In the Financial Times Masters in Management (MiM) rankings 2024 released recently, as many as 14 Indian business schools have been ranked in top-100. This is three more than in the 2023 rankings, in which 11 Indian B-schools got featured.
MiM degrees offer a generalist programme in general management for students with very little or no prior work experience, who graduate in cohort. According to the FT, these can be delivered in several languages, but must be fully available in English – it’s one of the reasons why only two Chinese B-schools found place in top-100 even though they rank as world-best in many other rankings, as many world-class Chinese schools still don’t ‘fully’ teach in English.
China’s Shanghai Jiao Tong University Antai was ranked 5th, and Tongji University School of Economics and Management was ranked 13th.
India’s best B-school was Mumbai’s SP Jain Institute of Management & Research (SPJIMR), which was at the 35th rank, five positions higher than the 40th rank it got in 2023. Varun Nagaraj, dean, SPJIMR, said that this high rank is a testament to the dedication of its faculty, professional staff, alumni, and the global partnerships the SPJIMR has cultivated with industry, the social sector, and academia.
The SPJIMR was followed by IIM Ahmedabad (39th) and IIM Bangalore (41st).
While IIM Ahmedabad jumped four places – it was ranked 43rd in 2023 – it has dropped 20 positions from 2018, when it was ranked 19th best in the world.
IIM Bangalore didn’t find a mention in 2023 rankings, but its 41st position this year is 15 places lower than the 26th rank it got in 2018.
Other Indian B-schools featured in FT MiM 2024 are IIM Lucknow (55th), IIM Calcutta (56th), XLRI Xavier School of Management (65th), IIM Kozhikode (68th), SCMHRD Pune (76th), IIM Udaipur (81st), IIM Indore (83rd), MDI Gurgaon (85th), IMI Delhi (86th), NMIMS Mumbai (94th), and IMT Ghaziabad (97th).
The three new B-schools that made it to the 2024 rankings are IIM Bangalore, SCMHRD Pune (Symbiosis Centre for Management and HRD), and IIM Indore.
IIM Bangalore said that in 2024 it scored well on parameters such as International Course Experience rank, Weighted Salary, Salary Percentage, Value for Money rank, Aims Achieved, Career Service rank, Female Students, and International Work Mobility rank.
As far as participation by country is concerned, India (with 14 B-schools in top-100) was second only France (24 B-schools), and higher than the UK (10 B-schools in top-100), and Germany (seven B-schools).
Dean Nagaraj added that 14 Indian B-schools finding place in top-100 underscores the growing global recognition of the Indian MBA ecosystem.
The top-three B-schools in the world are University of St Gallen (Switzerland), HEC Paris (France), and Insead (France).
The Indian School of Business (ISB) is not part of the MiM rankings because the ISB doesn’t offer such a programme. The ISB is primarily known for its PGP equivalent to an MBA. The FT MiM rankings evaluate programmes designed for recent graduates with little to no work experience, whereas the ISB’s PGP is aimed at professionals with several years of work experience. The ISB, however, has been frequently ranked among the best in the world in the FT Global MBA rankings, and in the 2024 rankings released on February 11 this year, the ISB was ranked the best in India (and 31st in the world).