IIM Ahmedabad has said that a direct comparison between its PGPX programme and HBS’s Senior Executive Leadership Programme is erroneous (‘What they will teach you at Harvard Mumbai’, The Hindu, January 8).
The IIMA PGPX programme is a decade-old, one-year fully residential programme for students with substantial work experience with approximately 600 contact sessions. In contrast, the yet-to-be launched HBS SELP is an executive education offering that proposes four modules (two off-campus modules of 10 and 11 days and two on-campus modules of 5 and 10 days each) with approximately 140 contact sessions, the institute said.
Further, entry into IIMA’s PGPX programme requires a formal application including submission of GMAT scores, while entry into HBS’s SELP does not have formal educational requirements. IIMA’s PGPX programme belongs to the category of one-year experienced MBA programmes, comparable to one-year MBA programmes offered by European institutions, such as INSEAD and IESE, it said. “We believe directly comparing IIMA PGPX with HBS SELP is comparing apples with oranges and is likely to cause confusion,” said Prof Sunil Sharma, chairperson, PGPX, IIMA.