New Delhi: After being granted autonomy, the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) have started giving one-year executive MBA degrees instead of PG diplomas, despite reservations from the government, ThePrint has learnt.
Senior officials in the Ministry of Human Resource Development told ThePrint that the government had last year opposed IIMs’ idea to give out a one-year executive MBA degree, as India has no provision for a degree with a course length of only one year.
IIM Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Calcutta and Indore are running one-year executive MBA programmes — they have also advertised about the course on their official websites.
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HRD ministry’s objections
Ministry officials had told the IIMs at a meeting last year that they wanted them to continue with the PG Diploma, but they refused to accept the ministry’s point of view.
“If IIMs start giving one-year MBA degrees, non-IIMs will also start following suit, and then the government will not be able to stop them from doing so. There is no provision in India for a one-year degree,” said a senior HRD ministry official who deals with the IIMs.
“They are setting a very wrong precedent among management institutions, which is why this issue was raised with them last year. But IIMs refused to listen. Ahmedabad has already started a one-year executive MBA, Bangalore is also running it. We feel that other institutes will also follow the precedent now,” the official said.
A Master’s degree is supposed to be granted for a minimum period of two years. Earlier, IIMs would only grant diplomas and not degrees, but autonomy from the government gave them degree-granting power under the IIM Act.
Foreign institutions, especially in countries where the education system follows the ‘4 + 1’ model, generally offer one-year executive MBAs. India, meanwhile, follows a ‘3 + 2’ model — three years for undergraduate programmes, and two years for postgraduate degrees but only one for PG diplomas.
The HRD ministry raised its objection because there is no provision under the University Grants Commission (UGC) for a one-year degree.
“If the UGC issues an order specifically in case of IIMs allowing the one-year degree, we don’t have a problem with it. Else, it can lead to legal repercussions in future,” the official said.
UGC regulations for awarding Master’s degrees state: “No student shall be eligible for the award of the master’s degree unless he/she has successfully completed a minimum of two years after the first degree or five years after plus two or earned the minimum number of credits prescribed by the university for the programme.”
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IIMs’ responses
Asked about the matter, professor Shailesh Gandhi, Dean (Programmes) at IIM-Ahmedabad, told ThePrint over email: “IIMA has awarded the title of MBA to the participants of the one-year full-time Post Graduate Programme in Management for Executives, in accordance with clause 7(f) of the IIM Act, 2017. The same title has been awarded by other IIMs for similar programmes.”
Clause 7 (f) of the IIM Act reads: “Every institute shall exercise the following powers and perform the following functions…to grant degrees, diplomas and other academic distinctions or titles and to institute and award fellowships, scholarships, prizes and medals, honorary awards and other distinctions.”
Meanwhile, IIM-Bangalore director professor G. Raghuram told ThePrint via email: “We do not agree with your premise that the HRD ministry was in opposition to this idea.”
Last year, Times of India had quoted IIM-Calcutta sources as saying that “the programme was renamed only after the approval from Board of Governors, which is the highest decision making body and was done in accordance with the IIM Act”.
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Students completing one year MBA programme won’t be eligible for higher studies in india so no point awarding them a degree. If at all the programme is continued only engineers with 4 year BE/ B Tech degrees and post graduates in General Streams should be admitted so that they may pursue higher education and it won’t be unfair to two year MBAs.
Back in 2015, IIM Bangalore had this course. I am sure, it was there at long before that. Article makes it sound like IIMs have started a new course now.
One year isn`t enough time to properly achieve a Master`s Degree that the rest of the World, outside of India, will consider as being 100% Valid. They are seriously undermining their own Credibility as Tutors, and also that of the Degree itself, by doing so. If any of the Graduates want to emigrate to other Countries on the strength of getting employment with it they will find their 1 year “Master`s Degree” being viewed as unacceptable by the majority of the World at large. The Educational Authorities of India had best be aware of that fact instead of taking it upon themselves to re-write the Rules.
