UGC Guidelines: Leading B Schools reject UGC guidelines; EPSI writes to Pallam Raju

The current scene in the Indian MBA education, particularly the PGDM education, can best be described as chaotic, anarchic and sad. Chaotic because MHRD, together with its bodies AICTE & UGC, has ensured that there is no clarity on who will regulate a very important sector like Management education, and sad because the current chaos has got some of the best B-schools, who have produced globally reputed CEOs and entrepreneurs to ask do we deserve this anarchy and apathy!

In the wake of controversial UGC draft guidelines on technical education, 100 Chairmen, Directors & Deans from leading B-schools like XLRI, MDI, SP Jain, IMI, IMT, BIMTECH, TAPMI, FORE, GIM and Jaipuria met in New Delhi at theEducation Promotion Society for India (EPSI) meet,on December 28 to protest against the guideline issued by UGC on December 3, 2013, and later updated on December 23, when some portions of these guidelines were found to be incomplete.

Deans, directors and chairmen resolved that PGDM institutions will not succumb to the pressure of the UGC and will steadfastly protect the autonomy that they have enjoyed for more than 50 years. Apart from EPSI, AIMS and IAABS, the two other national bodies representing management institutions, are also supporting this resolution.

Our Earlier Articles on UGC

UGC Revised Guidelines include PGDM too; encroach on autonomy, fee, admissions
UGC draft guidelines: EPSI to hold interactive meeting with PGDM B Schools heads on Dec 28 in New Delhi
UGC draft guidelines: UGC Draft Guidelines not applicable to PGDM B schools
EPSI meets Pallam Raju; MHRD extends UGC deadline on Tech Education
UGC Guideline: AIMS, FAMPEI join EPSI & B-school Association to oppose
UGC guidelines for technical Institutes; Impact on PGDM unclear
UGC Guidelines: EPSI & Business Schools Association object; fear negative impact on PGDM
UGC draft guidelines: EPSI to organize meeting with PGDM B Schools heads in New Delhi on Dec 28

The meet was addressed by leading management academicians includingFr. E Abraham (Director,XLRI,Jamshedpur); Dr Pritam Singh (Director General,IMI); Prof Shesha Iyer (Director,SP Jain Institute of Managementand Research); Prof Apoorva Palkar (President, AIMS); Prof Bibek Banerjee (Director,IMT); Dr Sunil Rai (Director, Goa Institute of Management); Dr J K Das (Director,FORE Schoolof Management); Mr Sharad Jaipuria (Chairman, Jaipuria Group of Business Schools); Fr. Alex Ekka (Director,XISS) and Dr S Chatterjee (Dean,MDI). The meeting was also addressed by Mr Amit Agnihotri, Founder Chairman, MBAUniverse.com.

It was a unanimous decision thatthe UGC proposal is regressive and similar to AICTEs December 2010 Notification, which was stayed by the Supreme Court. EPSI, AIMS and Jaipuria Group of Institutions had filed three petitions in February 2011 against the AICTEs move. The matter is pending before the Supreme Court for its final verdict.It was resolved to represent this issue to the Ministry of Human Resource Development.
Based on the discussions, EPSI has written a letter to Union HRD Minister Pallam Raju on December 31 asking his ministrys intervention on this matter.

The EPSI letter asks for following two reliefs from MHRD:
AICTE may please be instructed to extend approval to PGDM institutions for academic year 2014-15 pending decision of Honble Supreme Court in writ petition No. 89 of 2011. So far AICTE has not officially communicated any stand to PGDM institutes who have already started process of admissions for 2014-15.

UGC may please be asked to lay its hands off PGDM institutions since these institutions do not offer any degree programme in affiliation with any university.

A copy of the letter has been sent to Prof. Ved Prakash, Chairman, UGC and Dr. S S Mantha, Chairman, AICTE. MBAUniverse.com has a copy of this letter, which also requests the minister to meet the EPSI delegation and hear their grievances in more details.

Meanwhile, quoting an unnamed MHRD source, a leading Newspaper had published a story on January 1 stating that UGC will not be regulating PGDM institutions. The same view is also held by some educationists, who point out that UGC guideline is application only to University affiliated colleges, and PGDM B-schools dont fall under this category.

MBAUniverse.com believes that too much should not be read into one article that doesnt even quotes the source.

We will also like to ask that even if the contents of this media report is correct, it remains to be resolved as to who will regulate PGDM B-schools, if not UGC: AICTE, or any other third party? After all, PGDM B-schools require some legal sanctity and approval to continue their operations.

PGDM B-schools require government sanction and approval, for following key reasons:
-No regulatory approval will mean that PGDM diploma will not be treated as equivalent to MBA, hence putting PGDM holders at a serious disadvantage while seeking jobs, higher education in India and abroad and on many other fronts.
-No regulatory approval will mean that B-schools will have to pay a service tax of 12.3% on their fees collected from students.
-No regulatory approval will also mean that students who are taking admissions in 2014 will not be able to take education loans, as Banks are unlikely to fund a private diploma program.
-In the end, no regulatory approval will create serious questions in minds of parents and prospective students who will be seeking admissions in 2014.

EPSI representatives, along with representatives from AIMS and other bodies, are expected to meet the Union HRD Minister Pallam Raju and share these concerns, and seek intervention. In case the help doesnt come from MHRD, EPSI is certain to go to Supreme Court, and ask for relief.

MBAUniverse.com will keep you undated on this important development. Stay tuned.