ALL ABOUT IIPM

IIPM (Indian Institute of Planning and Management) is a well known Indian B-school due to a variety of reasons. The Institution is not recognized by All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), hence it does not have the right to use the words "Indian Institute" in its name without central government approval (http://www.moneycontrol.com/mccode/news/article/news_article.php?autono=186908).
It mentions this in its advertisements, though in very small font. There are as many as 1000 B-schools in India, but how many B-schools follow rigorous print based advertisements?, IIPM does that. Is advertising necessary for B-Schools in line with commercial items like various products? Running a B-school is a business (but people pretend it’s not true), which needs marketing to let people know more about it. Rs 31.62crore, it’s not the amount that IIPM has received from its students but rather its the amount spent on the advertisements in 2004-06. (http://www.expressindia.com/news/fullstory.php?newsid=86527)

Advertising Strategy :

IIPM is reputed to be one of the largest spenders on advertising in India. According to the Economic Times, the institute was the seventh highest print advertiser for the month of September 2005 spending Rs. 3crore. It buys full-page print ads in The Times of India as well as the Hindustan Times, the Telegraph and the Hindu. It increases the frequency of advertising in the May to July period when universities begin admissions for their academic programs. In May 2005, the institute had an ad spend of Rs. 5crore making it the largest advertiser in the print media for that month.
It usually runs full-page advertisements. These advertisements are notable for:
Large amounts of detailed text: IIPM advertisements typically include a large amount of text and many tables. Some advertisements also include an essay by Arindam Chaudhuri or Dr. Malay Chaudhuri on economic or social topics. These essays have covered topics such as the existence of an 'MBA Mafia', corruption among politicians, and prescriptions for economic and social reform.
Rankings: Mentions IIPM's rankings on various parameters of various B-school ranking surveys. In the fine print of its advertisements, it mentions that the institute believes that it is #1 in India in terms of course content, global linkages and industry interface and It prints it is ranked no. 1 in global exposure.
Caption: with the caption “DARE to think beyond the IIMS”
Global Faculty: it provides readers, the names of the global Faculty from Columbia, Wharton, Oxford, Cambridge.
Rigorous Advertising is not a problem as long as the information provided is correct. The information provided by IIPM in printed ads is proved to be incorrect.

Flaws provided by the IIPM:

1. The Outlook C-Fore B-School survey had ranked IIPM's Delhi campus in the top 10 among several parameters in 2003, but IIPM advertisements generalized these rankings for all IIPM campuses. After complaints made by IIPM students and alumni, C-Fore issued a clarification removing IIPM from its survey, stating that it had "received serious complaints about the veracity of information given by them". IIPM continued to advertise rankings even after C-Fore had removed it from its survey
2. Outlook Magazine has twice published caution notices in 2005 informing students and all related parties about the withdrawal of the rankings. Outlook also stated that they have also "come across instances, where the institute doesn't disclose facts truly and correctly". (http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=20050718&fname=IIPM&sid=1 registration compulsory)
3. Faculty from the names that IIPM advertises so heavily - Harvard, Columbia, Wharton, Oxford, Cambridge, Stanford et al - do not actually 'teach' at IIPM. Instead of picking a subject and teaching it over some weeks, as is the practice at the Indian School of Business, they just collect students at an auditorium and give a one-time lecture.

So, Do you think IIPM is really providing any healthy information for the students before apting for it?