Slowdown bites B-schools, campus hiring declines

BANGALORE: Here's some bad news for MBA students: an Assocham study says campus hiring in B-schools except top institutes like the IIMs has dropped 40-50%. There's a similar dip in the number of fresh admissions. The Assocham paper, "B-schools are facing the consequences of economic slowdown", released on Wednesday reveals that the economic slowdown has impacted campus hiring. Salary packages offered at B-schools and engineering colleges are being curtailed by 35-40% compared to last year. Releasing the paper, Assocham secretary general DS Rawat said: "Recruitments at campuses have gone down drastically. As a result, a large number of B-schools and engineering colleges are not able to attract students." More than 190 B-schools closed down in 2012 in Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Lucknow and Dehradun. Another 165 are struggling for survival. Between 300 and 500 institutions have become defunct because they didn't get enough students to be viable, reveals the Assocham report. "The situation in engineering colleges is worse ..., with many of them lacking adequate infrastructure and quality faculty," says the report. "Now only the best will survive." This year, offers from the financial and telecom sectors have gone down by 35%. The pay packets offered are thinner than last year. There has been a drop of 15,000-18,000 in total registrations this year, and a 35% decline in students appearing for the MAT exam conducted annually by AIMA. Management seats in India grew almost four-fold - from Rs 95,000 in 2006-07 to Rs 3,60,000 in 2011-12. The MBA capacity was built based on a projection of a 9-10% economic growth. Assocham has advised B-schools to improve their infrastructure, train their faculty, work on industry linkages, spend money on research and knowledge creation, and pay their faculty well in order to attract good teachers - and wait for better times.   TOI