FT ranks IIM Calcutta’s & IIM Ahmedabad’s PGP in MIM ranking. MBA aspirants take note.

Is there an error in the headline? No. But aren’t the PGP courses at IIMs MBA level courses? Good question.

Students in India have been following the IIM story for so long and so ardently that when monumental shifts occur they often go unnoticed. One such shift has taken place in the past few years with regards to the MBA offered at the institutes and in fact at other business schools in the country.

With a global audience in mind, the IIMs and other institutes have recently targeted accreditation from international accreditation bodies. Among the three big global accreditation bodies, there is only one that accredits courses instead of the institute. This is Association of MBA’s, UK.

Well the results are in and as per the Association of MBA, UK, the two year PGP programmes at IIMs and other Indian business schools do not qualify as MBAs. This is because as per AMBA’s accreditation criterion, for a course to be classified as an MBA, the graduating class must average 5 years of work experience and every candidate must have at least 3 years of work experience.

This is a criterion all MBA courses accredited by AMBA meet. So Harvard’s MBA, Wharton’s MBA & Stanford’s MBA, for instance, are accredited as MBA courses by virtue of their graduating class averaging 5 year’s of work experience. Consequently, they get ranked in the Financial Times MBA ranking.

What does that mean for you, an aspirant looking to pursue an MBA in India? Do you need to look abroad?

No. While there are great business schools abroad such as Harvard & Stanford, you can pursue a globally accepted MBA in India – in fact at IIMs itself if you so chose. The MBA at IIMs as per AMBA is the One year MBA which has steadily been growing in popularity. You know the course by various nomenclatures such as PGPX, EPGP, PGPEX and IPMX.

But aren’t these executive MBA programmes? No again. Read the Basics of a One year MBA in India #1 to get the complete download.

This story is not limited to IIMs. At SP Jain, Mumbai, MDI, Gurgaon & IMI, Delhi it is again the one year MBA that has been accredited as an MBA by AMBA. For links to the accreditation page on AMBA’s website, click this link and skip to the last para – Deccan Herald says the One year MBA is the first MBA in India.

Some One year MBA courses from India have already made a mark on the Financial Times MBA ranking – these are ISB’s PGP, SP Jain’s Global MBA (Dubai campus) and IIM Ahmedabad’s PGPX (a course needs to graduate at least five batches to qualify).

If you are feeling like you are in the matrix and are questioning every thing you have been told till now you would be happy to know that this is not the case. But yes you are in India, which is nothing short of a matrix.

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Below are the reports you may have recently read in newspapers. Highlighted are portions you should read again after going through this article.