Why does PGDM prevail over MBA as ever?


When it comes to seeking admission for a full-time management course, the confusion among parents and students calls for clarity. Being a senior professor for well over 12 years and having taught both MBA and PGDM students for at least half the time each, I see sense and substance in both the courses. I have seen my students in either of these two streams doing extremely well in terms of job prospects, pay package, employability and job satisfaction. Students who are industrious will do well in any industry!


 As Abraham Maslow once quipped,’ If you have a hammer in the hand you will see every object as a nail’. To be equipped for future is a matter of an individual choice and commitment and in that sense a management course is as good by any other name.  However, I see PGDM course stealing a march over MBA in the following areas:
  1. PGDM (Post Graduate Diploma in Management) is designed and driven by the Institute offering it. The name of the Institute and its image is the pivotal force behind the course. Hence it is more likely that such Institute would put its heart, mind and soul into it.
  2. PGDM course is generally conceived, designed and delivered though a well chosen senior industry based faculty and the senior level corporate executives who demonstrate passion for teaching. It therefore goes without saying that delivery in PGDM course would be the best by any standards.
  3. There are many corporates in our country that would prefer to go to PGDM institutes for recruitment as they are quite sure of the ‘products’ they look for.  Students doing PGDM course would be more industry ready by day one itself (Day one desk fit) than any other.
  4. Thanks to presence of corporate executives as teachers and mentors, seeking out internships is much easier and direct. Eventual placement in appropriate positions is the natural corollary.  It may so happen that same set of external visiting faculty act as class room teachers, internship guides and even as employers or colleagues.
  5. Teaching process in PGDM course tends to be highly interactive, process based and industry relevant. Students in PGDM course are exposed to a whole lot of practical and live cases. This lends deep insight into their understanding of theoretical inputs.
  6. In Nitte School of Management, where I am a full time professor, we have gone a few steps ahead. We have put in place dual mentorship which means that every student has the advantage of having two mentors- one from the Institute, one from the Industry- continually.  Proximity to mentors adds momentum to maturity scale and employability of students.

Having said this, this is not to discount the relevance or utility of MBA courses even in the least.  As Emerson once said, ‘It takes all sorts of weather to make an atmosphere, all sorts of things to make a year’, any course well taken, well grounded and well directed would be as good. It all depends upon the takers and how they put it to use.
By, Dr. N J Shetty, M.Com, MBA, MA (Psy), LLB, PG. DHRM, PG. DMM, D. TD, CAIIB, Pragya, Ph.D. Professor & HOD, NITTE School of Management, Bengaluru.


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