Many young people out there are in a dilemma when it comes to understanding the difference between MBA and a PGDM. The confusion becomes greater when some b-schools put out ambiguous offerings in the guise of the same. To help ease your understanding, below is a breakdown of both what is an MBA and a PGDM and a few thoughts on how you should go about picking a course best suited for you!
As the name suggests, the Post Graduate Diploma in Management or PGDM, is predominantly a diploma program, offered by B-schools/Colleges that are recognised by Government of India’s nodal body for technical education - All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE); autonomous institutes, which are not affiliated with any university. It is aimed at ambitious, target-oriented, professionals with typically 2 to 5 years of work experience, which transforms them further with an array of skills and attributes their name to business managers and decision makers.
A Masters in Business Administration, or the MBA, is a degree course offered by the Universities (both Government and Private) and Colleges affiliated to these Universities.
The syllabus of PGDM is closely related to industry practices and trends. It enhances the communication, interpersonal skills, helps develops decision making skills and analytical thinking in every student.
An AICTE approved PGDM course will make way for numerous placement opportunities for the students. The employers usually prefer students with some creative and out of the box ideas, someone who can perceive roadblocks as challenges and opportunities. For prospective students with work experience, who are industry ready, and looking into moving up in their career ladder, the PGPM is a great choice. It goes without saying that the student should be highly ambitious, determined, dedicated and motivated.
Finally, a PGDM helps enable you to create your own start up in today’s dynamic and volatile market, and be your own boss. All those who wish to have creative freedom and make profits for themselves, a management degree can be the first step. When it comes to an MBA, it is usually offered only by management institutes which are affiliated to a University.
The MBA curriculum strives to provide organisations and MNCs with candidates of the required managerial skill needed to run them. Even if suppose you don’t take up a career in finance or consulting (the choice of the majority of MBA students), the skill set that you acquired in the classrooms are certainly transferable to other roles, such as healthcare, public service, energy and the consumer goods sector. A research fact states that of 42 CEOs of the Fortune top 100 companies hold an MBA.
MBA also gives a shot at some strong networking. With personalities from the field usually taking lectures in colleges, you get access to a large network of contacts that one can utilise.
Those who come out with an MBA come with a high level of credibility and the course has a high focus on future managers. There is also an emphasis within the course on team working and role playing exercises, which help in building rapport with people and makes one a more rounded person.
One of the bigger highlights of the PGDM course over MBA is that the curriculum of PGDM is more flexible. It gets updated from time to time, keeping in mind the current market movements. On the other hand, the curriculum of MBA won’t be different, it gets updated once in 3-4 years or maybe more. (PGDM programs are more flexible and customized while MBA programs are University run and therefore its adaptability is difficult at short notice).
While the MBA focuses more on theoretical aspects of management which helps develop technical skills and business knowledge, the PGDM gives importance to building soft skills, making it more hands-on and job oriented.
Yet, MBA helps the students in developing their technical and social knowledge and is for people looking for managerial roles which involve supervising, decision-making etc. On the other hand, the PGDM course prepare the students for senior and complex roles in management.
To conclude, while deciding between the MBA or PGDM, the most important thing for a student is to understand his/her personal goals. If one is ready for a corporate job and career, one should choose a B-school/MBA Colleges such as the Acharya Bangalore B-School. Because at the end of the day, corporates don’t really treat MBAs too differently from PGDMs and vice versa. What they really want are candidates that can perform well on the job.
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