Trend – EPGP-05

IIMK has increased fees for its EPGP program from 4.99 lakhs to approximately 6.99 lakh + service taxes from year 2010 to 2012. Now question to ask is whether this increase in fees has deterred students in evincing interests in IIMK EPGP program.

Answer is ‘NO’ . If you look at number of students visiting my blog the trend has shown an improvement (slight though). However not sure of the conversion ratio from prospective students to students. Looking at number of queries which came this year I can certainly say that this time I got lesser queries than in year 2011 which may show a declining trend… Who knows.. Lets wait for couple of more days to watch out when student list for EPGP-05 gets published ….

Word Press Blog Trend – 2011-2012

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)

EPGP-04 and EEPGM-11 batch set to join IIMK

First of all let me congratulate all of you who have made it to EPGP-04 and EEPGM-11 course of IIMK. As per information I have IIMK has selected 300 people for the course of which 250 are for EPGP and 50 are for EEPGM program. I heard this time they have waitlisted few of the candidates as well possibly to cover 5% drop out cases as well. All the 300 students would be divided into two sections A and B with each having 150 each with 125 EPGP and 25 EEPGM students. In our batch we were 250 odd people.

Now how many of the candidates were called for written test and interview I have two conflicting information – as per one of the sources 1000 people were shortlisted for written test and interviews and another sources says that number of candidates were more. Not sure which one is true. In any case guys selected have reasons to rejoice and those who couldn’t get through can feel happy that they have other courses – executive/full time to look for and who knows there may be better things planned for them in future.

For the guys who got through they need to be doubly sure before paying up the fees that one has to sacrifice their leisure time, watching TV, time with family, friends and relatives etc. Life becomes busy thereafter and 2 years 3 months commitment is long enough (2011 Oct – 2013 Dec end). First 2 terms would go past pretty quickly but then third and fourth quarter would feel like a stretch. I am in fourth quarter (Year 1) so can’t say about Year 2 now.

If you have made up your mind then pay up the fees, book your flights early and in case IIMK is providing you the accomadation well and good otherwise you would have to book some hotel in nearby places.

Regarding hotels one can opt for Calicut Towers, Malabar Palace, Hotel Hyson. There will be designated Pickup points and from which IIMK bus (each bus has a number) will pick you up. Most of the routes and hotels are covered by bus route so no worries. All these hotels provide Bed and Breakfast services. Breakfast would be mostly Keralite. Not sure of others but I enjoyed the traditional food there. Similarly in the evening buses would drop at the hotel itself. Sumptous lunch would be provided at IIMK canteen itself which will be mostly North Indian to balance both the sides.

On the day of departure while at airport be it Delhi/Mumbai/Calicut you would mostly see EPGP/EEPGM guys in and around and on one look of it you would know that a confused guys is another fellow student all set to go to Calicut.

You need not carry Notebook as well since these would be provided by IIMK as well. It sometimes rains in Kozhikode during this time so check the weather and you may have to carry umbrella though it is not mandatory(I did not carry it). First day would be mostly Introduction, Overview etc.

So welcome once again to student life ….

EMAT Question Paper

Guys,
Sorry for delaying in bringing out the 2nd Question Paper for EMAT. This EMAT was the one which was conducted for IIMK EPGP and/or EMEP program. One caution that files are bit heavy as they are scanned copy but then had no other option. Also recently from 2011 year onward paper is now 1 hr duration and no one is allowed to take paper back home.

EMAT – 1
EMAT-1-IIMK

EMAT – 2
PART – I EMAT-2-IIMK-PART-I
PART – II EMAT-IIMK-PART-II

Second In-Campus program @IIMK

Suddenly a sleepy town of Kozhikode was abuzz with activities…. Students from outsides cities (like Mumbai, Pune, Delhi and elsewhere) started to pour in for their second in-campus module on one sleepy afternoon of 30th May to Calicut. I was one among the crowd. However this time my Organizational Behavior (OB) studies started to come into play and was helping me in analyzing individual, group and team behavior.

