PGPM Course

PGPM or Post Graduate Program in Management is a course available to students who have completed their graduation and are now interested in gaining managerial skills. One very important thing to note is that PGPM is a certification course not a degree course and it is offered under several other names also such as PGP, PGPX or EPGP. The course duration is generally 1 year but some colleges do offer 2-year PGP courses. Generally, 2-year PGP courses end in an MBA degree.

PGPM is a great course that imparts management skills to a student through the theoretical understanding of subjects as well as through hands-on exposure via projects and internships. The course is designed keeping practicality in mind and to help professionals climb up the corporate ladder. The curriculum is quite similar to an MBA programme but the duration is shorter, which makes the course suitable for working professionals.

Students of PGPM learn topics such as Marketing, Micro and Macroeconomics, Finance, Business Laws, Organizational Behaviour etc. Students are also provided practical learning opportunities through internships, research work, industrial visits, live projects etc. as part of the course. The PGPM course used to be associated with IIMs but nowadays many private institutes have also started offering these courses due to their popularity.

Highlights of PGPM

Students interested in taking admission to the PGPM course must first ensure that they take note of the eligibility criteria of the course. Colleges judge a candidate's eligibility based on two main factors -- academic background and work experience. PGPM courses are generally open to candidates from all streams. Given below are the details regarding the eligibility criteria of PGPM.

• Candidate must have completed his graduation in any stream from a UGC-recognized college or university.

• Candidate must have received a minimum of 50% aggregate marks or equivalent CGPA in his graduation. Some colleges may specify different minimum percentage criteria.

• Reserved category students are given a relaxation of 5% in the minimum percentage criteria.

• PGPM courses require candidates to have at least 2 years of work experience to be eligible. However, depending upon the college up to 5 years of work experience may be required for PGPM admissions.

PGPM Admission Process

PGPM has an entrance exam based admission process. Most of the colleges offering PGPM in India first shortlist eligible candidates on the basis of their scores in an entrance exam and then they conduct their very own selection process for the final selection of candidates. Given below is the general admission / selection process of PGPM colleges. The exact process may vary and candidates must refer to the admission policy of their college to understand the exact procedure that they must follow.

• Candidates must first fill up the application form of the college that they are interested in. Application forms of almost all of the PGPM colleges can be filled online from the official website of the college.

• Next step is to sit for entrance exams. The most commonly accepted entrance exams for PGPM admissions include CAT / XAT / MAT / CMAT / GMAT.
  Depending upon the college, one or more of these entrance exams may be considered valid. IIMs only accept CAT scores for admission and for admission to the Tier-1 IIMs, a student generally has to get a 99+ percentile score.

• The candidates who clear the cutoff specified by the college are shortlisted to take part in the selection process of the college. The selection process may have up to the following 3 stages or rounds.

  • Written Ability Test (WAT)

  • Group Discussion (GD)

  • Personal Interview (PI)

Course Curriculum

The following subjects are part of the course curriculum of PGOM courses. These courses are mandatory and taught during the first three terms of the course.

Electives

During the 4th, 5th and 6th terms, students are asked to pick subjects from various electives. These electives may be associated with different specializations such as Analytics, Finance, Marketing, Operations etc. Given below are some of the elective courses you can take up in PGPM.

Even though PGPM is not a degree-course, it offers excellent career opportunities to professionals. Opting to go for a PGPM course at the correct time in your career can be very rewarding. Students with work experience and formal management education in the form of a PGP course are in high demand for leading corporate roles. PGPM salaries of students from top colleges can easily surpass the Rs. 10 LPA mark and salaries ranging from Rs. 20 - 25 LPA are also pretty common in the field. In fact, the average salary packages of PGPM students from top colleges constantly cross the Rs. 20 LPA mark.

The shorter duration of the course means that students can start earning earlier than a postgraduate degree or diploma courses and get an advantage in terms of additional work experience as well. What makes the course particularly beneficial is the corporate exposure that the course provides.

Many of the students that take up PGPM do it while still retaining their jobs. Such professionals also see an increase in their job position and salary after completing this course. Professionals are able to take leverage of their enhanced managerial and administrative skills to negotiate higher salary packages and corporations are willing to pay candidates who can bring these set of skills to the table.

The key recruiting areas of PGPM graduates is the private sector. Some of the top recruiting areas for PGPM include:

• Consultancies

• BFSI

• Telecommunication

• E-Commerce

• IT Companies

• MNCs etc.

Top Recruiting Companies for PGPM

There is a requirement for management professionals who have done PGPM in many industries, organizations and private businesses. Some of the top companies hiring PGPM graduates include:

• Cognizant

• Accenture

• Bharti Airtel

• Flipkart

• Amazon

• ITC

• Deloitte

• Citi Bank etc.

The popular job roles available after PGPM include:

• Finance Manager

• Business Officer

• Consultant

• Marketing Analyst etc.