Here are some tips on how to start early and finish on time with the ISB application. In my experience over years of having seen various approaches followed by students while applying to the ISB, the most common mistake that is committed is equating GMAT exam to the entire ISB application. Most of the students wait until they have finished taking the GMAT (in most cases it is in the last week of the deadline) and then start on the application. It’s a sure shot way of failing overall, even if you score a great number in GMAT. Simply because, GMAT is a ‘part’ of our overall application process. There are a lot of other things which are equally if not more important than GMAT. So, here is my two cents on how to go about it.

• Get all your academic and work experience papers in place and have them scanned and uploaded at one go. This would ensure that you don’t miss out on any document. Any additional qualifications and certifications can also be uploaded.
• Writing essays would require significant time and effort. We recommend that you spend time in introspection and preparing drafts before you freeze on the word limit given. It would be good idea to get your essays evaluated by people who are close to you professionally and personally to get a second opinion.
• If you haven’t taken your GMAT and waiting for the GMAT score to be available before starting on the application, you might  get into a situation where essays and other details may not get the attention they deserve. Remember, GMAT is a part of our overall application process and is one of the many inputs which will help us shortlist you for the next round.
• While selecting evaluators, please ensure you share their official email IDs. If for some reason you cannot give the official mail id you have the option  to get an offline evaluation. You will have to give us the reason for making this choice. We will then send across the evaluation blank to the appraiser who can then fill them and courier it to us. Please send in the details early so that the evaluators have sufficient time to furnish the evaluations so that they reach us by the application deadline.

Given the fact that you would be busy in your professional commitments, we would like to remind you that the Cycle One deadline is on August 30, 2010.

Best wishes to you all!

The effectiveness of PPP model is a hot topic today beyond the traditional outsourcing space. HMRI is one of the greatest working examples of this. Here we have another successful PPP model where in the e-learning space ‘IT as an enabler’ brings state-of-art teaching methods to the students of Chattisgarh. Yes that’s right – you heard it right- CHATTISGARH.  

Under the project called “Gyan Vinimay”, virtual classrooms are setup and online lectures from IIT Kanpur are screened using video-conferencing facilities to the state engineering colleges. In the earlier part of this decade, there was acute shortage of faculty in these areas and the students had no access to high-quality education. This issue was thus addressed by the higher education department.  The program was piloted in Govt. Engineering College, Raipur and Institute of Technology, Bilaspur. They were connected using VSAT technology from Hughes in 2006-07. Later on, four more colleges were added and connected by a terrestrial VPN over Boardband (2MBPs) BSNL for uninterrupted connectivity.  

“The Private sector resources would carefully dovetailed with their commercial interests and those of the Government to provide Value Added Services” says the policy document from the Govt. of Chhattisgarh emphasizing the need of PPP in effectively implementing e-Governance solutions. The various players include initial infrastructure funding by the Higher Education Department, respective colleges pitching in for recurring costs like bandwidth charges and courseware and also funds raised in Jan Bhagidari Samitis. The Government plans to bring the 18000 colleges in e-classrooms via the “National mission on education through ICT” initiative.