Not able to Decide if EPGP IIMK is for me?

In last Two days since the results are out I have been receiving calls and emails from well wishers and friends who have cleared EPGP asking me for guidance about this course. Some of the questions asked are given below –

But in general a word of caution here that these views are my own and what I have got to know in last 1 year studying at IIMK 🙂 🙂 🙂

A) How is the course in terms of depth? :: Entire EPGP course is divided into two years – Year 1 and Year 2. Each year is divided into 4 terms, 3 months each. Each Term has 6 and/or 7 courses. 2nd years is specialization. Each course has a certain Credits associated with it. E.g. an economics course has 2 credits while Environment Management has 1 Credit and Marketing Management has 3 credits. A 2 and 3 credits courses are taught for 18 Hrs i.e. (6 days – 3 Hrs each) in a class room session while a 1 credit course finishes off in 9 Hrs. For each of the courses evaluation mechanism consists of Attendance/Class Participation (Not mandatory)(5-10% weightage), Quizzes (20% weightage), Assignments (10-15% weightage), Projects (20% weightage) and End Terms Examination (50-60% weightage). Most of the Project and Assignment are Group assignments of 4-6 students

Now looking at this you would find that considering the number of courses and class room session hours available in hand and looking at syllabus to cover often it becomes a race against time. Course is very much compressed for EPGP students for two reasons – a) They are already having industry exposure of more than 5 years and b) There are only 9 hrs study classes in a week which is very less if you compare it with PGP student. PGP student has to be in more effort and program is of higher rigour.

B) How will it add value to my career after I complete 2 years course from IIMK? :: It depends on what kind of value are you looking at. In case one is fantasizing of higher pay packages just because he has finished his EPGP course then this is a far fetched dream. In case one is looking at jumping to newer function areas (like moving from Operations to Sales) and think that he can command same salary as he was getting in his current role then also it is not a good idea to think so. However if you are serious on doing this course and are aiming to enhance your knowledge and skills and are trying to get a better understanding of different Organizational functions. then this course is for you.

Learnings in EPGP happens mostly through various case studies of industry. Many of the cases are directly picked up from Harwards Business Review (HBR) and other journals. So going through tons of case studies and getting to know various subject would definitely give you a better insight and be more organized and focussed.In case you are looking at transitioning to newer jobs and/or higher responsibilities these learnings would definitely help you.

Career progression also depends on various skill set of an individual and is not solely dependent on EPGP program of IIMK only 🙂 If you are in s right sized organization which is growing and you have good inter personal skills and there exists an appropriate oppurtunity in your organization you surely would go to higher role/more salary.

C) How do you compare the courses with other similar courses being offered by colleges like XLRI, IIMC, IIML by Hughes / NIIT / Reliance :: Here again provider does not matter if you are doing it from Reliance / NIIT / Hughes … What it depends on is whether organizing institute and you as a student is serious enough to do the course. Among others I surely can say that this program is better managed, more organized and more professionally driven than other institutes. Professors seemed to be more serious about this program. There were also talks of IIMK establishing 5 satellite campuses in Delhi/Mumbai/KolKata/Bangalore/Chennai. Idea behind these centers are to establish more industry linkages and brand building of IIMK and get locational advantage (which is not there currently). Not sure how far are the talks with regards to actual reality but this point was surely discussed in campus. Again one another point to note is that IIMK not just got PGP program AMBA accredited they also got their EPGP also AMBA accredited which shows the seriousness of the institute. Again if you ask me, AMBA certification is more from branding purpose than anyone getting a value of it it. However it shows that program meets some basic requirements and necessary minimum creiteria of global executive MBA.

D) How is the faculty ? :: Overall faculty mix is good. Some of them are very passionate about teaching their subject like Prof Balooni of Env Management, Prof Atanu Adhikari of Marketing Management, Prof Abhilash Nair of Financial Management and Prof Subhashish Dey of Economics. There are some neutral professors too and in few cases classes are boring too primarily because of delivery not so good, subject awareness and mode of delivery (difficult to maintain focus sometimes). But then this would be same everywhere too.

E) Diploma / Certificate :: Again I would here link to what value you want to derive out of this program. There definitely exists a flexibility to convert EEPGM program to EPGP program and vice versa. One can take 1 year break in every year of the course study if situation permits (needs approval of IIMK though)