Important thing to note was that this time around there were known and familiar faces and I saw people exchanging pleasentaries and greetings be it in aeroplane and/or at airport. People were able to attach face to the name they would have heard before. A perfect example of crowd transforming into a group was seen when almost 30 people waited in a bus which was arranged by IIMK for tranporting people from airport to IIMK campus. Inspite of a humid and perspiring atmosphere at Calicut, people in the bus waited for almost 45 minutes for another bunch of people who had similar flight timings and were coming from Banlagore. However this time there was a tolerance, patience and sense of belongingness and people didn’t mind waiting for fellow students. During this time occasionally one could hear the jokes being cracked by few of the students.In the picturesque locations which resembled a resort at hilltop all of us were provided hostel accomodation which was in no terms less than a 3 star hotel comfort.

On the second day itself one could see this group transforming into team when couple of them took initiatives and formed a cultural committee for a purpose to have more interactions among students and took upon the task to organize intercultural and sports events. One could see the concepts of forming, storming, norming and performing of the team dynamics coming into play during these days. Each classroom gave a name for their own team (Da-bang, Chaplins, C3 and Krazy4) and took upon the task of winning the events. Be it Kaun Bagega CEO (KBC), Ad Mag Show, Roadies and Antakshri and other sports events like Cricket and Kho-Kho the team’s sole mission was to outperform each other and win the event. One could hear cheering, clapping, hooting and slogan being shouted to support their own team during various events. Next couple of days was the time when one could see hidden talent of the students – be it singing, acting, mimicking and/or the sportiness of the people in games like Cricket/Kho-Kho. Students enjoyed the interaction with faculty on two of the nights when a faculty dinner was arranged. There was an excitement and people were eager to take their own picture with the faculty members. We could see the demonstration of the some of the management principles (like self-management, be the change agent etc) when we saw director Debashish Chatterji waiting for us (btw most of us were late for the event by 10-15 minutes) and shaking hands with all of us before his inspiring lecture on Leadership. Earlier known and familiar faces were now friends and collegues and one could see people exchanging phone numbers, emails etc during after their class. Wow!!! I figured out that it was the ‘Adjourning Stage’ of the team. People went their home with pleasant memories of their stay and promised to see each other again for their third in-campus program which they hope would happen during second year of their program.

Leadership Presentation

Given below is the presentation delivered by Prof Debashish Chatterjee @IIMK
—————————
What is Leadership? Is it a means of attaining power, self actualization ,profitabiliy or creating a visibility in the society.

Leadership starts with a question mark (?) and ends with exclaimation (!)……

Have you ever asked a person who is climbing Mount Everest as to why he is climbing the ice clad mountains where in he knows that he may not be able to reach the top. He knows that he would face the wrath of nature with freezing and biting cold on his way upwards. He may loose his hands or feet because of frost bites. What makes him climb Mt Everest…?? Yeah !!! It is this sense of accomplishment and quest which leads him to climb Mt Everest.

Those who have kids knows how difficult it is to take care of kids when they are young. You need to wake up in the middle of the night many times to take care of kids needs. But still you do wake up without complaining. Why? It is because of our own parenting instincts….Leadership in that sense is much like a Parenting Instincts. As an individual we want to parent, perpetuate and multiply our abilities…

Leadership is much like a search of self, a congenital urge that I want to grow and cannot contain in my present form..

Reality has to be challenged. We need to differentiate between what is real and what is unreal. Everyone must have heard a story wherein a minister goes to Indo Pak border and starts inspecting a Gun which a guard was holding – Which side of the gun which you are holding is used for killing the enemy? To which promptly comes the reply that which ever side you shoot, one enemy will die.. So does not matter how you hold a gun..An enemy will die.. Either an external or other side an internal…. What we are seeing is an external enemy but what we have forgottenn is the enemy which is sitting inside. Leadership is challenging what is real. It is not the mountain we conquer it is our own self which one conquers….

What brings happiness? Is that money ..? Money is just just human energy, quest coded in plastic form.. Money doesn’t bring real happiness. It is the passion of doing things which brings happiness, success and money. It the love of the aircrafts which made Boeing a successful company.. The moment their aim became wealth creation for stakeholders they started to decline. Similarly another chemical company 500 years old is able to surprise because of their love for chemistry. But when the focus started to become wealth creation company started to decline…

So leaders are the ones who defines and refines organizational values.  Leadership is all about influence and not manage. A story which goes like – a Russian goes to US and see bread being delivered at home. He wonders and asks who manages this bread supply business in US. Because for him in his communist country(before communism) it was being managed. Yeah but in states it is automatically delivered by market dynamics and not managed by anyone … Russian cannot seems to digest this idea that no one is managing here….. Leaders work “ON” the system while managers work “IN” the system. It is this ON versus IN which makes the whole difference.

