The graduates included 714 students enrolled in the Virtual Interactive Learning (VIL) Programs conducted by XLRI that comprise an online component plus a certain number of classes held on the campus. Thus, 94 students of the 27^th batch of the 1-year Postgraduate Certificate in Business Management (PCBM), 107 students of the 28^th batch and 102 students of the 29^th batch received their certificates.

The 136 students of the 19^th batch of Postgraduate Certificate in Human Resource Management (PCHRM), 138 students of batch 20 and 137 students of batch 21 received the certificates.

“Over the years, many of our graduates have become successful entrepreneurs. We look forward to our present and future students come forward with unique ideas and launch their own ventures,”

The graduating certificates and medals were also awarded to 22 students of Executive Diploma in Human Resource Management Programme (EDHRM), 17 students of Agribusiness Management Programme (ABM) and 55 students of the 7th batch of the Post Graduate Programme for Certificate in Entrepreneurship Management (PGP CEM).

“XLRI has been able to establish itself as trend setter on the global education platform because it has been quick to grasp the potential of virtual learning as a tool to transform education,” Dr. Ram Kumar Kakani, XLRI VIL Programs, said. “Virtual Learning is here to stay and will gain more popularity in the future,” he added.

Dr. Vishwa Ballabh, Chairperson, Entrepreneurship Development Centre (EDC), XLRI said, “Our Entrepreneurship Management Program has helped students to be equipped with conceptual and operational skills required for running an entrepreneurial venture successfully.

“Over the years, many of our graduates have become successful entrepreneurs. We look forward to our present and future students come forward with unique ideas and launch their own ventures,” he added.

XLRI Director Fr. E Abraham S.J., said, “XLRI with its singular vision of Magis, that is, pursuit of excellence, focusses on three areas- academic excellence, personal values and social concern.

“In the era, where time is a major constraint, XLRI has been providing various executive programmes for working professionals. The primary objective of these programs is to transform participants into exceptional cross-functional leaders who can integrate all disciplines and align all activities to achieve long-range strategic goals,” he added.

Kishore Jayaraman, President, Rolls Royce, India and South Asia, was the chief guest at the Ceremony.

Participants in XLRI’s Virtual Learning (VL) programs attend Live lectures via Interactive Online Learning platform in 70 plus cities across India as well as 5 days full-time campus learning at XLRI Jamshedpur. The lectures are held on the online platform on Saturdays for three hours from 6.45 pm to 9.45 pm and Sundays at the same time. Hostel facilities are available for the campus stay for which the students are informed in advance so that they could take care of the logistics.

Both programs are run by the Virtual Interactive Learning (VIL) arm of XLRI in different functional areas of Management. Professionals or executives are able to complete their management education while remaining in service or being involved with their own business. After successful completion of the program students are awarded a Postgraduate Certificate.

Both programs have a common feature of campus component with the students visiting the XLRI campus for a period of 5 days for training, evaluation and certification.

Program Objectives

XLRI says the primary objective is to provide the participants with the critical knowledge of management issues and the ability to apply it in the workplace. They will also gain an understanding of the challenges and complexities within their respective fields of management.

Equipped with the necessary skill-sets, they would thus be able to adopt an appropriate course of action in their day-to-day work environment. The programs also aim to inculcate knowledge in the participants about the critical aspects of Management processes.

The participants will be able to attend Live lectures via Interactive Online Learning platform in 70 plus cities across India as well as 5 days full-time campus learning at XLRI Jamshedpur. The live lectures are held on the online platform on Saturdays for three hours from 6.45 pm to 9.45 pm and Sundays at the same time.

The participants will be able to attend Live lectures via Interactive Online Learning platform in 70 plus cities across India as well as 5 days full-time campus learning at XLRI Jamshedpur. The live lectures are held on the online platform on Saturdays for three hours from 6.45 pm to 9.45 pm and Sundays at the same time. Hostel facilities are available for the campus stay for which the students will be informed in advance so that they could take care of the logistics.

Eligibility

Graduation from any recognized university with minimum of 2 years of work experience in any domain,

Full Time Degree Graduates (10+2+3) in any discipline with preferably 50% marks minimum (aggregate – considering results of all years recognized by UGC/AICTE

Candidates must possess minimum of 2 years of work experience in related field after completing graduation (preference would be given to candidates with higher experience – at least 5 years).

