Building a reputation

There is sometimes just this one person needed to make or break an institution. Like an alumni who turns out to be a fraudster in the corporate world, might prove to be detrimental to the reputation of his college or alma mater but at the same time, if a person emerges as an able leader, the college gains almost a cult status. Like IIT and now Manipal University.

Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, a graduate from Manipal University has literally changed the fortunes of his college. Manipal was a well reccognised University but it was not exactly amongst the reputed ones. But Nadella has helped change that. When the average number of applicants every year has been at around 30,000, this year, the number of students applying to Manipal Institute of Technology has risen 33% to 40,000 in the ongoing admission season and it is only expected to go up further. Total number of seats available is 1500. What is also helping is that another Manipal student, Rajeev Suri is being tipped to become the CEO of Nokia. The college is now trying to get either of them to preside over their convocation ceremony in May.

This is precisely how Harvard, MIT, Oxford and rest have been made – it is the people who graduated and went on to become leaders which made these institutions. But the important point here is – global leader and by global, it essentially means America. So you could go on to head a conglomerate in Asia or India, it does not do much to change the college’s reputation.