COVID-19 Impact on MBA Education: Updates from AICTE, IIMs, XLRI, MDI, IMT, TAPMI, Great Lakes, FORE, BIMTECH, IFIM, SDMIMD

Unfortunate, like many other sectors of economy, COVID 19/ Corona Virus is disrupting Higher Education sector too. All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has asked all its affiliated institutes to instruct students not to go for summer internships in other organisations as India is under lockdown.

Most top global B-schools including HBS and Chicago BOOTH have moved their Classes completely Online. Convocations, Classes, International Exchanges and Program commencements have been postponed the world over, including India. GMAC – the GMAT exam conducting body, has suspended the conduct of GMAT exam globally. According to GMAC, “As a part of the global effort to contain the spread and mitigate impact of COVID-19 (coronavirus), GMAT and  Executive Assessment testing has been suspended worldwide.”  

Many academic engagements like Exchange Program that are aimed at Experiential Learning have been put on hold. Understandably, Admission Deadlines have been pushed and Admission Processes are being modified.

Amongst all this, MBA Aspirants are justifiably asking if MBA experience of Class of 2020 is likely to be less richer with more online Classes, fewer Experiential Learning and Exchange Opportunities, and perhaps weaker Placements.  

To bring some clarity, MBAUniverse.com has developed this online resource where “Impact of COVID 19/ Corona Virus on MBA Education in India” will be documented. Since this is a developing story, we will update this article frequently with important information and perspectives.

On May 1, 2020, AICTE has released the revised academic calendar for the session 2020-21 with all the timelines and important guidelines for Admission process, session commencement, fee refund. Check details below.

MBA Admission 2020: Important Time Lines
AICTE has instructed all the stand alone  PGDM/PGCM institutes to adhere to its instructions and follow the time lines as under:

• Last Date for Admission to PGDM/PGCM 2020-21 Courses: July 31, 2020
• Session Commencement for New Students: August 1, 2020 to July 31, 2021
• Last Date for cancellation of PGDM/PGCM 2020-21 seat: July 25, 2020

With full fee refund subject to deduction of Rs.1000/- only – Read all Details

• Session Commencement for existing students: July 1, 2020
• Last date for admission in 2 sessions for Open and: Aug 15, 2020 & Feb 15,2021

Distance Learning courses -  Read More about MBA Admission 2020 Timelines

No Summer Internship in Other Organization: AICTE Directs Institutes
Students who will be taking summer internships in 2020 in companies to engage in real-time projects have been denied the opportunity by AICTE  due to the country wide lockdown on account of Covid-19 global outbreak.

The All India Council for Technical Education has asked its affiliated institutes to instruct students to not take up summer internships in other organisations. On the contrary, it has also asked the institutes to provide their students internships in which they can work from home.

Tweeting about the directive, AICTE said, “ AICTE directs all its Approved Institutes to instruct students NOT to take up any Summer Internships outside organizations. Instead colleges/institutes should give challenging problems as internship which can be done From Home.” Adding further AICTE said, “However, ongoing internships, where companies are allowing students to work from home, shall continue.”

Students always look forward to the summer internships in good companies and work hard to get the best opportunity. Many students have said that the internships are very important for their career and have requested AICTE not to cancel internships, instead delay it till the situation improves.

AICTE has further clarified that it will issue further orders once the situation improves regarding the compliance of its mandatory internship policy.  

FORE Students take Virtual Summer Internships to make best use of pandemic situation
Adversity brings out the best in people, and this is true for FORE students who have applied ingenuity to ensure continuity. Summer Internships at FORE have now moved into a virtual mode wherein students complete their stints working from their location using information, data, calls, internet research, and online faculty reviews.

Since the current pandemic is also a great learning and adaptation opportunity, many of the assignments are about how to cope with and even seek silver linings in this crisis. The projects across functional areas like Finance, Marketing, HR, Economics & Policy, Operations, IT, and Strategy cover interesting topics such as:

• Examining the paradigm shift in the buying behaviour of personal hygiene products during COVID 19 pandemic
• Working of credit rating agencies and the effect of COVID-19
• The impact of COVID-19 on Indian Restaurant Business
• Use of Digital Platforms by Organizations for Social Marketing during COVID-19
• A comparative study of Healthcare and Economic Policy Response by Countries to COVID-19 Pandemic: A search for Best Practices
• Reviving Business Operations and Uplifting them through various Marketing Campaigns and initiatives after the COVID-19 impact.
• Forecasting the spread of COVID 19 using machine learning algorithms
• Effect of culture on leadership styles of select world leaders during the 1st quarter of COVID-19 pandemic crisis.

