MHRD has asked the IIMs to stop awarding degrees for 1-year PG (Executive MBA) courses as it is not in line with UGC rules.
The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) has asked the Indian Institute of Management (IIMs) to stop awarding degrees for 1-year PG (Executive MBA) courses as it is not in line with UGC rules and directed the institute to take immediate corrective action.
According to a report published by The Economic Times, the HRD ministry’s communicated to all IIM directors on Friday that, “IIMs have been awarding degrees such as the one year executive MBA degree in violation of the UGC regulations”. The ministry has also reportedly directed the institutes to act as per degree granting norms of the University Grants Commission, Act, 1956.
“All IIMs are directed to act as per the provisions of the IIM Act, 2017 and the interpretation of Department of Legal Affairs that in awarding degrees, the institute required to act in conformity with UGC Act, 1956,” The Economic Times reported.
UGC norms allow granting of degrees to only those Master’s programmes, which are of two years duration (as per the 3+2 higher education format). One-year courses are referred to as post graduate diplomas.
After the passage of IIM Act, 2017, the IIMs were given the authority to grant degrees for 2-year MBA courses. Soon, top IIMs brought in new regulations at their board of governors level for awarding of degrees for one-year MBA courses.
Despite the HRD ministry’s objection in 2018 and 2019, the IIMs went ahead with the 1-year degree, with top IIMs such as IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, IIM Calcutta and IIM Indore offering them.
The Law Ministry, after vetting the regulations sent in for approval, too opined that it violated UGC norms. The Law Ministry reportedly said that IIMs had power to grant degrees, diplomas and other academic distinctions but the IIM Act, 2017, did not define a ‘degree’ nor empowered IIMs or the boards to make any regulations in this regard.
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