Know all about IBS Hyderabad: An Interview with Prof. Venu Gopal Rao K S (Director)

ICFAI Business School Hyderabad was established in the year 1995. IBS Hyderabad is a private institute that provides undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral coursesCareers360 in an interview with Prof. Venu Gopal Rao K S, Director, IBS Hyderabad. In this interview he talks about the various programmes offered by the lCFAI Business School, Hyderbad, the admission process and other significant achievements of IBS Hyderbad. Go through the complete article to know more about lCFAI Business School, Hyderbad.

Careers360: Tell us something about the institute; when it was set up, vision and mission.

Prof. Rao: ICFAI Business School (IBS), Hyderabad is a constituent of the ICFAI Foundation for Higher Education, Hyderabad - a deemed to be a University under Section 3 of UGC Act 1956. IBS was established in the year 1995 without any financial support from the Government or any other agency.

IFHE received an NAAC A++ grade with a CGPA of 3.59/4.00 in September 2022 (in the third cycle) IBS Hyderabad received the AACSB accreditation considered to be the gold standard for management education for its BBA, MBA and Ph.D. programs in February 2020. It is also re-re-accredited by SAQS (AMDISA) for five years in August 2020.

The MBA Program of the B-School received a grade of A*** by CRISIL both at the National and State levels on March 24, 2023. IBS Hyderabad was ranked 40th in the country in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) rankings, released by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) for the year 2023. Education World India Higher Education Rankings (EWIHER) ranked IBS 5th among the Top 100 Private Schools in India while Business Today B-School rankings placed IBS 23rd overall in their 2023 Survey and 4th in the South Zone. IBS was ranked 3rd among the top Private B-Schools by Careers 360 Survey 2023.

The vision of IBS Hyderabad is to be “To be a leader in management education through industry-focused curriculum, case-based learning and applied research”.

The mission of IBS Hyderabad is “To offer high-quality management programs that equip students with the right knowledge, skills and attitudes required to succeed in a dynamic world.

• Knowledge: The right knowledge implies relevant, contemporary and cutting-edge knowledge, obtained through research and practice, which empowers students to think and act independently, creatively and ethically.

• Skills: The right skills enable students to think through complex problems, analyze them critically and find solutions quickly in a changing market environment.

• Attitudes: The right attitudes help students put their thoughts, feelings, behaviors and actions in place while handling tough situations.

Careers360: Tell us something about the admission process.

Prof. Rao: IBS Hyderabad admits students in the two-year MBA program based on an all-India test IBSAT (IBS Admission Test). This test is usually conducted in the last week of December every year. IBSAT is an aptitude test based on Computer Based Test (CBT) format. The test is of 2 hours’ duration. Scores of GMAT/CAT/ NMAT /XAT are also considered in place of IBSAT scores in case students wish to apply using these scores. Students who qualify for the IBSAT or are found eligible from other common admission tests are called for a selection process at the IBS Hyderabad campus in February where they go through a group discussion and personal interview process. The final selection is based on performance in Group Discussion, Personal Interview and past academic performance (performance in Class X, Class XII and Graduation). Merit is the sole criterion for admitting students to the MBA program.

Careers360: What kind of infrastructure can students expect at the institute? Please elaborate.

Prof. Rao: The sprawling green campus of IBS Hyderabad is spread over 94 acres on the outskirts of Hyderabad. Students joining the MBA program stay in hostels in single accommodation rooms (with shared washrooms). Students have access to good quality hygienic food in the student’s mess that is run by professional vendors. Besides, students also have access to other varieties of food and snacks in the three different canteens.

Academic sessions take place in air-conditioned classrooms and lecture theatres. Sixteen lecture theatres (90-100 student capacity), three lecture halls (150 student capacity) and 34 classrooms (70-80 student capacity) are available for effective teaching and learning. All classrooms, lecture theatres and halls are fitted with digital smart boards connected through dedicated high-speed internet. The IFHE library has close to 121,000 books, 48,000 titles, 18523 e-books, and 26 online databases (about 11,700 full-text journals) included in EBSCO, ProQuest, JSTOR, Emerald, Sage and Science Direct to name a few. IBS Hyderabad procures case studies from the extensive Harvard Business School Repository.

