Tag Archives: IIM

Take Two: The Future of the Two-Year Full-Time MBA in India

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© Priya Narayanan, Assistant Professor of Marketing, IIM Kozhikode. Views are personal.

This article was first published online on December 13, 2024 as a special feature in the IIM Ahmedabad alumni magazine WIMWIAN and is available here on IIMA’s website for the magazine. Note: I hold an MBA (the two-year full-time kind!) and a PhD, both from IIM Ahmedabad. The programs that I teach at IIM Kozhikode are listed at the end of the article.

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Recent months have witnessed an emerging debate on the relevance of the two-year full-time MBA programmes across B-schools in India. With the rise in online and hybrid programmes boosted by the pandemic, and prospective students reconsidering spending two full years on academics, the flagship postgraduate programme at IIMs and other B-schools is under scrutiny.

To understand the issue, it is important to note that IIMs, especially the older IIMs, had historically been endowed with the mandate of training managers for the country. These institutes did so through rigorous academic programmes spanning a vast curriculum traversed over two years, and churned out general managers who could hold their own in any field.

The evolving MBA

Over the years, many things have changed but many things have held steady. Demand for the two-year full-time MBA (referred to as PGP, using legacy terminology) continues unabated: the most recent 2023 edition of the Common Admission Test (CAT) that originally provided admission to the IIMs but is now adopted by several other B-schools was written by 2.88 lakh candidates, an increase of 30% over the previous year. Clearly, the numbers attest to the popularity of the PGP.

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To My Students – Soar High and Fly Far!

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© Priya Narayanan, Assistant Professor of Marketing, IIM Kozhikode. Views are personal.

There’s a glorious joy in standing next to your peers, wearing the black robe, and receiving the degree. There’s a sense of two tumultuous years of struggle, fun, excitement, boredom, stress, success, and learning, all trying to bundle themselves into a few joyous moments.

On this convocation, as my first set of students graduate, it is no exaggeration when I say that I feel the same joy as I did over a decade ago. Of course, this time round, my joy is for all of you, my students, who made me a teacher. Because you created every moment that I have been a teacher.

You made me think, you made me laugh (and cry, believe it or not!). I doubted myself, then conquered those doubts, only to have other doubts come up. I became more empathetic, inclusive, confident, perceptive, all through your relentless training. And by now I have forgotten how I have also been irritated and desperate!

Thank you for everything.

Whatever you did as a student, whether you prepared or not, spoke up or not, turned on your video or not (!), I hope you gave your best. Because to give our best is all we can really do.

Soar high and fly far! The sky awaits with promise.

The sky on convocation eve at god’s own Kampus!

P.S. When you come back to campus, all grown up, do say hi because I fondly remember every one of you!