Rule relief

Updated on: Monday, March 28, 2011

Clearing the picture for admission to postgraduate diploma in management (PGDM) programmes this year, the Supreme Court, on March 17, granted interim relief on the recent notification issued by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) that aimed at regulating the PGDM programme in the country.

As per the court order, the institutions offering the programme can now select candidates through any of the five national-level entrance tests, which include CAT, MAT, XAT, ATMA and JMET or any test conducted by the state. The B-schools also retain the power of conducting group discussions and personal interviews for selecting students, which earlier, was being handed over to the state-formed committees and councils. The institutions, however, will have to notify AICTE and the state government about the chosen test for selection.

"We are happy with the interim judgment as XAT remains a selection criterion. We will be starting the admission process soon and hope to complete it by April," said Fr E Abraham, director, XLRI School of Business and Human Resource, Jamshedpur.

The apex court has also entitled the institutions to charge their own fees. The schools will have to inform the technical council and the state governments about the fees structure which might be sent to the fee fixation committee for review.

"We support the move of fee structure being monitored by the state authorities as this will bring about transparency and reduce malpractices," said JD Singh, director general , Jaipuria Institute of Management.

As to governance, the court has advised the B-schools to have two invitees on their board, one from AICTE and one from the respective state governments. Also, AICTE has withdrawn its notification to discontinue the part-time PGDM courses.

"After the court order we can chart out the roadmap for management education. We are already in talks with Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) to develop a model code of conduct for PGDM institutions ," said H Chaturvedi, alternate president, Education Promotion Society of India (EPSI).

EPSI, Association of Indian Management School (AIMS) and Jaipuria group of institutions had filed a combined petition in the Supreme Court against the recent notification of the AICTE. The eight guidelines issued by the council empowered the respective state government to regulate the fee and curriculum of the PGDM programme.

"As the AICTE has not come up with a revised curriculum for this session, we will continue to follow our own curriculum which is in tune with the industry standards. We are hoping that a curriculum is not imposed on us," stated Fr Abraham.

Times of India

Rule relief

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