When Sonal Sharma* moved to Sikar from neighbouring Jhunjhunu in 2019 to finish school while preparing for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET UG), the small, provincial town in Rajasthan had only about six-seven coaching institutes and 10-12 hostels.
"Over the last five years, 10-20 more coaching institutes have come up and around 30-40 new hostels," she said. Most of the coaching institutions are located on the eastern edge of the town, on Piprali Road that connects Sikar town to the next one, Piprali. Set 121 km from the state capital Jaipur, and even farther from India's bustling coaching hub, Kota, Sikar is emerging as another major coaching hub and in the same pattern.
The first centre, Career Line Coaching (CLC) opened in 1996. Another Sikar major, Gurukripa Institute, came up in 2008. But most of the action happened over the past few years. Several Kota-origin stalwarts, including Unacademy, DS Institute, and Physics Wallah's Vidyapeeth & Paathshala, have set up centres here; the last came up just six months ago. Allen Career Institute and Matrix JEE Academy have centres here too.
"When I joined the institute in 2021, there were far fewer students and teachers focused on every student in the class. But now with an increase in aspirants, the city in the last two years has seen a sudden rise in students preparing for NEET," added Sharma. "When we see large crowds of students ushered in for tests and get stressed even after preparing for months." Sharma was unable to qualify in 2023 and appeared for NEET 2024.
"In April, every year, you can see a sudden increase in the flow of families bringing their children for admissions. But you will mostly find students from nearby areas like Fatehpur, Madhopur, Neem-Ka-Thana and nearby areas of Rajasthan," said the owner of s juice stall on Piprali road.
Beyond Kota
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة May 2024 من Careers 360.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة May 2024 من Careers 360.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
100 Best Business Schools In The Country
For Careers360's 2025 B-school ranking, we ranked 100 public and private management institutions and rated over 500, dividing them into zones and city clusters
'We have a completion rate of 80-90%'
During an interaction, Mayank Kumar, co-founder and managing director of upGrad, spoke to Sheena Sachdeva about new courses in accounting and management, the profile of learners, trends in online MBA courses, and more. Edited excerpts from the conversation below
New roles and spaces
Online MBA has helped many working professionals climb up the office hierarchy or even pivot to an entirely new career. But there are challenges.
'Committed to industry-relevant learning'
International Management Institute (IMI), New Delhi, is India's first corporate-sponsored B-school. It offers three PG diplomas in management - the flagship PGDM with 300 seats, as well as human resource management and business and financial studies with 60 each. Himadri Das, director general, IMI, discussed the challenges posed by competition among private business schools, the importance of diversity, and IMI's NIRF rankings with Sanjay. Edited excerpts from the interview.
National Insurance Academy plans expansion to meet rising demand
The National Insurance Academy (NIA), now situated in Pune, was established jointly by the ministry of finance and all the major public sector undertakings (PSUs) in insurance. Originally a training institute for insurance industry professionals, it has been offering a postgraduate diploma in management (PGDM) since 2004 and has placed 100% of its students all through.
The era of MBA in sustainability
As companies are increasingly pushed to meet environmental compliances, management institutes are revamping their curricula with specialised MBA programmes in sustainability or launching new programmes
Despite good record, SRCC's PGDM faces degree hurdle
Delhi University's Shri Ram College of Commerce started its postgraduate diploma in Global Business Operations (GBO) 25 years ago. Principal Simrit Kaur spoke to Shradha Chettri on their effort to convert the diploma into a degree programme, changes required in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) and more. Edited excerpts
Managing produce, from farm to plate
Agribusiness managers are in great demand, both on the 'input' side of agriculture - seeds, fertilizer, machinery businesses - as well as in the processing of the 'output'
Creating 'innovators with conscience'
The SP Jain Institute of Management and Research (SPJIMR), Mumbai, has been the top Indian institution in the Financial Times' (FT) Masters in Management rankings for two years in a row. Varun Nagaraj, dean of SPJIMR, spoke to Atul Krishna about what the institute does differently, its plans, the future of business education, and the FT and National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) lists. Edited excerpts below
'Quality management education that is equitable': FMS Dean
The Faculty of Management Studies (FMS) at the University of Delhi (DU) is one of India's premier business schools offering MBA courses at a relatively low cost, compared to most leading business schools in India. Celebrating its 70th year, it is also one of the first university-based business schools. In an interview with Sanjay, head and dean of FMS A Venkat Raman spoke about the functioning of a business school under a central university, challenges, courses and future plans. He also spoke on the Common Admission Test (CAT) and its impact on diversity in student cohorts. Edited excerpts
