IBA says goodbye to batch of 2011, barely out of school and landing in their first jobs

Dean Ishrat Husain says it’s been the best year of his tenure because of SAQS accreditation.


Kazim Alam December 02, 2011

KARACHI: About 89% graduates of the latest batch of MBAs have already found jobs, said Dr Ishrat Husain, dean and director of the Institute of Business Administration (IBA), while addressing the 12th convocation of the institute here on Friday.

He said recent IBA MBAs received on average the monthly salary of Rs42,000, which was significantly higher than what the graduates of other business schools received.

As for the BBA programme, Husain said 74% graduates had found jobs as of November. “Ten per cent of the BBA graduates have joined family businesses, 7% decided to pursue higher studies, and only 9% are currently looking for jobs.”

He said the average monthly salary of an IBA graduate with a BBA degree was Rs33,000.

“The BBA is now a terminal degree, and BBA graduates will henceforth be entering the job market as management trainees,” he said.

Talking to The Express Tribune, MBA graduate Taha Ekram said half of his classmates had received multiple job offers before graduation. Ekram, who now works for a fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) company as a researcher, said IBA had undergone significant changes during the past three years. “Things are getting better. Standards have improved, and IBA’s reputation is more established now.”

He said the banking sector did not absorb as many IBA graduates this year as it did during the past many years. “They’re apparently not hiring this year. Banks used to be the major employers of IBA graduates. But most jobs were on the marketing side this year,” Ekram said.

He said that although the average salary MBA graduates received was Rs42,000, the figure didn’t reflect the accurate job market situation. “While some graduates are getting Rs80,000 a month, there’re actually quite a few graduates who’re getting just a little over Rs30,000.”

A total of 610 candidates received their bachelor’s, master’s and PhD degrees. About 33% of the graduates were women.

For the first time, IBA awarded a PhD degree this year: Quratulain Nizamuddin received a doctorate degree in computer science.

Terming 2011 the best year in his three-and-a-half-year tenure at IBA, Husain said it was the “year of progress and execution” because of the culmination of a series of initiatives that would make IBA the top business school in Asia.

He said IBA recently received accreditation by the South Asia Quality Assurance System (SAQS). It is the second business school of Pakistan after the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) to have received the SAQS accreditation.

The chairman of the IBA board of governors, Justice Munib Akhtar, presided over the convocation. Governor Ishratul Ebad could not attend the ceremony, Husain informed the audience, because he had to “take care of the law and order situation in the city.”

Published in The Express Tribune, December 3rd, 2011.

COMMENTS (45)

H | 12 years ago | Reply

@Muhammad: Giki is an awesome Engineering school, but on a lighter note, my friend graduated from LUMS undergrad last year summer and now earns a salary of 400k which not even engineers and their professors earn ;)

H | 12 years ago | Reply

@UMI: my ignorant friend a batch is recognized by the expected year of graduation and not on the year of induction.

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