UGDM (Under Graduate Diploma in Management) IS COMING SOON

If you have not heard about any UGDM programme in Management so far, don’t worry; have heart, you will soon hear about it.

When the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India held that management is not a field of technical education and the AICTE should not regulate/licence the MBA/PGDM courses, the private standalone institutions of Management rushed to the Supreme Court to retain the regulatory/licencing powers of AICTE because without any licencing from any statutory body, all PGDMs would have no legal standing. What an irony, the same lobbies of private standalone institutions of Management, which had fought AICTE in regulating admissions and fees for the PGDM courses before the Supreme Court, were back in the court, pleading for AICTE to retain its approval powers. Does this not signal a ‘regulatory capture’ of AICTE by the private standalone institutions of Management?

In the 1960’s, IIMs were set up, without the status of a degree granting HEI. They therefore conferred a Post Graduate Diploma in Management as analogous to a Master’s Degree in Business Administration elsewhere in the world. Indian Universities, when they offered 2-year full-time programmes of study in Management at Master’s level, either under the faculties of Commerce or faculties of Management, designated the certification as an MBA degree. Offered as 3-year part-time programmes of study in Management at Master’s level for working executives, the designated certification was Post Graduate Diploma in Management. MCom(Business Administration) was also a degree offered as full-time, correspondence or private courses of study.

Some of the pioneering private institutions like the XLRI and IMI had approached the then Ministry of Human Resources for permitting them to offer Post Diploma in Management programmes similar to the IIMs and had obtained approvals for the same. Ministry of Human Resources had also equated the PGDMs of the IIMs and the XLRI to an MBA degree of a University for the limited purposes of employment in the government and public sector.

Then came the AICTE as a statutory regulator for technical education in 1988 and the private standalone institutes of Management simply mushroomed. They imitated the IIMs model of Post Graduate Diploma in Management. Neither of the statutory bodies, UGC or AICTE, could equate or award equivalence for MBA to PGDM or PGDM to MBA. A private lobby organisation by the name of AIU started awarding equivalence for a PGDM of a private standalone institution to an MBA and happily and merrily, most PGDMs started claiming to be MBAs in their credentials. It is pertinent to note that that equivalent never means equal and equivalence does not permit substitution of nomenclature. It is also pertinent to note that some of the Universities (like the University of Rajasthan), which had awarded a Post Graduate Diploma in Management for 3-year part-time programmes of study in Management at Master’s level for working executives, did not treat their MBA as equivalent or equal to such Post Graduate Diploma in Management. They provide limited opportunity to the holders of Post Graduate Diploma in Management to pass additional exams and convert their Post Graduate Diploma in Management to MBA degrees.

Realising the growth in the PGDMs, some of the Universities launched educational programmes at Bachelor’s level designated as BBA/BMS. A good BBA degree soon stood taller against a bad PGDM in terms of both quality and reputation. While BBA is a new found opportunity for the Universities and the students, it is a business threat to the PGDMs.

So what could the private standalone institutions of Management do to face this challenge? Well, the simple solution is join the bandwagon.

Since granting of a degree is the prerogative of a University, no private standalone institutions of Management can grant any MBA or BBA degrees. After the Supreme Court judgment, no MBA granting institutions are being regulated by the AICTE. So how would a private standalone institution of Management ride the BBA bandwagon?

AICTE collects nearly Rs. 100 crores every year as non-plan approval fees from the private institutions, of which nearly half comes from private standalone institutions of Management. Time for AICTE for return the favour to the private standalone institutions of Management.

AICTE, in its approval process for 2024-25 announces the approval/licencing for BBA/BMS courses. No University is expected to approach AICTE for such approval and AICTE cannot take any action against the Universities. In the next stage, AICTE will announce huge demand for BBA/BMS and claim that the supply is insufficient. Thus, very soon private standalone institutions of Management will seek approval of AICTE to offer an Under Graduate Diploma in Management course, which AICTE will only be happy to approve. All this, notwithstanding the fact that for several years now, no-one in the leadership position within AICTE has any eminence or expertise in the management discipline.

No worries for the UGC or the AICTE in terms of who will confer equivalence for an Under Graduate Diploma in Management to a BBA/BMS. No worries for the students, they can happily and merrily, claim to be BBAs in their credentials instead of being a UGDM. A real win-win for everyone.

All private standalone institutions of Management, gear up for the upcoming opportunity during the year 2025-26. You have one full year to sharpen your axe.

?

******************?

This author disclaims any proprietary interest in trademarks and trade names other than his own.

The information contained herein is provided to you “as is” without warranty of any kind including without limitation warranties as to its accuracy or completeness. This author does not assume any responsibility or liability for any damage, whether direct or indirect, relating to the use of this publication. This publication is based upon the information available to this author on or before the date of publication, and subject to change without notice.

?