Stop 1-year PG degrees: HRD Ministry to IIMs | Economic Times

NEW DELHI: The HRD ministry has conveyed to Indian Institutes of Management that awarding degrees for one-year MBA violated UGC rules and asked them to immediately take corrective action, a year after IIMs started the practice.Backed by legal opinion from the law ministry, HRD ministry’s communication to all IIM directors on Friday said, “IIMs have been awarding degrees such as the one year executive MBA degree in violation of the UGC regulations” and ‘directed’ them to act as per degree granting norms of the University Grants Commission, Act , 1956, ET has reliably learnt. UGC norms allow Master’s degree only for two year courses as per the 3+2 higher education format. One year courses are referred to as post graduate diplomas, unlike in many western nations which follow a 4+1 format with one year Master’s degree on offer.While IIMs have been keen to award degrees for the one year programme in view of global competition, the issue became contentious in the last few years as the precedent it could set for higher education in India. After the IIM Act, 2017, allowed degree granting power to the business schools, top IIMs brought in new regulations at their board of governors level to permit awarding of degrees for their popular one year MBA course.The HRD ministry objected to the degree in 2018 and 2019 through official communications and meetings of the IIMs’ boards of governors. However, IIMs went ahead with the degree, with IIM Bangalore, IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Calcutta and IIM Indore all offering them. The issue took a fresh twist with the law ministry saying that the move violated norms after vetting the regulations that were sent in for approval. The law ministry has said IIMs had power to grant degrees, diplomas and other academic distinctions but the IIM Act, 2017, did not define a ‘degree’ nor empower IIMs or the boards to make any regulations in this regard.