Till last year, few people – even within the academic fraternity – would have heard about Masters’ Union School of Business. This year – its founder Pratham Mittal told FE – it’s highly likely that placement cells of IIMs would have been tracking salary packages of the young B-school’s students.
What is Masters’ Union?
Based in Gurugram (Gurgaon), Masters’ Union was founded in 2020 when a group of business stalwarts, academics, and bureaucrats got together to set up a B-school. They included Arun Maira (former chairman, Boston Consulting Group), Mukund Rajan (former MD, Tata Teleservices), Karthik Ramanna (University of Oxford), Narendra Jadhav (Rajya Sabha MP and former Chief Economist, RBI), Tathagata Dasgupta (chief data scientist, Viacom) and Bhaskar Chakravorti (former professor, Harvard Business School, and former partner, McKinsey & Company), as well as Mittal.In 2023, Manoj Kohli, former SoftBank India head, was appointed the chairperson.
Where’s the campus?
It’s located in the Cyber City area of Gurugram, home to over 600 MNC offices, and the opening programme was the 16-month PGP-TBM (Post Graduate Programme in Tech and Business Management). It now runs three more programmes – PGP in Family Business Legacy Management, UG in Tech and Business Management, and UG in Psychology and Marketing.
What’s the salary trend?
Mittal said salaries at Masters’ Union are audited by the same agency that audits these at top IIMs such as Ahmedabad and Bangalore. “In 2021, the average salary of our students (Rs 29.1 lakh per annum) was more than IIMA (Rs 24.2 lakh), and IIMB (Rs 28.9 lakh). In 2022, our students earned Rs 33.1 lakh average – as compared to IIMA’s Rs 27.3 lakh, and IIMB’s Rs 33.8 lakh,” he said. “In 2023, our students got an average CTC of Rs 34 lakh – in the same range as IIMA (Rs 36.1 lakh), and IIMB (Rs 35.3 lakh). And in the latest class of 2024, our students earned an average of Rs 28.5 lakh – as compared to IIMA’s 37.5 lakh, and IIMB’s 35.9 lakh.”
Why such high salaries?
Mittal claims there are three reasons:Classroom experience: “At Masters’ Union, the teachers are masters, i.e. CXOs, MDs, and business leaders who teach students,” he said. “Companies like Bain and BCG usually only go to top IIMs and ISB to recruit, but they coming at Masters’ Union speaks a lot about the kind of training we have provided to our students.”Curriculum: “Every student has to participate in the student-run investment fund, and every student has to do to own drop-shipping business through the year.
These activities simulate the industry and give them great stories to talk about in their interviews.”Technology: “Ours is one of the rare MBA programmes that also teaches you how to code,” Mittal said. “A strategy graduate at Masters’ Union is not just a strategy graduate, but she also understands data science and can code her own app. Recruiters value such skills.”In addition, a lot of masters (teachers) are CXOs at MNCs, and they tell their employers that the students they have taught are really good, and so at least evaluate them.
CXOs as teachers?
In medical schools, doctors teach students; in law schools, a lot of practising lawyers teach; but in most B-schools, faculty may not have the experience of hands-on leadership in industry. “That’s what has set us apart,” Mittal said.
What apart from B-school?
Masters’ Union has now started the School of Emerging Technologies with a focus on engineering education – and the first programme is UG in Data Science and AI. For this, the institute has partnered with the Illinois Institute of Technology. It’s a 3+1 dual degree, with 3 years in India and the 4th year at Illinois Tech, and graduates will earn a BSc in AI from Illinois Tech. It has also partnered with IIT Guwahati and IIT Madras for this (India Track).It’s an expensive course, with the India Track (4 years in India) costing Rs 47.17 lakh, and the Global Track (3 years in India + 1 year at Illinois Tech) for Rs 1.03 crore, but Mittal said that global programmes that give you an American degree are anyway this expensive.Admission is based on academics, extracurriculars, and JEE (Mains) scores.
Tetr College?
Founders at Masters’ Union have started another B-school called the Tetr College of Business, comprising of eight semesters being taught at eight locations in the world. Term 1 started in Dubai, and right now Term 2 is going on in India. Term 3 will be Singapore & Malaysia, Term 4 Ghana, Term 5 United States, Term 6 Argentina, Term 7 Europe, and Term 8 will be internship.