Indian Institute Of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA) Post Graduate Programs

This press release covers the following changes to the PGP, PGP-FABM, and PGPX programs: changes in the PGP and the PGP-FABM curricula; innovations in the PGP admissions and financial aid policies; and revision in fees for the PGP, PGP-FABM, and PGPX programs.

Last year, the Institute conducted thorough reviews of its PGP and PGP-ABM programs as well as its admissions process. The reviews included detailed interviews with alumni, corporates, IIMA faculty, faculty of other institutions, students, and other stakeholders. Based on the recommendations of these reviews, the Institute has introduced several innovations in our PGP and PGP-FABM programs, effective the incoming batch of PGP 2015-17.

The Institute made the following changes in our PGP program:

• Introduction of three new core courses: “Government Systems & Processes,” “Understanding Global Organisational Context,” and “Having an Entrepreneurial Mind-set.”

• Introduction ofthe conceptof flexi-core coursesto provide the opportunity for additional focused learning over and above the core courses. Initially, flexi-core courses will be offered inHuman Resources, Information Systems, and Operations Management.

• Introduction of a course titled “Experiencing Integration”towards the end of the program to integrate learning across management disciplines.

• Flexibility for students to specialize in specific domains(such as Marketing, Finance, and HR) on their meeting specified credit requirements in those domains.

• Rationalization of courses to reduce sessions load in the first year, while maintaining academic rigor and innovative offerings.

As per the recommendations of the PGP-ABM review committee, the institute has also decided to restructure that program. The program is being renamed Postgraduate Programme in Food and Agribusiness Management (PGP-FABM).The programme curriculum has been redesigned to address the emerging needs of the food and agribusiness sector. With the opening-up of the programto non-agriculture background students, we expect PGP-FABM intake to become more diverse in terms of academic backgrounds. To improve understanding of the rural economy, two new courses – “Agricultural Systems” and “Rural, Social, and Institutional Environment” – are being introduced in the first year curriculum. In the second year, new elective courses on Agribusiness Project Management, Agribusiness Entrepreneurship, Agribusiness Leadership, Food Supply Chain Management, Food Retailing, and others, will be offered. 

The Institute is also forming a committee to review the PGPX program.

PGP and PGP-FABM programs will offer deferred admission to a subset of selected studentsto give them an opportunity to work for a couple of years before joining IIMA. “Deferred admissions will encourage some of our bright admits fresh out of college to gain relevant work experience before joining the program so that they can benefit from, and contribute to, the PGP program even more than they  would have otherwise,” said Prof. Ashish Nanda, Director, IIMA.

The Institute is also introducing supernumerary seats for foreign nationals. IIMA will offer seats over its present capacityto foreign students who want to join the PGP course. “Our objective is to get quality foreign students to bring in diversity, and also to position the institute as a global learning destination for management students,” said Prof. Ajay Pandey, Dean Programs, IIMA.

The Institute also announced that the fee for its PGP and PGP-ABM programswill increase from the present Rs. 16.6 lakhs to Rs. 18.5 lakhs. The PGPX course fee is also being raised from Rs. 21.5 lakhs to Rs. 24.0 lakhs for the batch commencing from April 2015.

IIMA has not increased its fee for long duration programs for two years. During these past two years, CPI inflation rate in India was 9.7% in 2012 and 10.0% in 2013; it is projected at 8.0% for 2014.“We have tried to cover increasing costs by focusing on efficiency, reducing cross-subsidization of other programs, support from executive education, increasing income from corpus, and intensifying fundraising,” noted Professor Nanda. Partly as a consequence of our fee restraint, IIMA PGP and PGPX fees are lower than those of some other comparable institutions.

Even as IIMA has been under increasing cost pressure, the Institute has been committed to providing education to all capable students, irrespective of their financial means. IIMA disbursed financial aid of Rs. 7.55 crore to 295 students in 2012-13 and Rs. 6.94 cr. to 242 students in 2013-14, which, to our understanding, is represents a significantly broader and deeper commitment than do the financial aid programs of comparable institutions. IIMA has also worked intensively with financial institutions such that currently several banks are offering incoming students loans covering 100% of their educational cost.

One consequence of all these efforts has been that IIMA’s post-graduate programs are among the most cost-effective management programs in the world. Earlier this year, The Economist ranked IIMA the fourth best institute globally in terms of return on investment for students.

IIMA takes pride that the Institute is financiallyautonomous in its operations. Fiscal prudence requires that, to remain financially self-sufficient, the Institute needs to raise its fees. For the PGP and PGP-ABM programs, the tuition fee increase is 10%, whereas administrative costs (for hostel, facilities, academic support, etc.) have increased at a higher pace owing to inflation. The cumulative fee increase for all three programs, of the order of about 11.5%, equates to about 3.7% annual increase over the three years.

“Even as the Institute raises its fees, we emphasize our commitment committed to providing generous financial aid and working intensively with financial institutions to make educational loans easily available, so as to ensure that capable students continue to be able to join IIMA irrespective of their financial means,” said Professor Nanda.