The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has refused to revoke the PGDM guidelines issued in December 2010. A decision that has triggered over 200 private B-schools to approach supreme court and demand a stay on the recent order issued by the country’s technical education regulator.

“We know that this (approaching the court) is the handiwork of select institutes. We have received complaints against many of these institutes in the past. Some of these institutes are involved in malpractices, some are charging hefty fee, some are not conducting classes and exams well. We have weighed all options and decided on this,” said a senior AICTE official.

B-schools have cleared their stand saying that they would not admit students selected through the AICTE’s new guidelines that asks colleges to admit students qualifying through state-level interviews and group discussions. The other guideline that is being opposed is the admission of candidates to all PGDM courses through common entrance test such as Common Admission Test or Management Aptitude Test (CAT/MAT) or examinations conducted by the respective state governments for all institutions other than minority institutions.

Meanwhile, certain institutes offering courses in communications and rural management have expressed their concern as state government may not be competent enough to cater to the needs of the specialised institutes. Also, as Common Admission Test (CAT) is a computer-based examination students from rural regions may not be familiar with any aspect of this examination.

AICTE has also suggested issuing a model curriculum for all PGDM programmes.“Syllabus formation is a highly skilled and professional job to be handled by education experts. A compulsory curriculum will also take the responsibility away from the institutes resulting in decline in quality of education delivered,” said a sector expert.

Many management institutions have considered these guidelines as a serious threat to institution’s autonomy. Also, the notification, it is said, violates the landmark judgments of the Supreme Court in TMA Pai and P A Inamdar cases which defined the autonomy of self-finance PGDM institutes.

There are over 2,000 B-schools offering MBA and PGDM programmes in India with an annual student capacity of over 172,000. Of this 391 B-schools offer PGDM programme with a student capacity of 44,318.