IIMB 1-yr executive MBA from July '06

Insead, B-schools at Lancaster, McGill to be role models

The Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB) is likely to launch its own one-year executive master of business administration programme (MBA) from the next academic year, starting July 2006, IIMB sources said.

The institute will most likely use the 'common admission test' to select candidates for this full-time residential programme, they said.

In addition to its own experience IIMB will draw heavily on what three reputed international MBA schools do with their executive education courses, the sources said.

"We have existing tie-ups with Lancaster in UK, McGill in Canada, and Insead, France, through an international management programme for experienced managers."

IIMB will learn from the executive MBA programmes of these schools, as "the quality of the course will be paramount. This is the key reason we are going slow on this", they said.

IIMB, along with its sister institutes in Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Lucknow, Indore and Kozhikode, runs a popular two-year post-graduate programme (PGP) in management. The PGP draws more fresh graduates and those with about a year's work experience than the ones with more experience.

MBA degrees became popular, starting some 50 years ago, as post-war industrial development took off in the US, UK and Europe.

In the US and UK, the MBAs were initially attached to universities, and therefore had more academic flavour, and less relevance to the corporate world. In Europe, some of the best schools, such as the IMD and Insead, were started by large companies.

In the universities, the need for relevance was noticed and the better schools took steps to improve their courses and the best modern MBA schools continue to be in the West.

They have also been faster to introduce the one-year programmes, especially in Europe. Some insist on full time experience of upto five years.

In the last two years, the Indian scenario too has changed, with corporate companies more interested in giving formal management training to talented executives. Such employees have also often found the "opportunity cost" (earnings lost) of the conventional two-year programme unattractive.

One B-school that started off with a one-year course, and found many talented takers, is the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad.

The IIMs too have begun to put together good one year courses in general management. "The idea is to give experienced executives the latest in modern management techniques," an IIMB official said.

On Sunday, IIMB also saw the first batch of its 26-week distance course graduate. Over a hundred graduates from firms such as the Tata Group, Infosys, L&T Group, and even General Electric got a certificate in executive general management.

IIMB is among several "B-schools" in the country that introduced these courses, riding on a VSAT network, in partnership with Hughes Escorts Communications Limited.

Students spend 26 Saturdays, taking live interactive classes broadcast from the IIMB campus across a network of classroom-studios in the country.