Research Output and Impact: A new dimension for MBA aspirants to consider

MBA aspirants and parents generally look at placements of the school as the metric of the capability of the school. It is also the sole decider and the scale which the media uses and propagates with much fanfare and hoopla. Any educational qualification should be about education and learning. The litmus test of any course taken should be the learning that one gets and the intellectual satisfaction that one gets by getting enriched intellectually during the course of the program. Getting a job and the salary are by-products. As the famous adage goes "Learn then earn". So to measure the intellectual capability of any institute any MBA aspirant should also look at the kind of research that the faculty of the institute have done and are doing. How many papers in quality journals have the faculty published. A good pointer to the quality of a journal are impact factor of the journal in which the article is published. For social sciences, of which management is a part, an impact factor of one and above is good, especially in the case of India. So faculty members publishing in journals with impact factor one and above are fairly good at what they do. So it is my advice that before finalising a college do look at the research that the faculty do and their research output. Do understand that your job and your success in it is dependent on your knowledge and capability. Any college can only provide you a platform but long term success and growth can only be ensured when you have quality in you.