Is pursuing a 2-year PGDM equivalent to an MBA?

While most of the people think that PGDM is equivalent to an MBA course, in reality, they are not the same. The first difference is that PGDM is a diploma course declared by AICTE while MBA is a degree course as stated by UGC and AIU. Another remarkable difference is that as PGDM is a diploma course, it is offered by lots of colleges and they have control over the curriculum and the syllabus of the course.

On the other hand, MBA is offered only by AICTE approved colleges and to make a slight change in the syllabus, the college ahs to wait for AICTE to approve of the change, which usually takes a lot of time. This is one of the major reasons as to why PGDM courses are always up to date, while MBA courses are outdated. Due to this specific reason, IIMs offer PGDM courses so as to train the students about the latest changes and trends in the markets, which will help them in future.

If you are thinking of opting a PGDM course instead of an MBA, then you will be trained up to industry level, which every company requires, unlike MBA courses, which are focused more on exams. As they are more theory-oriented and not many practical cases are provided to the students. Some of the major differences, along with the pros and cons of both the courses are stated below.

Difference between MBA and PGDM courses

Firstly, the courses are different, as stated above. While an MBA course is mainly a degree course, PGDM is a diploma course. By doing a PGDM or, Post Graduate Diploma in Management, the course you will be able to handle more practical cases. While in case of MBA courses, practical teaching is less and the students are taught more about theory and classroom teaching.

Another notable difference is that, with the help of a PGDM course, you will always remain up to date, while if you opt for an MBA course, you have to search for new topics and latest cases or trends by yourself as the college which is offering you MBA course will not give you any latest information. Be it an autonomous university or central government, the universities offering PGDM will always provide you with the latest information without you having to look for anything.

Though both PGDM and MBA have the same career growth as the syllabus and the streams are almost same, the students who have done PGDM will be given a bit higher preference than those who have done MBA. The reason being that the recruiters of the companies look for students with more practical knowledge rather than theoretical knowledge and PGDM makes a student fit for many practical cases.

This is one of the major reason as to why students from IIMs are prefered over other top colleges, as IIMs offer PGDM courses instead of MBA and they are autonomous universities, which means they have full control over their syllabus which even makes them capable to change their curriculum and provide with the latest information.

If you are thinking about which stream will be the best for you, then it is advisable to go for PGDM courses, as they have more scope and you will have a fair chance of growing. Nowadays, more universities are changing their courses to PGDM to remain intact with the global trend and provide the young generation with adequate knowledge and make them capable of handling any situation. No doubt, both the courses have the same topics and streams, but one can adapt to change while the other one is more of an old-school which needs to get updated.