Executive PGDM Classes at FORE School of Management New Delhi are going on effectively on virtual mode and FORE is also offering various  webinars in various fields of management  such as marketing and Big Data Analytics

Top B-schools in India postpone Convocations and Events
Let’s start with update on important events. 

IIM Ahmedabad defers Annual Convocation 2020
IIM Ahmedabad which was supposed to celebrate its annual convocation March 21, 2020 has deferred it indefinitely. According to the IIM Ahmedabad notification, “In view of the advisories issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the World Health Organization…, we have decided to defer the Annual Convocation scheduled for 21^st March 2020.” IIM A has said that in due course programme offices will be in touch with the graduating batch regarding the receipt of their degrees.

IIM Bangalore postpones Convocation 2020
IIM Bangalore too has decided to postpone the Convocation 2020 which was scheduled for Friday, March 20^th. IIM-B Director, Professor G.Raghuram said, “We have consulted all the stakeholder groups. This decision has been taken based on their inputs and subsequent deliberations, keeping in mind that your and your family’s safety is paramount.”

XLRI Jamshedpur Convocation 2020 Postponed
Xavier School of Management has decided to postpone its 64^th annual convocation scheduled on March 21. More than 520 students were slated to receive their diplomas at the upcoming convocation. Fr. P Christie S.J., Director, XLRI said “In the wake of Coronavirus outbreak in India and globally we have decided to postpone XLRI’s annual convocation for an unspecified time.”

IIM Kozhikode Postpones Convocation 2020
Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode (IIM-K) located in Kerala where more number of corona virus cases have been reported than in other parts of India, has postponed its 22^nd annual convocation due to the prevailing circumstances. The two-day ceremony was to begin from April 3. A total of 663 students from various programmes of IIMK were expected to be awarded degrees. Prof. Debashis Chatterjee, Director IIM Kozhikode, said “We have taken the decision to postpone Convocation 2020 scheduled for 3^rd & 4^th April, indefinitely. Nestle India Managing Director & Chairperson Mr Suresh Narayanan had accepted IIMK’s request to be the Chief Guest for the occasion.

IIM Indore Convocation 2020 Postponed
IIM Indore has decided to postpone its 21st Annual Convocation which was scheduled on March 24-25, 2020. This has been done after consultation with all the stakeholder groups and intense deliberations. Professor Himanshu Rai, Director, IIM Indore, said “We are closely monitoring the situation and the new date for the Convocation will be decided depending on how the situation unfolds in the coming days.”

IIM Tiruchirappalli Convocation 2020 Postponed
Due to the ongoing situation created by the Coronavirus, after much review and discussions, IIM Trichy has decided to defer the 8th Annual Convocation which was earlier scheduled to be held on Saturday, 21st March 2020 to a later date, until it is considered safe for travel and gatherings. 

The new date will be announced when the things become normal. Other leading B-schools like SP Jain Institute of Management & Research (SPJIMR),  BIMTECH, IFIM have also decided to postpone their programs.

MDI Gurgaon Postpones Annual Convocation 2020
Management Development Institute (MDI) Gurgaon has postponed its annual convocation 2020 till the normalcy returns.

Sharing with MBAUniverse.com, Prof. (Dr.) Jyotsna Bhatnagar, Dean-Graduate Programs & Student Affairs and Chairperson-Post Graduate Program in HRM at MDI, said, “During this time of global crisis, we worked on time and on March 12th 2020, MDI-Gurgaon had taken a decision to postpone the annual convocation till further orders.”  Dr Bhatnagar is also Editorial Board Member-British Journal of Management and holds additional charge as Student Counselling at MDI Gurgaon.

IMT Ghaziabad Convocation 2020 Postponed
IMT Ghaziabad has postponed all its convocations for 2018-2020 batch due to the coronavirus Government Advisory. However, IMT has released the results of admission for its 2 year PGDM batch of 2020-2022

BIMTECH Greater Noida Postpones Convocation 2020
BIMTECH, similar to other higher education institutions in India and around the world, has taken COVID-19 spread very seriously and has postponed its 32^nd annual convocation. 

