27% students granted scholarships at the time of admission
20% students come with international work experience
 

Hyderabad,June'05: The Indian School of Business (ISB) has increased the intake of students for the Class of 2006 by 28%. The ISB will continue to ramp up its student strength year after year till it reaches its full capacity of 550. This year the student strength stands at 349. The chart below shows the student strength increase since the ISB’s inception in 2001.

Class of 2002 126
Class of 2003 169
Class of 2004 219
Class of 2005 273
Class of 2006 349

Talking about the increase in the Class strength, Professor M Rammohan Rao, Dean, and ISB said, “We will increase the Class strength gradually as we are committed to admitting students of high caliber. There is a growing need in Asia and India for high quality professionals. We aspire to be one of the top B schools n the region whose students will lead businesses in the future.”

The ISB has made extra efforts to attract students from non metro cities in India. Students have come from as far as Assam in the East to Goa in the West; Solan in the North to Kozipally in the South. The various towns from where students have come are: Goa, Jaipur, Jammu, Kanpur, Mathura, Mangalore, Solan, Panipat, Kozipally & Trivandrum. The distribution of students across India is as follows: North – 22%, South – 33%, West – 21 %, East – 4%

“The ISB has reached out to students in smaller towns. We want to ensure that bright people from all walks of life and from any nook or corner can access world class management education in India,” said V K Menon, Director – Admissions, at the ISB.

The ISB has initiated the practice of giving part scholarships to deserving students right at the time of admission. About 27% of the Class of 2006 has been awarded scholarships this year. In addition, there will also be scholarships awarded by companies such as Citibank, HSBC, Novartis, the Anand Group and others.

“No deserving student will be turned away from the ISB for want of funds. We will ensure that either through scholarships or easy loans the student gets the opportunity to study here,” said Dean Rao. The ISB also awards scholarships for top performers in the Class. Several banks such as Andhra Bank, SBI, Indian Bank, and HDFC Ltd have come forward to give attractive student loans with special packages for the students.

The ISB admits students who have prior work experience. While the minimum requirement is 2 years, most students come with many more years of experience. The average number of years of work experience is 5 amongst the Class of 2006 while the highest is 20 years. 71 students out of the 349 students (20%) come with international work experience. The ISB actively looks for diversity among its students. This year, students come from a variety of backgrounds such as the Armed Forces, Medicine, Architecture, Entrepreneurship, Fashion, Education, Research, and others.

Keeping up the ISB tradition of excellence amongst diversity, the Class of 2006 includes a large number of students with outstanding achievements including a Scuba Diver, Sky Diver, a Doctor who runs his own Detective Agency, Patent Holder in Mobile IP etc. These are in addition to the Academic Scholars such as - Top Rank holder in the M Tech Programme from IIT , Winner of the Duke of Edinburgh Award, Benjamin Franklin Scholar, Siemens Technocrat Scholarship Award , Gold Medalist from the Banaras Hindu University, President’s and Dean’s Award Winner at the University of Florida etc.

The ISB students match with the best in any of the top global B – Schools. About 52 % of the Class of 2006 has GMAT scores ranging from 700- 780. Entrepreneurs comprise 4 % of the Class.

The ISB lays special emphasis on encouraging women students to take up management as a career. As a result, women Students at the ISB have been consistently increasing in numbers. The Class of 2006 has 67 women students, up from 52 last year (29 % increase). Interestingly, women students of this Class hold some of the remarkable achievements to their credit – Sky Diver, Senior Engineer in the Indian Air force, Patent Holder in Mobile IP.

The average age of the Class of 2006 is 27 years. 13% fall in the 30 plus group and 1% fall in the 40 plus group. 26 % of the Class is married and many live with their families on the campus.

The Class of 2006 has NRI and International students from countries such as the USA, UK, Singapore, China, Pakistan, Indonesia, South Korea, and the Middle East.


About the ISB
The Indian School of Business is a research-oriented independent management institution that grooms future leaders for India and the world. Its partnership with the Kellogg School of Management, The Wharton School, and London Business School make it one of its kind in Asia. The School offers a one-year Post Graduate Programme; short-duration, high-powered Executive Education programmes for CEOs and senior executives; and a two-year Research Fellowship Programme. The origins and distinctive research of our faculty members ensure that our programme content is contemporary and global in its perspective, and develops our students’ understanding of modern management opportunities and challenges.