R. Sukumar
Part reason for a business newspaper to rank colleges offering technical or other specialized education can be found in the unique way these programmes are described in India: “professional” courses.
A “professional” course is one that trains an individual in a particular profession— engineering, medicine, hoteliering, or law—and increases his or her chances of employment. Business is all about jobs and it is only apt that a business newspaper takes a close, hard look at colleges that prepare people for jobs.
It isn’t that India is short of surveys that rank colleges. Methodologies, however, vary across such exercises and Mint’s own exercise is based on a simple, yet accurate ranking and survey process developed by C fore, our partner in surveys of educational institutions. That, combined with Mint’s brand of reporting, makes this ranking the clearest measure of the relative position of India’s top technical and specialized colleges.
The quality of education being imparted at these colleges—one of the factors considered in the ranking exercise—will have a bearing on business and economy in years to come. India’s information technology companies will need engineers coming out of these colleges to power their growth.
The hospitality industry is in the midst of a significant addition of capacity and new hotels will need more managers, stewards, and chefs. The businesses of fashion and law are growing. And the media and communication business is in the midst of a boom.
Mint’s ranking of colleges offering technical and other specialized education is the first of the newspaper’s special education rankings. Mint is also working on a ranking of business schools that will be out shortly. Again, there is no shortage of surveys of business schools, but despite the profusion of offerings, there is no single authoritative voice on India’s best B-schools. Mint was launched in February 2007 to be a “clear-minded chronicler of the Indian dream”. We see exercises such as this as an integral part of that mission.
Education fuels the dreams and aspirations of countless Indians. At the same time, it has emerged as a lucrative business opportunity for entrepreneurs. An ongoing Mint series, Education Entrepreneurs (see www.livemint.com/eczars.com for the three profiles that have thus far been carried) profiles individuals and companies that have successfully tapped this opportunity.