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There is a reason why employers continue to prefer MBAs from the top B-schools – the rest simply do not measure up.
A survey of MBA graduates from 100 business schools by testing and assessment companies MeritTrac and MBAUniverse, has found that only one in five MBA graduates actually possess the level of logical and reasoning skills employers are looking for.
The survey, conducted among 2,264 MBA graduates, excluded the top 25 B-schools. The study said the top schools, such as IIMs and ISB “are not representative of the issues of employability that ail the larger population of around 3,500 B-schools and bringing these schools in the analysis will skew the results.”
The study found that only 21 per cent of the students made the cut this year.
What’s worse, the ability of logical reasoning appears to be abysmally low among the average MBA graduate.
MeritTrac and MBA Universe analysed pre-recruitment scores in verbal, quantitative and reasoning ability, with a cut-off at 45 per cent, 35 per cent and 40 per cent, respectively.
While the average score in verbal and quantitative ability was 52.58 per cent and 41.17 per cent, students’ reasoning ability fell short at just 37.51 per cent.
“Questions are asked about the talent coming out of MBA colleges, and whether they create a workforce responsive to the needs of the economy, like understanding of business and on-the-feet thinking. So, decision-making skills are valued more than ever,” said Amit Agnihotri, Chairman of MBAUniverse.com.
The study said, “Considering that the elements of the reasoning test (deductive logic, data sufficiency, spatial and analytical reasoning) are crucial to making sound management decisions, this is a result which warrants closer attention.”
The report points out that in the last five years the number of MBA seats has gone up from 94,704 in 2006-07 to 3,52,571 in 2011-12 — a 272.28 per cent increase in five years or a 30 per cent compound annual growth.
But the number of MBAs actually making the employability cut has been falling. The last study conducted in 2007 pegged employability at 25 per cent.
The study also finds that at 31.2 per cent, a greater number of students from tier-I cities are seen as employable, than those from tier-II (19.8 per cent) and tier-III (11 per cent) cities.
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