AICTE: Why Institutes Can No Longer Offer MBA & PGDM Courses Simultaneously
AICTE has directed 164 standalone institutions to stop offering MBA and PGDM courses simultaneously. Central, state and private universities and institutions deemed to be universities, offering PGDM and MBA courses have to convert all courses into MBA and adhere to the AICTE norms.
In a fresh update, AICTE has directed 164 colleges to choose between offering MBA or PGDM. Even though the governing body prohibits colleges to offer both courses simultaneously, these colleges were found to be flouting the rules and have been asked to convert the MBA course to PGDM or vice versa. AICTE has opened an online window, available on its official website, through which institutes can apply for a conversion of their courses. The last date to apply is 29 February 2020.
AICTE has also provided the reason behind this decision. Since MBA courses can only be offered by institutions that are affiliated to a university, these institutions have to follow the norms set by the universities when deciding factors related to the course, such as the course curriculum and fee structure. However, state governments have the authority to put regulations on the fee structure of the MBA course. To sidestep this rule, institutions are offered these courses as PGDM and charging high fees for the same while providing an MBA degree at the end. Students are often found to be unaware of these regulations and are falling for these tricks and getting an MBA degree at a much higher cost than set by state regulations.
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As per data provided by AICTE, Uttar Pradesh has the highest share of these 164 colleges, followed by Maharashtra. The complete state-wise distribution of institutions can be found in the table below.
| State-Wise Distribution of Institutes | |
| State | Number |
| Uttar Pradesh | 54 |
| Maharashtra | 34 |
| Karnataka | 14 |
| Telangana | 12 |
| Madhya Pradesh | 8 |
| Gujarat | 6 |
| Haryana | 6 |
| Tamil Nadu | 5 |
| West Bengal | 5 |
| Andhra Pradesh | 4 |
| Delhi | 4 |
| Odisha | 4 |
| Rajasthan | 2 |
| Uttarakhand | 2 |
| Himachal Pradesh | 1 |
| Jammu and Kashmir | 1 |
| Kerala | 1 |
| Punjab | 1 |
Going by the guidelines, AICTE had barred government or private universities to offer MBA and PGDM courses simultaneously and will have to make a choice between either of the two. PGDM courses can be offered by standalone institutes which are not universities and are not affiliated to any university just like the Indian Institute of Management (IIMs). Deemed to be Universities have included PGDM under ‘Management Programmes’. As per the AICTE Regulations 2020, offering PGDM and MBA in the same institute is not allowed, as per a senior AICTE official.
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Central, state and private universities and deemed to be universities which are offering PGDM and MBA courses under management programme will have to convert all the courses into MBA and follow the AICTE norms. As per the regulations, institutes affiliated to universities have the option of converting all the PGDM courses into MBA with respective university affiliation or vice versa, and then run those under a separate standalone institute. Those who have an MBA degree can apply for PhD but those who have PGM qualification cannot apply for research/postdoctoral studies.
AICTE had also come up with new guidelines recently for engineering and technology colleges which can only come up with new courses in emerging areas such as Robotics and Artificial Intelligence, and not in the usual areas once 2020-21 commences. These guidelines have laid down the benchmark for approval of technical institutes and their permissions renewal for 2020-21.