- MBA Crystal Ball (http://www.mbacrystalball.com/blog/2012/10/04/executive-mba-in-india/)
It may seem elementary but the question of Executive MBA vs MBA for Executives often foxes many people.
If you are looking for a 1 year MBA in India, you’ve got IIMA PGPX (Post Graduate Programme for Executives at IIM Ahmedabad), EPGP (Executive PGP in Management) offered by IIM Bangalore and IIM Indore, PGPex (Executive PGP at IIM Calcutta and IIM Shillong), IPMX (International Programme in Management for Executives) by IIM Lucknow and several others.
If you have already read Beyond the MBA Hype (if you haven’t, get a copy ASAP), these are the programs you are targeting along with many others abroad. But these courses, in the technical sense, are not the same as an Executive MBA. Confusion is fed further by the press, which often uses both terms interchangeably.
Executive MBA: Getting to the root of the confusion
MBA programs come in various formats. In addition to the full-time MBA, there’s also the part-time MBA, executive MBA, dual MBA, distance learning MBA and so on. MBA applicants often get confused about these myriad options.
When a new breed of management courses made an entry in the Indian market and started insisting on several years of work experience, folks started equating them to ‘Executive MBA’ programs. Even after all these years, the perception doesn’t seem to have changed much. Many applicants who approach us for help with the application for the Post Graduate Programme in Management (PGP) at ISB Hyderabad (or the ISB Mohali campus) refer to it as an executive MBA. It is not!
The same is the case with IIMA PGPX, IIMB EPGP and IIMC PGPEX. These are one year programs targeted at professionals with experience (executives), but they’re full-time MBA programs and not executive MBA programs.
Applying to such programs in India is similar to other comparable programs offered by other top international business schools. Among other pre-requisites, they all require a GMAT score and some work experience.
Eduswami answer:
It is disappointing (and confusing) to see many people and the press use both terms – Executive MBA, and MBA for Executives – as if they were the same.
Executive MBA is a part-time program targeted at people with substantial work experience who prefer not to take time off for their MBA. Classes are held on weekends and for a week or so at a stretch a couple of times a year. The course hence takes at least 2 years to complete.
MBA for Executives is nothing but a generic MBA (usually 1 year), whose course content is designed in a way to make it more appealing for experienced candidates who are looking for a 1 year sabbatical to retool, sometimes for a career shift out of their present sector.
On similarities, the course content for both is almost the same. Faculty too is usually common.