The selection of candidates will be based on academic record, number of years and quality of work experience and a Personal Interview conducted by XLRI Jamshedpur faculty.

Application Procedure

Candidates are expected to submit only Online Application Forms. It’s only at the time of the interview that the candidates would be expected to carry a hard copy of the application form to their respective interview centres for submission.

To apply for the course PGC BM/HRM, candidates are required to register by clicking on Apply For Registration. Following successful completion of the process, an online payment of Rs 2000 (inclusive of ST) is to be made, which is non-refundable.

Next step is filling up of the online SOP (Statement of Purpose) with the help of the XSAT ID and password, which the applicant will receive through an e-mail.

Any application with incomplete information (eg: without photograph, SOP, educational details and details related to work experience etc.) will not be entertained for further processing.

The applicant’s credentials will be verified at the time of interview and admission. It will not be required to be submitted at the time of application for the Program.

The Association of MBAs (AMBA) is the international impartial authority on postgraduate business education, established in 1967. AMBA’s accreditation service is the global standard for all MBA, Doctoral and MBM programmes in more than 110 countries. 

As per AMBA’s accreditation standards, an MBA course must admit students with 3+ years of work experience while an MBM can admit candidates with 0-3 years work experience. So students with less than 3 years of work experience are eligible to pursue an MBM only, not an MBA. 

While it is impressive that XLRI’s courses have got AMBA accreditation, what is not, is the attempt to gloss over the fact that it is only the One Year MBA at XLRI (PGDM-GM) which has received Full Time MBA accreditation from AMBA.

Those not familiar with the myriad B-School accreditation possibilities can find the nuances confusing.  While some accreditations (e.g. EQUIS and AACSB) are given to an institute as a whole, the AMBA is not. It is given only to a specific course. 

The Economic Times dated May 13, 2015 quoted Fr. E. Abraham S.J. director, XLRI as saying, “We are extremely happy to announce that our MBA and MBM provision has been awarded accreditation by AMBA’s International Accreditation Advisory Board. XLRI with its singular philosophy of Magis, i.e., pursuit of excellence in all endeavors, has continually focused on three inter-related areas: academic excellence, personal values and societal concern.”

It would be hard for any student or recruiter to decode this statement and understand that the two-year PGDM(BM) course has got MBM accreditation and the One Year Course has got MBA accreditation.  

To get clarity on the statement we got in touch with XLRI’s Chief Brand & Sustainability Officer Sunil Varughese. We asked which course at XLRI has been accredited as an MBA by AMBA? He replied, “All our courses have been accredited by AMBA”.

This is how the interview proceeded:

OneYearMBA.co.in (OYMBA): But AMBA accredits courses and not B-Schools and it awards MBA and MBM accreditation to specific courses. Which course at XLRI has been accredited as MBA and which as an MBM?
Sunil Vurughese (SV): Yes…so our two-year PGDM (BM) and two-year PGDM-HRM have been accredited as MBMs and One Year PGDM-GM and PGDM Part Time have been accredited as MBAs.

OYMBA: So the PGDM-GM, the One Year MBA has got Full Time MBA accreditation and the part-time PGDM a part-time MBA accreditation?
SV: Yes.

OneYearMBA.co.in (OYMBA): Will the global MBA accreditation for the One Year Course and global MBM accreditation for the two year course impact the positioning for your courses – will the two-year course now be positioned as an MBM and the One Year Course as an MBA?
Sunil Varughese (SV): Not necessarily. This is only for AMBA. In Indian market this won’t impact. Historically mostly freshers apply to two-year course so the two-year course will continue to remain an MBA in Indian market.

OYMBA: In that case why apply for AMBA accreditation?
SV: Foreign students look at it differently – with AMBA they will consider coming to India.

OYMBA: But don’t Indian students deserve to know the differences between the two courses? Shouldn’t they know which course is an MBA and which an MBM as per global accreditation?
SV: It will take time. The One Year MBA is a new product and market will take time to appreciate the difference of the talent coming from this course.