Sharing with MBAUniverse.com, Dr. H. Chaturvedi, Director BIMTECH Greater Noida said, ‘Our 32nd Annual Convocation was scheduled to be held on April 11, 2020, which we have recently deferred to a future date when normalcy get restored.”

TAPMI Manipal Postpones Convocation 2020
TAPMI Manipal has postponed its Convocation 2020 till the normalcy is restored. Sharing with MBAUniverse.com, Dr Madhu Veeraraghavan, Director TAPMI Manipal said, “We are carefully monitoring COVID 19 progress and its impact on our ongoing and forthcoming activities. As per government guidelines, we have cancelled events that require large gathering; this includes cancellation of classes and farewell functions. We have also postponed 2020 convocation. As for internships, we are in touch with respective companies to reschedule internship start and end dates.”

SDMIMD Mysore Postpones Convocation
SDMIMD Mysore was to be held on March 19, 2020 but has been postponed due to Corona Virus outbreak. New date is yet to be announced. According to Dr. N R Parasuraman, Director, SDMIMD, “WE could not hold the convocation as scheduled on 19^th March, because of the suggested shutdown, first by the State Government and subsequently nationwide.  That has been postponed, but all the processes have been completed.” 

Class Room Sessions Suspended in Many B-schools

IIMs moving to online classes
In the wake of COVID-19, most IIMs are moving to online classes and interactive learning sessions instead of class room sessions. The process is proposed to continue for a few weeks till the normalcy is restored. 

IIM Kozhikode cancels Classes

IIM Kozhikode has cancelled all class-room sessions. Elaborating on the measures taken by IIMK, Prof. Debashis Chatterjee, Director IIMK, in a statement shared, “The safety and well-being of every individual of IIMK Community is our top most priority and in order to avoid large gathering, classes of all academic programmes have been cancelled till 31.03.2020. Students have also been instructed to vacate their hostels at the earliest in line with the community safety measures adopted by the Institute as directed by the Government.”

IIM Indore Switches to Online Classes
In the wake of COVID-19 Coronavirus Outbreak, IIM Indore has suspended all the classes and exams with effect from March 17, 2020. All of the students have been advised to vacate their hostel rooms and return to their homes. The classes will now be conducted in online mode until further orders.

Professor Himanshu Rai, Director, IIM Indore said, 'There have been concerns expressed about the uncertainty of the coming days as well as anxiety of the extended families of the students. We appreciate the fact that extraordinary times call for extraordinary steps to ensure that we face problems such as these calmly, together.'

IIM Tiruchirappalli suspends Class room sessions
IIM Trichy has suspended its class room sessions till the things become normal and the spread of COVID-19 is brought under full control.

Sharing with MBAUniverse.com, Dr. Bhimaraya Metri, Director, IIM Trichy said “Corona Virus has impacted the academic and executive education activities of our institute including deferment of classes, exams, training programmes and events such as Convocation. In addition, we have kept sufficient numbers of hand sanitizers at various locations including hostels, common areas, etc.  Also, effective communications are being sent to students regarding steps to be taken to prevent Coronavirus as well as to create awareness.”

XLRI Jamshedpur Moves to Virtual Interactive Learning
XLRI Jamshedpur has suspended all its class room sessions and has moved to virtual interactive learning sessions for a few weeks till the impact of corona virus is over.

MDI Gurgaon Suspends Classes, International Exchange, Learning Programs
Following the Government of Haryana Advisory dated March 13, 2020, MDI Gurgaon has not only suspended its class room sessions but also the international exchange programme and has deferred other learning programmes.

According to Dr. Bhatnagar, following key measures have been taken at MDI Gurgaon:

• All classes have been suspended since March 14, 2020. All students have been asked to vacate hostel.
• Those students who are not able to travel, have been given accommodation in the campus.
• Exchange students have been advised to return to their home country. If Exchange students wish to reside in MDI Campus, they are allowed to do so and Dining Mess facility has been extended to all.
• Overseas learning programme for our NMP and Public Policy Programmes have been deferred, till further orders. Our PGPIM Students are following the ESCP-MIM Advisory received from their campuses abroad, and many PGPIM students have returned to India, safe and sound.
• We are issuing advisories, UGC Guidelines and Corona Covid 19 documents as soon as we receive them to our student body.

