Indian School Of Business Dean Steps Down

Rajendra Srivastava, dean of the Indian School of Business, steps down as ISB deals with new challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic

Indian School of Business (ISB) dean Rajendra Srivastava has announced he will step down from his post when his tenure ends on December 31, 2020.

The news comes as India records its highest single day spike in coronavirus cases. ISB was forced to shut its campuses in Hyderabad and Mohali and suspend classes after India’s COVID-19 outbreak, while graduating students had to celebrate convocation days at home.

Key Successes

While COVID-19’s impact on the global economy may impact hiring plans this year, employers were fighting over MBA students from ISB when BusinessBecause last spoke to Rajendra.

PGP students at ISB received a record number of job offers from corporate recruiters in 2019, and saw a 124% jump in their compensation compared with their pre-degree salary.

ISB is one of India’s premier business schools and its flagship Post Graduate Program in Management (PGP) is akin to an MBA overseas. During Rajendra’s deanship, ISB also increased student job offers by over 50%.

“ISB was established with a vision to create future leaders for India and the world. And companies betting big on India continue to choose ISB as their preferred partner for meeting their talent requirements,” he says.

Rajendra’s other notable accomplishments include:

Triple accreditation

ISB is now one of the few schools in Asia, and the youngest in the world, with triple crown accreditation by AACSB, EQUIS and AMBA. It was awarded AMBA accreditation in May 2020 to complete the trio.

Rankings

PGP & MBA Rankings across Financial Times, Forbes, Businessweek and the Economist.

Programs

Launched new programs including the PGPpro for working professionals in 4 cities across the nation. Additionally, ISB pioneered the successful Executive Fellow Program in Management.

Faculty

Doubled faculty strength bringing stability to ISB’s global program delivery capabilities.

What next for ISB?

Harish Manwani, Chairman of ISB Executive Board, says: “Raj joined ISB after an impressive academic career spanning 35 years across some of the world’s most prestigious universities across the US and Asia.

“In his five years as the Dean of ISB, Rajendra he has built on the strong foundation laid down by his predecessors and has transformed the school in terms of global recognition and financial stability.”

Before ISB, Rajendra was provost and deputy president of academic affairs at Singapore Management University. He also previously held research chairs and senior management positions at the University of Texas at Austin and Emory University in Atlanta.

He has an MBA and PhD (Business Administration) from the University of Pittsburgh, an MS in Industrial Engineering from the University of Rhode Island, and holds a BTech (Mechanical Engineering) degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur.

Going forward, Rajendra says he will assist the school in finding and onboarding a new dean during the tricky transition period.

From 2021, he will transition to research and teaching as the school’s Novartis Chair in Marketing Strategy and Innovation. He will continue with his work on Business Model Innovation and Organizational Transformation.

ISB has grown at a rapid pace over the past nineteen years since its inception, becoming one of the largest providers of Executive Education in Asia, the most research-productive Indian management institution, and the youngest school to consistently rank among the top providers of MBA programs.

The future looks promising. But with the coronavirus pandemic impacting business schools globally, exactly what that future looks like for ISB remains to be seen.

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