It’s raining diversity at ISB

Left to Right: ISB students, NIFT graduate Suyash Kumar, student from Iran Hoda Golshani, Dental surgeon Ramya, DRDO engineer Ashlesh Kumar, and Indian Railways employee Priya Agarwal who are students of ISB's post graduate programme 2013. — Photo: K. Ramesh Babu

Diversity has always been a hallmark of the Indian School of Business, setting it apart from many other B-schools in the country.

But this year, the premier management school has gone a step further. The ISB’s Post Graduate programme of 2014 has attracted 33 young officers from a mix of public sector and government organisations — Indian Railways, GAIL, BHEL, ONGC, DRDO. That is not all. The class has a good number of doctors and professionals from the fashion industry, who are looking to explore various career avenues to setting up their own start-ups.

The common thread running through these self-motivated, diverse mix of professionals who have just wrapped up their first term, is their zeal for collaborative and experiential learning. Speaking to

The Hindu , they say they are keen on making it big in India which is ‘the’ market to watch out for.

Priya Agarwal, an Indian Railways officer on a sabbatical, said she chose the course to be more effective in her role vis-à-vis the corporate sector, especially when the public private partnership model has come to stay. She firmly believes that government organisations need young talent.

A post-graduate from IIT in mechanical engineering, Priya says her passion for public service bade her join the Railways.

“Along with technical know-how, a management perspective and experience is crucial for working in a gigantic organisation catering to millions of passengers and freight,” she adds.

Ashlesh, a scientist at the DRDO with an engineering degree from IIT Delhi, says management knowledge helps as one goes up the ladder and needs to handle huge public funds for strategic projects. He sees himself playing a consultant role in different sectors in future.

Suyash, an NIFT graduate, with specialisation in apparel manufacturing, during his four-year stint with global firms and exporting houses, leading retailers realised management perspective would help one strategise, see the scope apart from economies of scale in a dynamic sector like the fashion industry. He chose ISB for career advancement.

His interaction with peers, alumni, listening to faculty and industry leaders helped him broaden his options from being a retail consultant to entrepreneur.

Ramya, a dental surgeon, is not interested in going down the beaten track of setting up a practice.

“Huge opportunities are coming up for medical professionals”.

While working as an assistant manager at Shanta Biotech, managing clinical research and development, she realised corporate world would be her fit including sports management, a new age profession.