When as an individual we cannot manage our son and/or daughter can we manage other employees…. BUT wait we can influence…. we definitely can influence what choice our son/daughter takes/decides be it schooling or whatever. Leadership is all about influencing and not managing. When we say ‘I can manage it’ it  indirectly means ‘I can manipulate it’ …

Leadership is all about being happy in what you do…. Complexity cannot be managed by analysis, complexity cannot be directed… e.g. Sachin Tendulkar may not be able to tell how to manage a team or for that matter how to play a good shot … It is all about his love for cricket he is able to show/demonstrate… Richard Branson of Virgin Atlantic once said that he never knew the difference of what gross and what Net means even though he was handling such a large empire… Dhirubhai when he was building his house foundation was asked by his son as to why he is building a house which can sustain Richter 8 scale earthquake… when in Gujrat they have never experience earthquake higher than 6.5 or 7…No one can predict future outcomes… But few leader can !!! No one knew recent tsunami’s magnitude till it hit japan.

Everyone must have heard the story of 3 different people breaking stone.. Same work yet 3 different actions and 3 different source of energy…. Once a girl at hotel after lighting Agarbatti did an Aarti of herself… On being asked she said -if you can’t worship yourself how can you worship others… When in childhood we used to watch Jet Aeroplane going at faster speed creating thick smoke up in the air… But as a child we get caught up in the thick smoke and suddenly see aeroplane disappearing in that thick smoke…. … Most of us get caught up in that thick smoke that we forget the engine of aircraft which is our life, purpose, mission … Leadership is all about a question mark ? Did I live? and it ends with an exclaimation that ‘Yes I did’

Most of us get caught up into resource and forget about the source …. it is then we realize that we get caught up in resource when we should have looked at source … Leader looks at source than resource … E.g we look as water bottle as a resource .. when that finishes we try to find our another resource but then our focus gets lost as we never try to find out the source of the spring from where water is coming …. In one of the interactions a company @ Gurgaon who deals in quality has mirrors placed at everywhere .. guest houses, cubicles and everywhere …. Below that a beautiful line is written ” Look who is responsible for Quality here”

Executive Management Aptitude(eMAT) Test

Guys,

For those who are looking at evaluating options to join for eMEP and/or ePGP program of IIM Kozhikode enclosed is one sample question paper. A snippet of eMAT is there at IIMK website but this one is a complete model paper. This would help you in preparing for the same. I tried locating the same in and around the web but couldn’t.

eMAT Model Question Paper

For another set refer to EMAT QUESTION PAPER
Ciao and Enjoy

Vinay Bhutani

FAQ on EPGP

• What is the fee for EPGP course from IIMK?

Fee for 2 year ePGP course is Rs 6.99 lakhs plus service tax plus travel cost from your study location to Kozhikode (twice during the course). The fees is collected in installments and most of the amount gets collected within first 15 months of the course.

• Is there any other cost other than the fees?

Nope! Books and other relevant materials are provided by IIMK during the course study and candidate need not worry about the same. There could be cost associated with your travel to Kozhikode and your Hotel stay at Kozhikode (FYI our batch ePGP-03 could not be accommodated in campus) and all of us stayed at various hotels in city. For Term 3 on-campus session the hostel fees to stay in IIMK campus is Rs 750/- per day which makes it Rs 6000/- for 8 days stay.

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• How program is delivered using Interactive Distance Learning (IDL)? What is the effectiveness of the same?

There are various study centers in different part of cities. Before choosing a study center and enrollment for the program it is recommended for candidates to visit the place and talk to the seniors already enrolled in the course.  Normally center coordinators are helpful enough to guide you. Make your own judgment while deciding on the same. IDL platform has a computer with headphone and software where you can see professor delivering the lecture, a chat window to communicate and a video conferencing to do video calling with professor. One can raise a hand, ask questions. The effective of the program can be gauged from the fact that EPGP-03 has 19 candidates sponsored from PATNI (PCS) and 25 of them from SAP Labs. Oracle and other organizations (though my organization doesn’t) also sponsors for the ePGP program from IIMK

• How is the course broken up?