TISS Mumbai Suspends Class Room Sessions
Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) has cancelled its class room sessions and has moved to online sessions at all its campuses.

BIMTECH, Greater Noida Moves to Facebook Live
BIMTECH Greater Noida is using Facebook Live for teaching the incomplete topics instead of class room sessions.  According to Dr Chaturvedi, “We are almost ready in all respect to meet exigencies like current COVID 19 when we have to teach any course through online method. Right now our faculty is using Facebook Live for teaching few incomplete topics.”

The Strategic Management Committee (SMC) and the Faculty Council at BIMTECH had taken a strategic decision in October, 2019 to move its teaching -learning process from the traditional methods to blended learning.

IFIM Business School, Bangalore shifts to Online Sessions
IFIM Business School, Bangalore has, for the time being suspended its class room sessions and is using online method with LMS (Learning Management System).

According to Dr Atish Chattopadhyay, Director IFIM Bangalore, “We have shifted our in-class sessions to online using our existing ‘Keep Learning’ platform and LMS (learning management system). The operations of the institution are integrated through ERP and the library resources are already digitized. This crisis is a boost to ‘Anytime-Anywhere-Anyone’ learning. Platforms like ‘Facebook at Work’ has also enabled the social interaction amongst peers and the faculty. We are tying up with Pearson to conduct the end term examinations across the country, so that students can appear for the same based on their preference of location and schedule, in the given window.”

TAPMI Manipal Classes Suspended
TAPMI Manipal which has recently completed its final placements with high salary offers and PPOs, has suspended all its classes and other gatherings till the time normalcy returns. Further decision to restart the class room sessions at the campus will be taken after close monitoring of the situation.

Great Lakes Institute of Management Closes Operations
Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai has been closed for the time being and the classes are suspended as a precaution. According to Dr Suresh Ramanathan, Dean & Principal, Great Lakes Institute of Management, “As with other institutions, COVID 19 has had some impact on our operations. We have pro-actively closed operations ahead of the scheduled date as a precaution. Further decisions on re-opening the institute will be made based on how the situation across India, and especially in Chennai evolves over the next few weeks.”

Jaipuria Institute of Management, Noida, Lucknow Move to Online Classes
All the campuses of Jaipuria Institute of Management are near to complete their academic session 2019-20. Now the remaining last-mile classes have been planned to deliver through online modes. According to the institute, “Jaipuria is focussing on online instruction/teaching for all its PGDM classes, through Impartus, Cisco Webex and Zoom.”

Additionally, the facility is provided to students to discuss their course work with respective faculty members/ mentors across campuses through telephone/WhatsApp and other modes that are available.

SDMIMD completes Class Room Sessions & Exams
SDMIMD Mysore completed the second year program by the last week of February, 2020, with the end term examinations.  The evaluation process was completed by March, 10.  SDMIMD also completed the First year classes by March 18^th and then conducted online examinations for their end term.  However, as per AICTE directive, students will not physically go for Summer internships, but will be doing work from home.  SDMIMD is also planning to supplement this with specific project work to keep the learning going.

For the next term, According to Dr Parasuraman, “Our faculty are gearing up by developing some online and blended content.  SDMIMD has a tie up with TCS Ion for online content launch and under this platform about 100 hours of videos are already up.”

JK Business School Switches to Online Classes
Ensuring that its students do not fall behind academically, JK Business school has shifted its complete classroom learning to online mode of pedagogy for its PGDM, BBA and BCom program students. The online platform offered by Google is G Suite which is aimed at making life easier for work and study from home. It gives advanced streaming tools. As a CSR initiative Google has announced that it would be rolling out free access to ‘advanced’ features for Hangouts Meet to all G Suite and G Suite for Education customers globally. JKBS has partnered with Google to conduct all the classes and official work on this platform that allows to host meetings with up to 250 participants, live stream to up to 100,000 viewers within a single domain, and record and save meetings and classroom sessions to Google Drive. 

Prof. (Dr.) Sanjiv Marwah, Director JKBS said, “While students, faculty and staff were told to leave the campus after the Holi break to ensure social distancing, they all are completely networked and connected through the online mode of teaching and learning.”

