Indian Institute of Management (s) are all set to celebrate their convocation this year. Many IIMs have already concluded their convocation ceremony and many more are yet to take place. This year is unusual for IIM graduates in one or more aspects. As many IIMs are offering an MBA degree and not a diploma.
In its 54th Convocation, IIM Ahmedabad awarded the Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree instead of the Post Graduate Programme (PGP) diploma. It is the first time that IIM A conferred the MBA degree after the IIM Act 2017 was passed. Similarly, IIM Bangalore also offered an MBA degree to the Post Graduate Programme (PGP) students on its 44th convocation.
IIM Banglore is the first IIM to give an MBA degree to its students in the year 2018. Also, IIM Udaipur awarded an MBA degree this year. Following IIM A, B and U, IIM Calcutta will also offer an MBA degree on its 54th Convocation on 06 April. The first batch of students from IIM C will get MBA degree instead of PGP Diploma and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) instead of the Fellowship Programme.
Recently, IIM Calcutta has announced to award degree to a one-year diploma programme. The name of the Post Graduate Program for Executives (PGPEX) has been changed to Masters of Business Administration for Executives Program (MBA-EP).
As per the IIM Act 2017, IIMs are free to choose if they want to offer diploma or an MBA degree. So, it all depends on the board of governors (BoG) of the IIMs to take the decision. According to the bill, IIMs can do so only if the programme meets the UGC guidelines. So, it requires time to meet the modalities of the guidelines. Due to which IIM Calcutta could not able to offer the MBA degree in the last year. It is expected that other IIMs will follow the same suit and offer a degree in the future.
When the IIM Act was passed on January 31, 2018, IIMs were declared as institutions of national importance. With the power to grant MBA degrees, it was an opportunity for the students to be placed by global recruiters who prefer MBA over PGDM degree.
There is a total of 20 IIMs. Out of which four are considered older IIMs that are IIM Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Calcutta, and Lucknow. The first generation IIMs are Kozhikode, Indore, and Shillong. There are other 13 IIMs which are popularly known as new and baby IIMs. These are IIM Rohtak, Ranchi, Raipur, Trichy, Kashipur, Udaipur, Nagpur, Amritsar, Bodh Gaya, Sirmaur, Sambalpur, Jammu, and Visakhapatnam.
IIM generally offers two years Post Graduation Programme (PGP) along with executive courses and fellowship programmes. For its admission, IIMs accept Common Admission Test (CAT) Scores to shortlist students for the post-graduate programmes. The notification for CAT 2019 is expected in the month of July. The exam date is likely to announce in May 2019.
The selection process of IIMs generally consists of CAT score, Personal Interview, and Analytical Ability Test. Along with it, it is gender diversity, academic score, work experience, etc also plays an important role. The fee structure of IIMs ranges 9 Lakhs to 23 Lakhs. Only recently, IIM A has increased its academic fee by 1 Lakh ie for the year 2019, the academic fee is Rs 23 Lakh for two years.
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