OYMBA: But are institutes doing enough on their part to clarify the differences to students and recruiters?
SV: Onus is on students. Students should check the websites. We will put up AMBA accreditation there. Due diligence has to be done by students. Recruiters can also judge the difference and are smart enough to see the difference between an experienced graduate and a fresher. We need to give the market more time. From our end, we have made the One Year MBA (PGDM-GM) a flagship course and are doing our best to clarify differences in one-on-one meetings with recruiters. Infact as opposed to IIMs, where placements are left to students, we have hired two placement officers for the One Year course.

OYMBA: But do you see a problem from a marketing perspective when two entirely different products, an MBA and an MBM, are both branded and positioned as MBAs? Most recruiters hire on the basis of set requirements. If the requirement is for an MBA, recruiters perceive anyone with the qualification as equally capable. With the vastly higher pay packages for One Year MBA grads vs the salary for hiring a fresher, the choice then often comes down to salary instead. Isn’t that a problem?
SV: The onus of clarifying the difference between MBA and MBM and following it in our nomenclatures has to be borne by all institutes. We alone can’t change everything – all institutes have to work together.

So is XLRI saying that only foreign students should benefit from pursuing an MBA that meets global standards? Are Indian students second class citizens who don’t deserve the best quality education? This smacks of a colonial mindset and borders on segregation and racism.  

During colonial rule, thousands of Indians lost their lives demanding freedom from segregation. It is ironical that Indian students are receiving step-motherly treatment in independent India. 

Their lives and careers hang in critical balance. With high fees ranging between Rs 16-25 lakh for the One Year MBA and zero effort to clearly market the One Year MBA and Two-Year MBM as two distinct offerings, B-Schools in India are playing with the careers of their alumni. Many of these students are middle class and have saved their salary over many years to pursue the MBA course – this apathy is sufficient to wreck lives. (Image courtesy shienelopez)

The second edition of XLerate has drawn to a close after a roller coaster ride and in what turned out to be a repeat performance, XLRI, the host and defending champions, were crowned champions at XLerate for second year in a row.

XLerate is a national level sports and cultural fest organized by XLRI exclusively for students of the One Year MBA programs in India. The tagline for the event says ‘the war that unites’ and XLRI says that this event puts forth a platform for collaboration for the community of future leaders.

The event witnessed participation from students of Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, Indian Institue of Management, Ahemadabad, Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai, SP Jain, Mumbai,  Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar and XLRI, Jamshedpur.

The curtain raiser saw Charles Borromeo, an Arjuna and Padma Shri awardee, address the students. Now the head of sports department at Tata Steel, he stressed on the need to participate in such events rather than to focus on winning. “One has to be humble in victory and gracious in defeat”.

Fr. James Santhanam, S.J., associate dean of Student Affairs and Dr. Pranabesh Ray, Dean Academics also addressed the gathering. Keeping up with the XL culture, traditional lighting of the lamps marked the opening of the meet.

The first event of the extravaganza was a case study competition where students were given a live case study which the students had to solve. IIM C came out triumphant and XLRI were the runners up at this event.

As the day progressed, the teams collided in the sports arena. While Great lakes took the honours in Volleyball by beating SP Jain Mumbai, IIM C displayed their acumen in Carrom and was clear winner as XLRI followed suit. SP Jain came back triumphant in Badminton while Great Lakes again proved their mettle in Chess by winning the event. The hosts eventually bagged their first win of the event by winning Pool that dragged way beyond midnight.

While sports were the order of the day on Day 1, cultural events stole the limelight on Day 2.

XLRI dominated the cultural events by winning Solo dance, Skit and Solo singing where as Great Lakes won the coveted Group Dance event and the Fashion Show.

As the night descended, ‘Underground Authority’, a rock band, took to the stage and enthralled students.

The last day of the meet began early with a flurry of finals to be played. Students of XLRI were victorious in Lawn Tennis, Basketball, Futsal and Cricket and got the better of Great Lakes in all of the events. 

OneYearMBA.co.in was a proud sponsor of XLerate!

Eventually XLRI was crowned the overall champion and Great Lakes was crowned runners up. The event concluded with the award distribution ceremony.

As participants packed their bags to leave for their respective destinations, a sense of nostalgia prevailed. Though teams fought it out hard on field, there was lot of camaraderie and bonding off the field.