For working professionals, IIM A offers blended MBA at par with regular program Premium

IIM Ahmedabad's Blended Post Graduate Programme in Management offers flexibility for working professionals to balance career and academics.

IIM Ahmedabad is gearing up to select its second batch of working professionals for admission to the Blended Post Graduate Programme in Management (MBA-BPGP) that targets working professionals through an 80% online component. The institute says the blended programme is at par with the sought-after regular MBA programme -- tuition fee is same although students can save on other expenses and admission is outside CAT exam.

Professor Bharat Bhasker, Director, IIMA, says that India aspires to become a five trillion economy and the second largest one by 2047. To achieve these targets it needs ten to fifteen times more management professionals than the current figures. “If we compare the current capacity of India producing management professionals with the U.S., it is quite low. Especially with the quality filter, the top 30 institutes produce only about 10 to 15 thousand professionals”, he said.

To match these numbers quickly, physical infrastructure would be a barrier. So 80% of the MBA-BPGP programme happens online.

Spanning six terms, the programme includes about 900 hours of classroom instruction and project work, equating to 36 credits. The on-campus classes are held for five days at the beginning of each term, and the rest nine weeks are online. “The on-campus classes are to help students familiarise themselves with the faculty, to ensure quality interaction during online classes”, said Professor Bhasker. Professor Joshy Jacob, Chairperson, BPGP, IIMA, said, “The in-person sessions focus on building essential personal and group management skills, while the online sessions emphasise analytical tools and frameworks”.

The two-year postgraduate programme is designed to suit working professionals, entrepreneurs, and individuals aspiring for managerial or entrepreneurial growth by enhancing their skills and learning while continuing their current pursuits. Working professionals and entrepreneurs with a minimum of 15 years of study as per the education system in India and with a minimum of three years of full-time work experience after completion of graduation can apply for the programme.

The institute has run some short-term residential courses earlier as well for upgradation of working professionals. They intended to help technical and other professionals to learn managerial skills when they need to take up leadership roles. “Many graduates of our short-term residential programme are CEOs today, they just needed a little bit of polishing which we offered”, said Mr. Bhasker.

To continue such residential programmes, the caveat now is that companies can no longer send employees away for such residential programmes. The residential programmes can also accommodate less number of individuals. “There was this void, due to which we decided to conduct this in online mode”, said Mr. Bhasker.