I will appreciate it if you would be kind enough to tell me why you are putting “awaiting moderation” to Everything I write and post? That shows a bias of your own views. What a pity, I thought you might be above such tactics when asking people`s opinions.
Aw, Poor India, the much-revered Land of my Maternal Ancestors. How corrupt it all lamentably is now that Truthful opinions are duly cast aside to languish in the shadows..
These are condemnable offensive interpretation against rising courses of India. Nobody can suppress upcoming programs by sharing such views.
The one year MBA is a full time MBA proramme of IIMs in accordance with the UGC norms (clause 8.1 of grant of Master’s) which states that universities can grant degrees if minimum number of credits are satisfied.
Morever these are the prestigious programmes because of which IIMs are today globally ranked amongst the top 100 in the world.
Worldwide, several colleges of very high repute like INSEAD, Cornell, IMD, Cambridge, Oxford and NTU etc offer one time MBA. In fact INSEAD ranks amongst the top 3 MBA colleges in the world and competes with Harvard and Stanford.
The minimum criteria to get into these reputed institutions is several years of excellent work experience along with a very high GMAT score. The one year MBA at some IIMs has been started with a similar entry criteria and is for mid career professionals who already know basics of business. Also IIMs wouldn’t hand out a MBA degree to anyone so easily, so entry is very competitive (with average GMAT scores similar to Harvard/ Stanford and higher than Oxford/Cambridge) and the one year is regorous with same amount of course work as the two year MBA.
Moreover the article says, it’s according to the IIM Act which gives autonomy to IIMs. As reputed institutes, IIMs surely know more than you and me what’s good for them and should work without interference of the government to improve their international standing.
The one year MBA is a full time MBA in accordance with the UGC norms (clause 8.1 of grant of Master’s) which states that universities can grant degrees if minimum number of credits are satisfied.
Praise be to the IIMs for focusing on the well being of India and Indian institutions rather than succumbing to silly regulations that have little relevance. It is the bureaucrats duty to set appropriate rules and manage the flood of low quality institutions – hampering excellence is not the appropriate response. Given the large scale government failures in education and skills, they should spend time learning from the IIMs and not critiquing them.
Well! The UGC regulation is clear: “..or earned the minimum number of credits.. “. And it is also in accordance with the IIM Act. Govt should not interfere in the functioning of autonomous institutes.
In fact the same should be applied to all Professional and Masters, if somebody is already in engineering company with 5 years+ work ex, he should be able to complete B.Tech in 2-3 years. Till the time 1 year MBA is for work ex of min 5 years+ with Professional Degree or 7 years work ex+ Masters in any field or 10 years of work ex with Normal Graduate or 15 years of work ex+ diploma, it is fair, as they are already having a sufficient experience to absorb and implement the gathered knowledge.
Is this justifiable? A month back FT ranked one year MBAs from IIM ABC and ISB in top 100 ranks of full time MBA rankings (Proud moment for Indian Institutions) while HRD ministry and UGC still trying to set bad precedence with below news.
When is Indian politics and bureaucracy change? When would they put the interest of nation above there personal interest? How can a country get in top ranking of ease of doing business when your globally top ranked programmes are not recognized in the Country?
All one year MBAs are accredited globally ranked well positioned courses that has 100% placement records, international internship opportunities, world class faculties, cutting edge research facilities. Pathetic. #ceos #wework #indianceos #programmes #ease #mba #accredited #ministry #courses #isb Narendra Modi
Is this justifiable? A month back FT ranked one year MBAs from IIM ABC and ISB in top 100 ranks of full time MBA rankings (Proud moment for Indian Institutions) while HRD ministry and UGC still trying to set bad precedence with below news.
When is Indian politics and bureaucracy change? When would they put the interest of nation above there personal interest? How can a country get in top ranking of ease of doing business when your globally top ranked programmes are not recognized in the Country?
All one year MBAs are accredited globally ranked well positioned courses that has 100% placement records, international internship opportunities, world class faculties, cutting edge research facilities. Pathetic. #ceos #wework #indianceos #programmes #ease #mba #accredited #ministry #courses #isb Narendra Modi