Some of the country?s B-schools such as Globsyn Business School, Unitedworld School of Business, ISB&M (International School of business & Media) and others are witnessing a drop in the application for the current year?s admission procedure. This comes close on the heels of top management schools facing a hard time during the placement season.
Generally the admission procedure starts around November-December, after entrance exams and the process goes on till April-May, depending on institutes.
?As the overall job environment is not so good, B-schools like ours are seeing a dip in the application received this year. We have seen a drop of around 20-25% this year,? said an official from Globsyn Business School.
Many students feel that downturn is the right time to pursue further studies but they are wary due to the job scenario. According to experts, Indian students are cautious, as MBA requires a lot of investment. Hence, until there is a positive signal from the economy, students will be in a wait and watch mode.
?In our country, the market mechanism is not the same as the Western countries. Hence, it could be the right time for pursuing further studies, students might be sceptical to make substantial investments for MBA until and unless there are positive signals of economic revival,? said Devi Singh, director, Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow. ?Moreover, a lot of MBA aspirants have a job in hand, hence they might not be too keen to leave that and pursue further studies right now. Some of the students, who have taken the recent MBA entrance, might not be applying to B-schools this year. They might wait for a year and appear again next year looking for a better opportunity and with a better understanding of the job market,? he added.
According to experts, some MBA aspirants, who have appeared for CAT might take a year long break and appear again next year for a better opportunity.
?The placement scenario this year was pretty bad, even in the top B-schools. Hence, despite of getting calls from some B-schools I have decided not to take admission this year, as it involves substantial investment. Rather I will try again next year,? said Arnab Moitra (name changed), an MBA aspirant who appeared for CAT (common entrance test) in November, 2008.
Unitedworld School of Business, which was expecting to get around 3,500 applications this year, received around 2,500 applications.
