Govt asks B-Schools to shut five-year integrated MBA courses
AICTE
has, in a circular, directed institutions not to enrol students to such courses
for the 2016-17 academic year
New
Delhi: The central
government has decided to close down five-year integrated or dual-degree master
of business administration (MBA) programmes offered by many universities and
independent management schools in India. The government had previously closed
down four-year undergraduate degree courses in academic year 2014-15.
A
circular issued by the country’s technical education regulator All India
Council for Technical Education (AICTE) said such courses were “not in line
with the UGC-approved programmes”. The University Grants Commission (UGC) is
the country’s top higher education regulator.
“The
AICTE has decided the following: the dual degree courses have been closed (sic)
and no fresh admission should be permitted from AY (academic year) 2016-17,”
said a circular issued to all institutions.
It
has directed institutions not to enrol students to such courses for the 2016-17
academic year. Students currently enrolled in such courses will be allowed to
exit the course after the end of three years, the circular said.
Ironically,
such courses were approved by AICTE in 2012-13 to suit the different needs of
the industry.
The
five-year integrated course had an exit option at the end of three years with a
degree called bachelor of management (BM), and after four years with bachelor
of applied management. On completion of five years, students were given
master’s degree in applied management.
Former
AICTE chairman S.S. Mantha, who had signed off on the programme, defended his
four-year-old decision. “I don’t think, the integrated course has flouted any
norms. What they have now moved is to shut the five-year integrated
programmes,” Mantha said, pointing out that the circular clearly mentions that
existing students will not face any problem.
The
integrated course was intended to provide an undergraduate degree at the end of
three or four years, followed by a master’s degree in five years. The regulator
had then cited three key objectives for starting such courses:
a)
To educate and groom the students to get entry-level managerial positions in
manufacturing/services organizations or to start and run own ventures with good
business knowledge.
b)
To facilitate the development of students to take up growing challenges and
find and implement solutions that are environmentally viable, ethically correct
and socially acceptable.
c)
To provide for job opportunities at different levels of management within
organizations starting at supervisory level in small and medium enterprises and
middle level management in large PSUs and MNCs.
“What
we had done four years back goes well with the present government’s push for
start-ups. In my view, such courses can create employable workforce for Prime
Minister Narendra Modi’s Start-up India mission,” Mantha added.
Over
10,300 institutions, including more than 3,400 B-schools, come under the purview
of AICTE. But there is no exact data on how many institutions offer such
courses and how many students are enrolled.
Industry
insiders said that since the course is just four-year-old, less than 100
schools offer such courses. “The number of students pursuing such courses are
estimated to be less than 10,000,” said Harivansh Chaturvedi, alternate
president of education promotion society of India, a federation of private
professional education providers in India.
Indian
Institute of Management (IIM)-Indore also offers a five-year integrated
management course but IIMs don’t come under the purview of AICTE.
In
the latest circular, the AICTE said it will safeguard the interests of the
students who have enrolled in such courses since 2012-13.
“There
will be an exit option at the end of three years for the students, who have
joined the dual degree courses in 2015-16 and prior to that, by awarding a BBA
(bachelor of business administration) degree instead of a BM degree,” the
circular said.
C.
Raj Kumar, vice-chancellor of O.P. Jindal Global University, a private
university in Haryana that offers a five-year integrated MBA course, said he is
yet to receive a circular from AICTE.
“As
a university, we are governed by the UGC, not by AICTE. I am not sure, whether
our integrated course will have any impact because of the AICTE directive. Even
if it does, it will not impact existing students,” Kumar said, adding that
there is demand for such courses.
Source | Mint | 2 June 2016
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