Impact of Corona Virus on MBA Admissions in India
The final selection process for MBA admission 2020 in most of the MBA colleges is in final stage. But due to the COVID-19 threat, these B-schools are poised to complete the interview and other process online. However, since the MBA 2020-22 batch in India commences in June/July, the B-schools are banking upon the possibility of corona virus under full control and the problem to get over.   

IIM Kozhikode postpones PI Round
IIM Kozhikode has postponed the personal interview (PI) round for admission to PGP 2020-22 batch. According to Dr Chatterjee, “Interviews for admission to flagship Post Graduate Programme (PGP) scheduled from 23rd March have been postponed.”

IIM Tiruchirappalli Completes Final Selection process
IIM Trichy has completed the PI process for admission 2020-22 batch. The interviews for other courses will be conducted through Skype now. IIM Trichy Director, Dr Metri said, “The PGP admission interview process has already been completed a couple of weeks back and the FPM interview process scheduled next week will be conducted online through Skype.”

MDI Gurgaon Completes Admission Process
The final selection process for 2020-22 batch at MDI Gurgaon is now complete. For the remaining few, the institute is taking the decision shortly. According to Dr Bhatnagar, “We have completed most of the admission process. Only some part of admission process has been postponed. The situation is dynamic and evolving and we will reconsider our options regarding the process soon.”

IMT Ghaziabad released final Admission Result 2020
IMT Ghaziabad has completed its admission process for the batch 2020-22 and has already released the final selection result.

Great Lakes to conduct Online Interviews
While the admissions process for one year flagship PGPM at Great Lakes is completed, the 2 year PGDM admission process is in final stage. The institute is currently evaluating steps to ensure that the process concludes smoothly. According to Dr Suresh Ramanathan, Dean & Principal, Great Lakes, “We have decided to conduct any further interviews in the online mode through skype or other alternatives and avoid any offline interviews going forward in order to minimize physical interaction and ensuring safety for both prospective students and faculty.”

BIMTECH Greater Noida Released Admission Offers
BIMTECH has already conducted its final selection process in different phases and has already issued the admission offers for the PGDM 2020-22 batch. A few remaining interviews are to be conducted online.

Sharing with MBAUniverse.com, Dr H Chaturvedi said, “Our admission process is almost -complete and we have sent admission offers to successful candidates. In a few cases, interviews are pending which will be completed through Skype.”

IFIM Bangalore: Selection Process going on
IFIM Bangalore has completed the application process for the 2-Year PGDM Program in February. Recently IFIM opened the applications to PGDM (IB) program in partnership with State University of New York (SUNY), Albany and Sydney Business School, University of Wollongong for which final selection process is to be conducted.

Sharing with MBAUniverse.com, Dr Chattopadhyay, Director IFIM said, “Given our association with Pearson, we at IFIM Business School are able to conduct assessments in multiple locations across the country followed by video interviews, if required. Since, we have offices and faculty located across Kolkata, Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad, we are continuing with personal interactions in these locations, based on aspirant preferences.”

Jaipuria Institute of Management: Admission process through Skype
Jaipuria Institute of Management is conducting its admission 2020 process for all its campus in Noida, Lucknow, Indore, Jaipur through skype instead of asking the candidates to come to the campus.

The institute has shared, “We shall conduct all admission processes remotely through skype. Our approach will be very transparent and equitable, so none of the aspirants is disadvantaged. Using fair selection practices remains highly important to us.”

SDMIMD Completes Admission Process
SDMIMD completed the interview processes of potential candidates by the first week of March 2020.  The short list was then prepared and offers made.  Acceptance from the candidates has been received. According to Dr Parasuraman, “We have also commenced engagement with the students who have accepted by sending them management literature.  Hopefully, we will soon conduct some webinars for them as well.”

In a message to the prospective students, Dr Parasuraman said, “Like all professionally run institutions, SDMIMD is rising to the challenges and doing its best to ensure that learning and orientation do not get compromised.  Young minds should keep their minds focused on the larger goal and should brush aside the current distractions as a totally unexpected, but hopefully short-lived, interruption.”

These are only a few glimpses of the impact of Corona virus on MBA education. More and more MBA colleges are following the Health Ministry and WHO advisory and are either postponing or cancelling the process and events that require large gathering at the campus to avoid any risk.

Since this is a developing story, MBAUniverse.com will update this article frequently with important information and perspectives. B-schools may share their updates on this issue on email – editor@mbauniverse.biz

Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more updates on Impact of COVID-19 on MBA Education