Course consists of Year 1 and Year 2. Year 1 for EPGP is general management and Year 2 is for specialization. Year 1 is divided into four (4) trimesters (terms) each of 3 – 3.5 months duration. Each trimester has 6-7 courses each with 12 – 14 credits. E.g. Environmental management is a 1 credit course and Marketing Management is 3 credit courses.  Most of the courses carry a credit of 2.

• How intensive is the course?

The key to do the course is to attend all the classes and participate in the discussion during the class.  This would help you get the depth which a professor would go while examining during quizzes and/or exams.  Each course has an average of 2 quizzes, 1 project, attendance/class participation and a term exam. Each of evaluation criteria gets added to final total for the final grade.

• What is the Return on Investment for me?

Depends on what you are looking for. If a candidate is looking for salary hike, positioning and other tangible benefits then this course if not for them. If a candidate is looking for learning, skill enhancement, get an understanding of other organizational functions like HR, Marketing, Strategy then this course is a good fit. On an average a candidate is supposed to spend 2 hrs per day for studying the course for effective learning.

• In case I miss couple of classes and am unable to attend because of business exigencies.

In such cases there exists an option where a candidate can request for session which is stored and can be viewed later. Please note that candidate needs to make such request in advance and it takes time to download the entire lecture. Also candidate can attend classes from other cities in case if that is a possibility

• How is the evaluation done?

Evaluation is done using quizzes (on line medium), project and assignment submission using Blackboard(Learning Management System software). All messages, notifications are posted on Blackboard. Term end exams are held in a separate location in a classroom with two invigilators. Please note that End term exam is a paper and pen based exam.

• In case I am posted onsite for short term/long term?

Flexibility is provided that candidate can do the 2 years course in 4 years. During each year a candidate can take 1 year break and can rejoin again with newer batch. However each such request is dealt separately by IIMK IDL office. Also newer fees applicable would be levied on such candidates.

• How do I get admitted to IIM-K EPGP course?

IIMK conducts executive Management Aptitude test (eMAT) with multiple choice format. Shortlisted candidates are then interviewed by a panel of professors. Then a final list is circulated. Typically the average selection ratio is 1:10 for EPGP.  Candidates with 50% or more are normally considered for appearing for eMAT to be taken for EPGP.

• How do you compare PGP and ePGP?

It would be un-wise to compare PGP and EPGP as both differ in their rigor and the candidate mix. Typically a candidate in EPGP has more than 5 years of industry experience and a higher level of understanding. FYI our batch’s average experience level was 10 years. Course for PGP is of higher rigor than EPGP because the course in EPGP has been crashed for maximum of 18 hours per course. Level of interaction in PGP is higher because of active participation. However the course is taught by same professors and course curriculum is almost the same.

• AMBA certification – Is there any validity for AMBA certification

Yes, AMBA certification is valid for 2 years and then institute has to re-apply for AMBA certifications. EPGP prior to 2010 was not AMBA certified as there was some mandatory requirements were missing like lectures on Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Business Proposal, Business Modelling. During in-campus modules lectures on all these subjects were conducted and thats how IIMK could get their EPGP AMBA certified.

• Are there any places to see in and around Kozhikode/Calicut?

Yes, Calicut/Kozhikode is surrounded by beaches. There is a City Beach (1-2 kms) andBaypore Beach (20-25 kms from city) which is bit isolated and is not that crowded as Mumbai’s Chowpati/Juhu beach. Then there is Kappad Beach which is situated 16 km from the city. Buses are readily available from city bus station(New Bus Stand) you have to get down at Thiruvangure three KM away from beach,  a stroll along the stretch takes you to the beach where,Vasco  Da Gama the famous Portughese traveller alighted  four centuries back, in search of the land of fantasy – India.

• I am coming to Kozhikode for the first time. What are the souvenirs I can get from Kozhikode?

One can get wooden boats – both big and small one as a souvenirs. Karachi Halwa and Oman dates are famous as well. Karachi Halwa one can get of varied taste like pineapple, banana, dry fruits etc etc. One can also buy ‘Pathimukham’ a herb to be mixed with water while drinking.

• I am coming to Kozhikode for the first time. Where are the places I can stay

There are lots of hotel in Kozhikode with Malabar Gate, Renaissance, Maharani, SPAN, Hyson, Gateway to name a few. Please note that you can negotiate with hotels for a cheaper stay as many of the hotels offer 10-20% discount if a candidate is from IIM Kozhikode. Stay includes Bed and Breakfast as well.