Understanding the difference between PGDM and MBA.

PGDM Vs MBA

PGDM is an acronym for “Post Graduate Diploma in Management”. The confusion here is with the term Diploma. Many students are of the view that it is a Diploma course and not a Degree. When an Institute is an autonomous body (meaning it is not affiliated to any University) and conducts management courses then such Institutes cannot offer MBA degree instead, they can offer PGDM. IIMs, XLRI's doesn't offer MBA degrees and they give PGDM as they are autonomous. On similar lines AICTE (All India Council for Technical Education) is allowing approved colleges to run a PGDM courses. Some Business Schools offering this AICTE PGDM course need not be autonomous, the PGDM course will be autonomous given by the Institute & directly approved by AICTE, Ministry of HRD, Govt of India and has nothing to do with any affiliation with regional universities or University Grants Commission (UGC).

University Grants Commission controls the Universities in India and AICTE - All India Council for Technical Education has control on both technical and management courses and especially colleges not under any affiliation with Universities. Even colleges offering UGC recognized MBA Programmes in most cases should have AICTE approval too.

Advantage of Institute’s Autonomy

When an Institute is autonomous, they can design their own curriculum based on employability of students in industry and update their syllabus quiet often.Affilitated institutes should follow the syllabus that is prescribed by Universities and hence the syllabus is quiet outdated as it changes usually every 3 or 5 years.

Hence one can say that PGDM courses are more Industry relevant, up to date as compared to MBA courses. However University MBA Programmes too are of value, it totally depends on the University one wish to do MBA.

Equivalence of PGDM with MBA

Not necessarily that a PGDM is equal to MBA because if PGDM is to be an equivalent to MBA then the college offering the PGDM course must have accreditation from AIU (The Association of Indian Universities) and AIU issues an equivalence of your PGDM course with MBA.

Various common national level tests to get into the finest B-Schools of India are:

• CAT: All IIMs' and 100+ more institutes.
• XAT: XLRI Jamshedpur, XIM Bhubaneshwar, S. P. Jain, GIM etc.
• SNAP: Institutes affiliated with Symbiosis University
• MH-CET: Colleges in Maharashtra
• CMAT: All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE)

National Level Tests

S. No.	Entrance Exam	Institute	Eligibility	Tentative Month
1	MAH-CET	Directorate of Technical Education, Maharashtra State	45% in Graduation in any discipline	February/March
2	CUSAT	Cochin University of Science and Technology	Graduation in any Discipline	June
3	PAM-CAT	GNDU, Amritsar / PTU, Jalandhar / Punjbai University, Patiala	Graduation in any Discipline	June/July
4	MET-MP	MADHYA PRADESH PROFESSIONAL EXAMINATION BOARD	50% in Graduation	July
5	TANCET	Anna University, Chennai	Graduation in any Discipline	May
6	OCET	Punjab University, Chandigarh	Different Eligibility for Different course	June
7	UP-SEE	UP Technical University	45% in Graduation in any discipline	April
8	Orissa JEE	Orissa JEE	Graduation in any Discipline	May
9	GCET	Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board	50% in Graduation	July
10	KMAT	KARNATAKA PRIVATE POST-GRADUATE COLLEGES' ASSOCIATION	Graduation in any Discipline	July
11	RMAT	Rajasthan Technical University	50% in Graduation	June
12	UPMCAT	Uttar Pradesh Technical University	Graduation in any Discipline	May
13	ICET	Andhra Pradesh	Graduation with 50 %	May