the GMAT have the best global options to choose from, which may be why IIMA is unable to attract global talent.