Are the IIMs overhyped? is neccesserly?

In that era of education where an MBA has become a rage among young graduates, the IIMs seem to be the mecca of business education. The brand value of IIMs comes from the fact that they are public institutions and moreover world class organisations for business studies.

The IIMs mainly the ABC’s are actually overhyped. Other IIMs like Rohtak, Ranchi, Kashipur, Udaipur, Shillong are comparably underrated than their more famous campuses.

But from where does this tag of being overhyped come from? The overrating factor comes only from within India. When we look through the web of colleges in India the crème de la crème comes out to be just a handful of colleges. In a country where top quality institutes are a rarity, the IIMs provide the best chance for an individual to get quality education at a fraction of cost as in the west.

When these institutes are compared to B-schools across the world they come out to be just above average. In the world rankings the IIMs barely come in the top 50 colleges in their disciplines. When the placements are seen under the light of the Indian media, they are greatly overhyped.

In one view we can say that these ‘best’ of our institutes are not good enough to feature in the global top hundred list. Whereas if we look upon a narrower view it is a fairly established fact that the IIMs are in general unmatched and  unparalleled in comparison to other institutes in the country that offer similar courses. This coupled with tuition fees that are much lower compared to that of the top US universities make IIMs much more affordable and lucrative for a typical Indian student. It is the typical Indian setting that makes the IIMs appear over-hyped and over-rated.

The ones who seem to have really done well because of the IIMs are the coaching institutions, whose claims are mind boggling and they get a good joy ride out of the fact that the IIMs remain over hyped among the Indian youth. Regardless of the excellence of the Institute, how many of the IIM’s have contributed to the growth and innovation of the country or worked for rural development on which they write huge thesis and host number of conferences. There is no denying the fact that they are premier institutes across the country but falling into the influence and hype trap won’t be too wise.

The IIMs have twisted the entire concept of management tutoring in India and placements have been made most important spotlight to sell and create the brand. This unquestionably is not the purpose of any institute, much less a public owned institute.

Over-hyping the IIM brand enhances its unattainable stature. It should not be advertised in the light of being a very difficult target to achieve! The IIMs are certainly overhyped in our country where good placements are considered over the top and a college with full fledged infrastructure is scaled as something equal to the western standards; something which makes the IIMs vastly over-hyped!