SJMSOM: The Best Of Both Worlds

Successful entrepreneurs have fostered a wonderful tradition in the US of “giving back” to society by lavishing large endowments on institutions of higher education. So deep rotted is this tradition that many Indian industrialists and businessmen have done the same: albeit in the US and not in India. It is only in the recent times that spanning new institutions of higher education have been founded by successful Indian entrepreneurs. But the pattern had been established more than two decades ago, when the Indian economy had launched the exciting and challenging process of giving up autarky and embracing globalisation.

IIT Bombay was incidentally one of the first beneficiaries of the generosity of distinguished alumni. Shailesh J. Mehta provided the initial funding that laughed a full fledged B-school. More than two decades later, it has emerged as one of the most sought after destinations for young aspirants seeking a successful global career. While the powerful brand IIT offers an inherent advantage, the B-school seems to have carved out a unique niche of its own.

Right from the time it was founded, the Shailesh J. Mehta School of Management was intent on harnessing the best of engineering and managerial skills to create world-class managers. The message of the director makes it even more clear: “SJMSOM was established to provide leadership in the area of management education with an emphasis on developing all round managerial skills. We are proud to say that the school is ideally placed to exploit the synergies with the engineering and science departments at IIT Bombay. In doing so, we believe the school will continue to create unique and novel programmes to make significant contributions to management as a domain.” There can be no doubt that when you enrol at SJMSOM, you get the opportunity to interact constantly with some of the brightest minds in the country — both engineering students and the distinguished faculty. This is a unique advantage that even pedigreed management schools cannot offer.

The school offers the standard masters in business administration that is the staple of most B-schools around the world. Since the approach is interdisciplinary, students get exposure to my raid ways in which technology and disruption and converging to crate newer and bigger challenges for young business leaders. But the school is most excited about an executive development programme that it has recently launched for mid-level and senior professionals. A joint venture between Shailesh J. Mehta School of Management (SJMSOM) at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Bombay and Washington University in St. Louis, the executive MBA programme is the only one in the world to confer a degree from both an Indian and an American university. The programme is modelled after Washington University’s internationally recognised sister programmes in the US and China. The joint executive MBA programme with Fudan University in Shanghai is ranked No. 6 in the world by The Financial Times. The doctoral programme offered by the school has also acquired a formidable reputation over the years for nurturing and developing world- class pedagogy and engagement.

SJMSOM, IIT Bombay reinforced its image as one of the top business schools in India with the top 50 per cent of the batch securing an average package of Rs 18.2 lakh. The diversity of profiles on offer has helped students to kick-start their careers in their field of interest with corporates of international repute. The unique blend of extensive industry interaction, along with academic rigour, has helped students in applying the concepts that they have learnt in class to real industry problems. The high number of PPOs/PPIs offered to the students is a testament to that. Despite a near 50 per cent increase in the batch size, the increase in the average package is an evidence of the trust the corporates have in the pedagogy followed by the institute.