PGDM Institutions are doing a good job; NEP 2020 to offer opportunities: AICTE Vice Chairman Dr M P Poonia at 11th IMC 2021

Addressed by Policy Makers, Global Thought-leaders, CXOs and Top Directors & Deans, 11th Indian Management Conclave (IMC) 2021,held at MDI Gurgaon on December 20-21, was a big success. One of the highlights of IMC 2021 was the Special Address delivered by Dr MP Poonia, Vice Chairman of All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) on December 21. Dr Poonia shared the view of regulators on implementation of NEP 2020 and role for PGDM institutions. MBAUniverse.com presents key highlights from Dr MP Poonia’s IMC 2021 Address.

State of Management Education India
Dr Poonia started his address by outlining the history of management education in India. “In 1961, two IIMs were established to provide industry with trained management professionals. In last sixty years, management education has boomed in India.”

Sharing latest statistics of management programs at the IMC 2021 conference, Dr Poonia said, “Today, we have 382 PGDM Programs in India. They produce about 1 lakh management graduates every year.” He further added, “Apart from PGDM B-schools, there are 2646 MBA programs in India that fall under the University system. These university based management programs produce about 4 lakh MBAs in a year.”

PGDM Institutions, strong pillars
PGDM, which stands for Post Graduate Diploma in Management, is a two-year business management program offered by AICTE approved stand alone private institutions. Apart from IIMs, most of the Top 50 B-schools in India are PGDM B-schools. PGDM B-schools include XLRI, MDI, SPJIMR, MICA, Great Lakes, IMT Ghaziabad, IMI New Delhi, LIBA, FORE and many others. The reason why PGDM is a Diploma program and not a Degree is the fact that only Universities governed by the University Grants Commission (UGC) are permitted to award Degrees in India. Standalone business schools, which are not part of University system, are governed by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), and award diplomas instead of degrees.

Complimenting PGDM institutions, Dr Poonia said, “PGDM Institutions are doing a good job and are strong pillars of Indian Management Education. Most of them are offering quality education. Their graduates are doing well in job market.”
“PGDM institutions like XLRI, MDI, BIMTECH and many others attending this conference are doing a great service by training students for industry requirements,” Dr Poonia added.

PGDM B-schools are concerned about future as NEP 2020 calls for multi-disciplinary education offered by large scale education entities.

‘AICTE offers complete autonomy to PGDM Institutions’
Appreciating PGDM institutions, Dr Poonia said, “Because PGDM Institutions are offering good quality education, AICTE offers them complete autonomy. Of course there are some minimum prescribed norms to weed out fly by night operators.”

AICTE Vice Chairman elaborated on the autonomy dimension in detail and said, “PGDM institutions are offered Academic Autonomy, Financial Autonomy and Administrative Autonomy.” 

Under Academic Autonomy, PGDM institutions can teach whatever subjects they wish, regulator said. He added that AICTE doesn’t dictate or control the fees that PGDM B-schools should charge, and they are free to charge what market can afford. Dr Poonia also added that PGDM B-schools also enjoy Administrative Autonomy as they can appoint members on their Board and run their institutions as they deem fit.

Dr Poonia also added that PGDM institutions are also being given the autonomy to expand into new course if they wish.

“The emphasis of AICTE is to be a facilitator and not to be a regulator,” Dr Poonia said.

‘PGDM Institutions should not worry in NEP regime’
As is well known, National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, passed by Union Cabinet in June 2020, aims to pave way for transformational reforms in education systems in the country. NEP envisages broad based, multi-disciplinary, holistic education with flexible curricula, creative combinations of subjects, integration of vocational education and multiple entry and exit points with appropriate certification.

An area of concern for standalone PGDM B-schools is that NEP 2020 says that Affiliation of Colleges is to be phased out in 15 years and a stage-wise mechanism is to be established for granting graded autonomy to colleges. Over a period of time, it is envisaged that every college would develop into either an Autonomous degree-granting College offering multiple courses to 3000+ students, or become a constituent college of a university.Benchmarked to IIMs, currently PGDM B-schools offer only management programs, and admit 100-400 students per year.

Assuring standalone B-schools, Dr Poonia said, “PGDM B-schools must not worry. We understand that they are offering only management programs. It is expected that they will continue to function without too many changes when NEP 2020 is implemented.”

“Implementation of NEP 2020 will offer opportunities for B-schools offering quality education,” he further added.

Complimenting IMC Conference, and inviting Policy suggestions from IMC conference, he said, “Led by Shri Amit Agnihotri, Indian Management Conclave is a good effort to bring all stakeholders together every year. AICTE welcomes policy suggestions from IMC Conference on how management institutions can be supported better.”

Organized by MBAUniverse.com in partnership with India’s top B-schools and knowledge Organizations, IMC is India's definitive annual Management Education Conference & Awards Platform. MDI Gurgaon, a pioneer in Executive Education and one of the Top B-schools, is the Partner and Host for 11th IMC 2021.IMC 2021 hosted addresses by top Policy Makers including Dr Rajiv Kumar, Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog andDr Anil D. Sahasrabudhe, Chairman, AICTE.

Directors Roundtable on NEP 2020 discusses challenges and opportunities
Dr Poonia was speaking at the Directors Roundtable at IMC 2021 which brought together Heads of leading B-schools to discuss about NEP 2020 and road ahead for standalone B-schools.

Session was moderated by Dr H Chaturvedi, Director, BIMTECH; Alternate President, EPSI. The session was addressed by Dr Ajit Parulekar, Director, Goa Institute of Management; Dr NR Parasuraman, Director, SDMIMD Mysore; Mr Narayanan Ramaswamy, National Leader - Education and Skill Development, KPMG in India; Mr Raghav Gupta, Managing Director, India and APAC, Coursera; Mr Shreevats Jaipuria, Vice Chairman, Jaipuria Group; Dr Vishal Talwar, Director,  IMT Ghaziabad.

Outlining the issues, Dr Chaturvedi, said, “NEP envisages broad based, multi-disciplinary, holistic under graduate education with flexible curricula. While the policy framework is excellent, it may offer some challenges to standalone B-schools, particularly PGDM B-schools.”

Mr Jaipuria added, “NEP 2020 says that Affiliation of Colleges is to be phased out in 15 years and a stage-wise mechanism is to be established for granting graded autonomy to colleges. Over a period of time, it is envisaged that every college would develop into either an Autonomous degree-granting College, or a constituent college of a university. This can be a double edged sword for PGDM B-schools.”

Read exclusive insights from 11^th IMC 2021 only on MBAUniverse.com:

• IMC 2021 Day 1 hosts Global Thought-leaders & 150 Directors from IIMs, ISB, MDI and top B-schools: C P Gurnani, MD, Tech Mahindra; AICTE Chairman Dr Anil Sahasrabudhe; edX Founder Dr Anant Agarwal; Infosys President Ravi Kumar call for Learner Centric MBA
• IMC 2021 Day 2: NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Dr Rajiv Kumar, AICTE Vice Chairman Dr M P Poonia put spotlight on MBA Education Policy in NEP regime; Dr Janat Shah, Director, IIM Udaipur and top Directors discuss learner centric MBA
• IMC 2021 Awards for Excellence in Management Education: GIM Goa wins Gold; Jaipuria Institute wins Silver

It is noteworthy that IMC 2021 was an exclusive in-person leadership conference. More than 200 Policy Makers, CXOs, Directors, Deans and other stakeholders participated in the conference and awards. Sessions were not telecast online or virtually.

Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more highlights and updates on 11^th IMC 2021 Highlights.