IIMs to seek meeting to allay HRD concerns over one-year MBA degree

The HRD Ministry red-flagged the one-year executive MBA degree, saying it is “not in accordance with the UGC Regulations”.

In other words, the UGC mandates that a master’s degree should be of two years and not one, and the IIMs violated that provision. In the letter, the premier business schools were instructed to “act in conformity with the UGC Act 1956”.

Some of the IIMs had converted their one-year diploma for working professionals into a degree programme after the IIM Act, 2017, allowed degree-granting powers to the 20 business schools. Out of the 20, IIMs in Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Indore, Kozhikode, Lucknow and Udaipur currently offer the one-year postgraduate degree for executives. The rest continue to offer diploma.

“The IIMs are responsible institutions. The one-year degree programme meets global standards and is also ranked among the best internationally. We do not come under the ambit of the UGC. We will have to figure out how to bring the government on board and see our point of view,” said a director, who did not wish to be identified.

The HRD Ministry is also examining whether the one-year diploma offered by the other 13 IIMs conforms with the standards laid down by the AICTE. The government may write to the technical education regulator to check that.