Indian School of Business sets new record for female students

Future leaders of corporate India.

By The American Bazaar Staff

BANGALORE: The Indian School of Business (ISB) has announced that its Post-Graduate Program in Management’s (PGP) Class of 2015 has exactly 231 female students, a record high for the private business school.

ISB, a non-profit private educational institution with campuses in Hyderabad and Mohali, was founded 13 years ago. The 231 female students, which represent 30% of the entire class between the two campuses, is the highest concentration the school has ever had.

“With 231 women in the class, ISB has the largest number of women students among premiere business schools in the country,” said Savita Mahajan, ISB Deputy Dean, in a statement.  “This is a heartening development and is a result of the various initiatives that we have undertaken to encourage women professionals to take up management as a career, in association with the corporate world over the last few years. We hope this increased participation of women will go a long way in meeting the need for gender diversity across sectors.”

ISB has seen a dramatic increase in the number of women enrolled in its programs over the last few years. In fact, over the last seven years alone, female enrollment has spiked by 120%.

While a female-specific breakdown is not available, the Hyderabad campus has 553 students in its class of 2015, while the Mohali campus has 210 students in the same class, for an overall size of 763. The class’s average age if 27, while all students have an average work experience of five years, according to a press release issued by ISB.

As for the PGP program, the school defines it as a “full-time, one-year program in Management designed for young working professionals to enable them transition into roles of greater responsibility, or pursue an entrepreneurial dream [by offering] world-class education with exposure to some of the best of minds in the world giving students an enriching learning experience that truly expands the bounds of their thinking.”

ISB is considered not just one of the best business schools in India, but in the world as well. The Financial Times ranked the school at #36 in its Global MBA Rankings for 2014. The school’s chairman is Adi Godrej, also well known for being chairman of his family’s Godrej Group of businesses.