The school has invested significant resources in enhancing its ICT capabilities. The Internet bandwidth of 5 GBPS has helped diffuse the availability of Wifi in the academic, classrooms and library blocks of the school. Students and faculty can access these at desirable internet speeds. Students and faculty have access to about 12 Bloomberg terminals in the IT lab. about 250 PCs with the latest configuration are installed in the IT labs to enable lab-based sessions in many courses.

Well-maintained playgrounds, swimming pool, tennis and badminton courts, a well-equipped gymnasium besides volleyball and basketball courts provide students with the much needed space for engaging in physical exercise.

A twenty-four-hour power backup through diesel gen-sets provides uninterrupted power in the campus. Students have access to primary medical facilities for common ailments at the University clinic. The college has a tie-up with a leading corporate hospital for addressing health emergencies. The activities at the campus including classrooms and hostels are captured by high-definition cameras installed all over the campus to ensure student and property safety and security.

Careers360: There is a lot of stress that is being made concerning interaction with the industry as well as companies that recruit. What are the steps being taken by the institute in this direction?

Prof. Rao: IBS Hyderabad engages with the industry at multiple levels. The extent of engagement with the industry is reflected in its consistent student placements over the years and in its dynamic curriculum. In nearly three decades since inception IBS has been able to establish and continue to nurture relations with industry by

1. Engaging industry in curricula revision and new course introduction.

2. Engaging the industry in knowledge sharing through guest lectures, seminars, panel discussions.

3. Engaging the industry in training students for final placements through participation in practice interviews and group discussions.

4. Engaging industry by inducting professors of practice/adjunct faculty to teach specific courses in the MBA program.

5. Engaging industry executives through corporate sponsorships of different events.

6. Engaging industry by way of corporate training and management development programs.

7. Two-year Executive MBA program where executives with experience join to pursue their MBA.

8. Inviting industry for campus placements and summer internships.

Careers360: Internships are now mandatory as per AICTE guidelines. Does the institute help students with this? If yes, how?

Prof. Rao: At IBS, the 12-week internship begins immediately after the completion of semester II (end of Year I). Students can choose the internship work profile as well as organizations from a wide array of choices. Students can also search for opportunities through personal contacts in the industry. Primarily, faculty members help students identify internship opportunities in reputed firms. Some organizations pay attractive stipends to students while some offer pre-placement offers. Each student is assigned a faculty mentor and works closely with an organization mentor/guide. In the final evaluation phase, faculty mentors visit the organizations where students are interning and engage in joint evaluation of student performance. Internships help faculty connect with industry executives, exchange ideas, explore areas of possible collaboration and share feedback on the internship process. Internships are also a source of indirect assessment of students’ academic performance.

Careers360: Can you please share details if there is any collaboration with universities abroad?

Prof. Rao: IBS Hyderabad has entered into MOUs with Universities abroad. Some of these are mentioned below.

• Bentley University, MA, USA

• Syracuse University, NY, USA

• University of Toledo, Ohio, USA

• Oklahoma State University, USA

• University of Memphis, Tennessee, USA

• Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia

• University of Delaware, USA

• University of Newcastle, Australia

Activities and areas of engagement depends on specific areas as outlined in the MOUs. Efforts are on to forge tie-ups with more universities/ colleges. These tie-ups are expected to help sponsor research scholars for their visiting scholar program, organize shared research seminars, conducting joint research, host joint conferences, student immersion programs and joint teaching in specific courses.

Careers360: Please share placement statistics with information on the average package, highest and lowest package, number of students placed and details of companies that have recruited.

Prof. Rao: Candidates can check the latest IBS Hyderabad placement statistics in the table mentioned below.

Some of the prominent recruiters at IBS Hyderabad for the year 2023 are Akrivia HCM, Altossa, Anarock Property Consultants, Axis Bank, Bajaj Finserv, Bank of America KPO, Bennett Coleman and Co, Berger Paints, Big Basket, Capgemini Consulting, Ceat Tyre, Cognizant Technology Solutions, Godrej Capital, Goldman Sachs, ICRA, IDBI Bank, IDFC First Bank, TATA Capital, and many more.