“There needs to be a better corporate buy-in and insistence for IPRS to make the implementation and declaration uniform across B-Schools” opines R. Shreenath, Director – Corporate & Career Services, Great Lakes Institute of Management. In conversation with Veena Kurup.
Great Lakes Institute of Management has been one among the premiers in implementing the Indian Placement Reporting Standards that was initiated by IIM-Ahmedabad in 2011. Does the system, as ensured in its objective, deliver in bringing transparency among the management institutions in India?
The Indian Placement Reporting Standard (IPRS) is a much needed standardization necessity for all B-Schools to comply with. IPRS is required for bringing in uniform reporting, transparency and reliability, prunes any padding up and provides a true picture for all stakeholders about the reporting patterns.
While IPRS is still getting fine-tuned through the inflow of various insights from participating schools, the same also needs to have buy-in from corporate and ranking agencies. This ultimately can aid in bringing better compliance and enrollment rates for all B-Schools. It helps in bringing a better understanding and uniformity in the placement reporting patterns being followed by the B-Schools.
How favorably has IPRS contributed towards the functioning of your institution?
Great Lakes Institute of Management has been one of the early signatories in accepting and implementing the IPRS system. The standard though has assisted in bringing more transparency in the placement reporting system, the scenario still awaits acceptance among the B-Schools at large. The standardization requires a more mandatory approach from the corporate and rating agencies while participating and reviewing the placement reporting standards.
How has been the acceptance and participating nature by the recruiters towards utilizing IPRS in the recruitment process?
There needs to be a better corporate buy-in and insistence for IPRS to make the implementation and declaration uniform across B-Schools. Unless the corporate start insisting on the standardization, IPRS will remain as a nicety. Presently, the corporate do not even demand or seek if the institution is an IPRS compliant. The corporate play a vital role in the placement and recruiting process, hence they need to uphold this as a mandatory factor while approaching the institutions; this ultimately can result in bringing a honest and transparent approach in the recruitment process.
How do you review the scope for alumni interaction while utilizing IPRS?
Currently there’s a limited participation by the alumni, since the system needs to gain more momentum as a gold standard for reporting. When observed on a larger sphere, IPRS is still utilized by only few institutions across the country and many prefer in following their own placement reporting patterns. There needs to be a more aggressive participation and acceptance of IPRS among the B-Schools and recruiters to enable this standardization initiative in achieving its objective.
Are you comfortable with all the disclosure clauses of IPRS? Can you suggest any possible measures that need to be adopted to make the standard more acceptable among the B-Schools?
The IPRS standards themselves are in line with our own norms, and hence there’s alignment. However, lack of participation may put us in a disadvantageous position with those who are not compliant to IPRS. To this effect, a better corporate acceptance is warranted. Besides, the standardization itself is evolving and we provide necessary inputs to make it more transparent and accurate. Also, there needs to be a strict clause ensuring additional weight-age or benefiting factor associated with the utilization of IPRS for the institutions. This can result towards a wider acceptance of IPRS among the B-Schools across India.
