8/3/2021 Top non-IIM business schools improve gender diversity - The Economic Times

Industry
English Edition | 03 August, 2021, 11:25 AM IST | E-Paper

Top non-IIM business schools improve gender

diversity
Synopsis
Leading the lot is FMS, Delhi where women account for a record 50.6% of students who
have joined its MBA full time programme this year, up from just 16.5% last year.

Leading non-IIM business schools in

the country including XLRI-Xavier
School of Management, Bhavan’s
SPJIMR, Indian Institute of Foreign
Trade (IIFT), Faculty of Management
Studies (FMS), Delhi and Goa Institute
of Management (GIM) have all seen at
least 30% representation of women in
the Class of 2023. The Indian School of
Business (ISB) has 38% women in the incoming batch of its flagship one year
programme.

Leading the lot is FMS, Delhi where women account for a record 50.6% of
students who have joined its MBA full time programme this year, up from just
16.5% last year.

Data collated by ET shows that the gender ratio of most leading b-schools has
improved over the last five years – from 26.8% in 2017-19 to 38.6% in 2021-23 for
XLRI, 31% to 38% for ISB, and 40.2% to 50.6% for FMS.

For Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT), the female ratio remained
stagnant at 31.82% for both the class of 2019 and that of 2023, while it dropped
from 41% to 30% for Bhavan’s SPJIMR.

SPJIMR, though, had managed to keep the gender diversity ratio at 40% and
above till this year. Aditi S Divatia, associate programme head - PGDM at the
institute, said the drop in female students this year could be because of the
Covid-19 pandemic.

With Maharashtra and in particular Mumbai being the hotspots for the larger
part of the year in the pandemic, the perception of safety could be an issue,
compelling candidates to choose safer cities or even postpone the education
decision, she said.

This year, the average percentage of women across the older IIMs like
Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Calcutta, Kozhikode, Indore and Lucknow is at 31.8%,
as reported earlier by ET.

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8/3/2021 Top non-IIM business schools improve gender diversity - The Economic Times

“Every year we try our best to ensure an equitable representation of women in

our classrooms,” said L Gurunathan, chairperson - admissions at XLRI, which
has lower cut-off for women at the interview stage and gives an extra mark to
women in interviews. “The exact number that accept our offer varies based on
competing offers from other meritorious b-Schools.”

At IIFT, the gender diversity ratio has improved from 25% last year to 32% this
year. Weightage given on the basis of educational background, gender and
additional qualifications during the selection process has helped the institute
improve diversity in the classroom, said Rohit Mehtani, head, corporate
relations and placement division, at IIFT.

GIM, which had nearly 50% women in the class of 2018, had started giving two
additional points to female students. “After we had an equal representation of
males and females in the 2016-18 batch, we consciously reduced the element,
to make it equitable,” said Ajit Parulekar, director of the institute. GIM no
longer gives additional weightage to female students. This year, women
students comprise 32% of the incoming batch.

ISB, on the other hand, has several initiatives in place including scholarships
for women candidates, and diversity scholarships for students from varied
niche backgrounds.

“As a result, the number of women has gone up in absolute terms,” said
Dibyendu Bose, senior director - admissions and financial aid, at ISB. The
batch size this year is 934 compared to 693 students last year. However, the
percentage of women dropped this year to 38% from 40% last year.

There is also a big push from recruiters on the b-schools to improve diversity
in the classrooms.

“We are looking at significant hiring from diverse backgrounds and skill sets,”
said Padmaja Alaganandan, chief people officer at leading professional
services firm PwC India. “As an equal opportunity and inclusive employer, we
would be hiring relevant talent from institutes across the country to meet
these requirements, based entirely on merit,” she said.

Diversity in the class ensures multiple viewpoints and perspectives of a

situation. “They are better equipped to lead and manage today’s diverse and
multicultural workplaces,” Bose of ISB said.

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