HRD Ministry says no to two-year PhD courses at IIMs

NEW DELHI: The government has given the go-ahead to the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) to allow direct entry to students with a four-year bachelor’s degree to their PhD courses, but refused to permit completion of PhD within two years.
Citing the rulebook of the higher education regulator, University Grants Commission (UGC), the human resource development (HRD) ministry wrote to directors of all IIMs on October 23 rejecting the proposal seeking a two-year time frame for PhD and said that doctoral courses cannot be completed in less than three years.

In the case of students who join PhD courses directly after obtaining a four-year bachelor’s degree, the duration must be at least four years, the ministry said. IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, IIM Indore and IIM Vishakhapatnam had written to the Centre proposing direct entry to the Doctors of Philosophy (PhD/D Phil) courses following a four-year bachelor’s course with an eight-point CGPA (cumulative grade points average), or a professional qualification such as CA, ICWA, CS or ICAI, besides a postgraduate diploma or a master’s degree. They had proposed a two-year minimum duration for the PhD whereas UGC prescribes a minimum duration of three years for PhD following a master’s degree.



The ministry decided to reject the proposal of the IIMs following consultations with the UGC and the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), said people aware of the matter. They said the ministry kept in mind the format followed by the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), which also adhere to the rules for PhD programmes.

It was felt that there should be parity among various institutes of national importance, and hence the degree granting criteria followed by IITs should be applicable to IIMs as well, said one of the persons, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

So far, IIMs have been granting Fel low Programme in Management (FPM), which is treated as equivalent to PhD. However, with the enactment of the IIM Act, IIMs want to grant PhD degrees instead of the FPM.