Bakul Dholakia, Architect of IIM A’s One Year MBA Joins IMI, Delhi as DG

International Management Institute (IMI) has appointed Bakul H Dholakia as the new Director General of IMI, New Delhi. At IIM A, Bakul Dholakia launched the One Year MBA (PGPX) programme that helped IIM A leave a mark on key global rankings and consequently develop a global footprint

In a press note, IMI says that Dholakia is endowed with in-depth knowledge, understanding and experience of management study and the B-School is honored to have attracted such a dynamic and experienced soul to the team. 

Confirming his appointment, Bakul Dholakia said, “Building on the strong foundation that Dr. Pritam Singh has built, I will work with the distinguished faculty members & administrative staff. IMI is very strong on intellectual capital. We will work on enhancing its National, Asian and Global visibility and will further enhance IMI’s stature and appeal to key stakeholders like Recruiters, Applicants and Peers among Global B-schools.”

As per IMI’s press note, Dr. Pritam Singh, the former Director General, of IMI will continue to be associated with the B-School as a mentor. 

Before this assignment, Dholakia was the Director of Adani Institute of Infrastructure Management, Ahmedabad and an advisor to the Adanai group. 

Dholakia has an experience of 45 years, including 33 years in IIM A and was awarded the Padma Shri award in 2007. Dholikia had a big influence on making IIM A the institute it is today and was the guiding force behind numerous initiatives at IIM A.

One of the key decisions he took at IIM A was to launch the One Year MBA (PGPX) at IIM A, a programme that like its global one-year and two-year MBA counterparts and in-tune with global standards, exclusively recruits candidates with substantial work experience.

The PGPX at IIM A helped the B-School to respond to challenges emanating from new B-Schools such as the Indian School of Business (ISB) in Hyderabad, which had launched a MBA course with minimum work experience requirements in 2001. 

This move not only saw IIM A get ranked in the prestigious Financial Times Global MBA Ranking, a ranking for which its two-year PGP course did not make the cut (the course is ranked instead in the MIM rankings or rankings of courses targeted at freshers), but also spawned a whole new set of One Year MBA courses in India.

What once seemed like a niche course at ISB, is now being offered by almost all top B-Schools in India such as IIM B, IIM C, IIM L, IIM I, XLRI, SP Jain etc.

Will this move change the fortune for the One Year MBA (Executive PGDM) at IMI, Delhi? Only time will tell. But some hints of Dholakia’s vision are there.

Speaking to MBAUniverse on coming trends in management education, Dholakia said, “ I can see the emergence of a large number of high quality One Year management programme. IIMs, ISB and a few others are already offering this, but the one year MBA will become a much more prominent program in near future.” 

Incidentally, the flagship programme at Adani Institute of Infrastructure Management, where Dholakia was previously Director, is a One-Year Residential Post Graduate Program in Infrastructure Management.

At IMI, Delhi, the One Year MBA that goes under the nomenclature of Executive PGDM is the sole globally accredited full-time MBA at the institute – it is the only course at IMI to have received a full-time MBA status by Association of MBAs, UK thanks to its intake of experienced professionals.

While the One Year MBA at IMI has a rich history – the course was launched in 1984 and was the first One Year MBA in India – in recent times the B-School’s focus seems to have been its two-year PGDM course which is targeted largely at fresh graduates (and is consequently accredited as a Masters in Management by AMBA, UK).

As per reports, the placements for the One Year MBA have not been up to scratch (the institute has not published the placement data for the course on its website) and the B-School has increasingly relied on government sponsored candidates to fill seats rather than self-sponsored ones which make up the bulk of applicants at similar courses at other B-Schools.

If the institute plans to pivot and put a renewed focus on the MBA course, then Dholakia is the man for it.

In the mid 2000s, as the former director of Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA) Bakul Dholakia is famous for having opposed moves by two Union education ministers, Murli Manohar Joshi and Arjun Singh, in what was being seen as stifling the autonomy of the IIMs. When asked to cut fees by 80 percent, Dholakia chose to instead reject the Rs. 10 crore government grant.