Giving a shock wave to the MMS 2017-19 aspirants, Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies (JBIMS) Mumbai has announced 200% hike in MMS fee structure with effect from academic session 2017-18. The fee for domestic general category candidates going to pursue MMS 2017-19 course at JBIMS, Mumbai will shoot up to Rs. 3 lakhs per annum from the existing fee of Rs. 102,290/-.
Announcing the substantial hike in fee, JBIMS Mumbai has released the brief note on ‘Revision of MMS Course Fees from the academic year 2017-18’ stating “Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies (Autonomous) announces the revision of course fees for its 2-year Masters in Management Studies (MMS) Programme. From the year 2017-18 onwards, the revised fees will be INR 3 Lakhs p.a for General Students.
JBIMS is now an autonomous institute and its fee structure is no more regulated by the Government of Maharashtra state controlled Shikshan Shulka Samiti (SSS). JBIMS gained an autonomous status within the University of Mumbai ecosystem in July 2014. Despite gaining the autonomy, the fee at JBIMS continued to remain low till last year and JBIMS stood among the low fee – high placement MBA colleges in the country.
Revised Fee structure: Domestic candidates
With the sharp increase in fee, MMS students at JBIMS will have to shell out around Rs. 4 lakhs more than what they used to pay earlier. The total fee for 2 years MMS programme will now come to Rs. 6 lakhs as against Rs.2,04,580/-
Revised Fee structure: NRI/PIO students
Apart from the domestic general category candidates JBIMS has increased the fee for NRI/PIO candidates as well. JBIMS has further informed “For NRI/FN and PIO students will be charged twice the amount of fee for General Students i.e. INR 6 lakhs p.a.” It means the 2 years MMS programme fee for the NRI/FN and PIO students will stand increased to Rs. 12 lakhs.
Highest percentage fee hike among B-schools
In terms of percentage hike in fee structure, JBIMS has left behind the IIMs who have resorted to 10 to 20% fee hike periodically. The 200% fee hike at JBIMS is the only example of steep fee increase in MBA/MMS/PGDM programmes.
Candidates in dilemma
Shelling out 200% more funds could pose problem for the JBIMS aspirants. There is a huge difference between arranging Rs. 2 lakhs and arranging Rs.6 lakhs for study of MMS at JBIMS. Candidates are in dilemma how they would get some financial assistance to meet out their fee and other expenses at JBIMS. Earlier they could complete the 2 years MMS with 2 – 3 lakhs but now more than 7-8 lakh rupees will be required to meet the fee and other expenses at JBIMS.
200% Fee Increase – a bye product of Autonomy?
It appears that due to autonomy JBIMS has increased so much fee in one go instead of increasing it gradually. There is no doubt that the operational costs are increasing in all the MBA colleges. But the 2 years MMS programmes in Maharashtra B-schools are highly subsidized and their fee structure is decided by the ‘Shikshan Shulka Samiti’ a Maharashtra Government regulated body.
Since the autonomy has allowed JBIMS complete academic and administrative freedom, JBIMS can now not only devise its own fee structure but can also add new courses as well as modify the curriculum as per the needs of the industry and society, can prescribe rules of admission, different methods of evaluations, effectively raise and use funds, develop better infrastructure, and forge partnerships with international institutions.
Fee hike to impact RoI adversely
JBIMS has the legacy of 100% placement record with high average placement packages. The Return on Investment at JBIMS has remained high. The Alumni base is large and is spread all over the world. However, with such a fee hike, the Return on Investment would dip for MMS programme at JBIMS. As a consequence the B-school may lose its high ranking position also.
Admission to MMS 2017-19 through DTE CAP
The revised Admission policy announced by JBIMS, Mumbai proposes to offer admission through the Centralized Admission Process (CAP) to be conducted by DTE Maharashtra for all the 400 MBA-colleges. JBIMS will now offer admission through DTE-CAP 2017 instead of conducting its own GD-PI round. According to JBIMS “The admission process for MMS for the academic year 2017-19 will be same as conducted last year for 2016-18. Any change in the process, if any, will be intimated on the website.”
JBIMS, Mumbai has taken a U-turn from its earlier announced admission policy for MMS 2017-19. In December 2016 JBIMS had announced that it would not participate in DTE-CAP and will conduct its own admission process.
JBIMS Mumbai is one of the top MBA colleges of India but during the past 3 years especially since it was awarded the status of autonomous management institute in 2014, it has changed its admission process every year. Due to the frequent shift in its admission policy, JBIMS has been creating an environment of uncertainty and panic among the candidates.
For the admission 2016-18 JBIMS participated in DTE-CAP 2016 and offered admission to the high percentilers in other national level entrance tests apart from MAHCET 2017. In 2015 JBIMS accepted only CAT and MAH-CET exam scores as the final admission round was conducted by this B-school as an autonomous body
For admission to MMS 2017-19 batch, all the candidates who have appeared and scored good percentile in CAT 2016; XAT 2017; CMAT 2017; MAT 2016-17 apart from MAHCET 2017 are eligible to be considered for admission to JBIMS, Mumbai.
The Directorate of Technical Education (DTE) Maharashtra will conduct Centralized Admission Process (CAP) 2017 in May 2017 for admission to 40000+ MBA/MMS seats in 400 Maharashtra B-schools including JBIMS, SIMSREE, K J Somaiya, PUMBA, N L Dalmiya, DSIMS, Dy Patil, FLAME among others.
Although it is not awarded the status of deemed university, the B-school deserves all the benefits of a deemed university if we look at its legacy, status, learning, industry connect, campus placement among others.
Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies (JBIMS) Mumbai is one of the 3 highest ranked B schools in Maharashtra with SPJIMR and NMIMS and is one of the top 15 B schools in India. JBIMS, a Mumbai University B-school, was granted the status of Autonomous institute in late 2014. The B school used to have a low fee structure as the fee was decided by the Shikshan Shulka Samiti, Maharashtra. The current fee increase is sudden and it is expected that Government of Maharashtra might intervene to contain the fee hike to lower percentage level than announced by JBIMS.
Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more updates on JBIMS, Mumbai
