When compared with Tier-2 and Tier-3 B-schools, these University MBA programs offer many advantages like quality education, better brand name, and in some cases lower fee structure.

The recent rise of private University MBA programs becomes a significant trend in India, as this follows the developments in western MBA education.

As is well known, in the mecca of management education – United States, the reputation of a university is built with the B-schools. Many of the top Business Schools worldwide belong to renowned universities such as Harvard Business School (Harvard University), Yale School of Management (Yale University), Kellogg Graduate School of Management (Northwestern University) to name a few. These B-schools have gained popularity over the years and have emerged as the epitome of management education.

The perception of standalone schools being the best is changing in India also as a number of the private university based MBA programmes have come up in the country in last 5-7 years.

Besides, Government University based B-schools like Faculty of Management Studies (FMS), University of Delhi; Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies (JBIMS), University of Mumbai; University Business School (UBS), Chandigarh, private universities have also forayed into management education by setting up their own B-Schools or launching MBA programmes. MBAUniverse.com has interacted with Chancellors and Vice Chancellors of more than twenty private Universities and has noted a growing seriousness within Universities with respect to their MBA programmes.

The Private University based top management programmes in India include MBA programmes run by Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS), Mumbai; VIT University, Chennai; SRM University, Chennai; University of Petroleum & Energy Studies (UPES), Dehradun; Alliance University, Bangalore; Institute of Management, NIRMA University (IMNU), Gujarat; Jindal Global Business School, OP Jindal Global University, Sonepat, Haryana; NIIT University, Rajasthan; J K Lakshmipat University (JKLU), Jaipur, Rajasthan; Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, Symbiosis International University (SIU), Pune; Amity University (with campuses in Lucknow, Jaipur and Gurgaon), and GITAM University, amongst others.

Delhi-NCR based Private Universities which offer such MBA programmes include Sharda University; Jaypee Business School (JBS), Jaypee Institute of Technology (Deemed University); School of Business, Galgotias University; Faculty of Management Studies; Manav Rachna International University; and Noida International University, amongst others.

Experts believe that there are several advantages of the MBA programmes run under a University. Besides a higher level of credibility and well established brand name, University MBA Programmes have many reasons to attract best talents to its campuses.

Integration with other disciplines:

The biggest advantage of university based management programmes is that it integrates MBA programs with other disciplines like Engineering, Science, to offer a multi-disciplinary environment to students.

This leads students to think in multi-direction and widens their horizon. The MBA students get to exchange thoughts with students from other discipline on regular basis and this helps them to develop out-of-box ideas.

Dr. Rajan Saxena, Vice Chancellor, NMIMS University says, “At NMIMS we have adopted a ‘multidisciplinary integration’ approach. Rather than teaching marketing, sales, finance, etc in different silos, we have developed an integrated module in which the student gets to learn everything in an interlinked manner during its management education. The approach is towards dealing with 'business' as a whole.”

Dr. Madhukar G Angur, Chancellor, Alliance University feels that Indian B-schools have suffered in one area and that is developing multi-disciplinary approach among its student.

“We didn’t have that mechanism in India for long. But in western countries, this has been in fashion. For example, Harvard has a very solid course that is designed and taught by its Law school and school of business. Those are the things that we have missed so far,” he says. But he thinks that emergence of “University based B-schools and MBA programmes will take management education in a better direction.”

“The advantage with a university is that it has multiple disciplines that builds base for strong collaborative efforts between different disciplines. Management disciplines gains the most in this environment,” he says.

Dr. Michael Barnes, Dean and Professor, Jindal Global Business School agrees with the former. “As you know we have four different schools under our university including a Law school, School of International Affairs and School of Governance and Public Policy, one of the key factor that distinguishes business school like ours is that we give multi-disciplinary exposure to our students,” says Dr. Barnes, adding, “This approach helps applied research and inter-disciplinary research, and makes overall educational environment robust.”

Brand name:

Since there are many professional programs like engineering, medicine, architecture that are run within a university set up, a University based MBA programme comes with a higher level of credibility. This leads to a good brand name to the management faculty in the university, as Dr. Parag Diwan, Founder Vice-Chancellor of UPES, says, “Business School in a university is jewel in the crown. It builds the brand.”

Also, Universities have higher media budgets to promote themselves. Hence their name is well known, compared to relatively unknown Tier-3 B-schools.

“Universities have advantage over standalone B-schools when it comes to spending money on promotion. As a result, they are better known than an average B-school which results in better placements for their candidates,” says a Director of a NCR based B-school.

Also, the university based B-schools offer two-year full time MBA degrees.

Affordable programmes:

Last but not the least, given the large scale of operation, the fee structure of university MBA programmes are more affordable compared to standalone private B-schools. No wonder, a better quality offering at comparatively lower or similar cost is a huge attraction for MBA aspirants.

While MBA programmes at Government Universities have a fee structure that is significantly lower as compared to other B-schools, fee structure in most of the Private Universities range between Rs 5 Lakh to Rs 8 Lakh for two-year full time MBA programmes.

For example, the annual fee for MBA programme at FMS, University of Delhi is Rs 10,500 approximately only. But the cost of MBA programme at Amity University and Jaypee Business School (JBS) is around Rs 5 Lakh, and that of Symbiosis International University (SIU) and JKLU is around Rs 8 lakh. The two year MBA programmes at UPES also cost about Rs 7 lakh. The above mentioned fee structure exclude hostel and accommodation fees.

While there are several advantage of university MBA programmes, there are a few draw backs too. For instance, most Universities require huge building and infrastructure which is not available in city like Delhi or Mumbai. Hence they tend to be based outside the city, which hampers the corporate interactions and lectures. Also, MBA is just one of the streams of education for a University, and bigger programs like engineering tend to hog all the lime light.

Having looked at the advantages let us look at the programs offered and admission process for University MBA programmes.

Different Universities offer different management programs. However, two-year full time MBA programme is the most common programme in all these Universities. Most of these Universities conduct their own admission test and also consider score cards of standard common admission test like CAT, XAT or MAT.

Part two of this article will talk about University MBA programs and their admission process.

Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for University MBA programmes.