Gitarattan International Business School (GIBS) is known for its decade long tradition of management studies; MBA. In competitive times like these students often get confused when it comes to selecting a suitable course and business school for themselves. Confusion also arises whether to go for MBA or PGDM. An MBA programme and a PGDM are more or less similar but still have a thin layer of differentiation between them.
So, “What is the difference between MBA and PGDM?”
In the table below, we have compared MBA vs. PGDM on different parameters that should give you clarity about their compatibility with your needs.
| Basis | MBA @ GIBS | PGDM |
| Degree vs Diploma | MBA is a degree course that can only be offered by the colleges affiliated to universities at state level. | Whereas PGDM is a diploma course offered by autonomous institutes. |
| Course Structure | The curriculum is approved by university and remains same across institutes affiliated to a university. | PGDM colleges have their own syllabus that undergoes a change according to industrial requirements every year. |
| Cost | Since MBA degree colleges are often government authorized in nature they are pocket friendly in nature. The university college often provides scholarship and other reliefs and deduction to a deserving candidate. These universities receive financial aid and grants from the government, making the degree cheaper for the student. | Whereas PGDM courses are expensive in their regard. They offer their own courses and thus charge a chunk of money from the students. It could only be afforded by students who have their pocket sizes big. |
| Semesters | Mostly semester based | Mostly trimester based |
| Authenticity | Since MBA is affiliated with state government authorities, the chances of them being fraudulent is nil. | PGP or PGDM courses are offered by autonomous bodies. Students need to be careful while taking admission. Many smaller colleges and institutes make claims or do not have proper accreditation status. |
| Quality of Education | Triple quality checks are required by any college running state university courses. Approval from AICTE, State govt, and the university is mandatory. | Since the awarding institutes are autonomous, to check their course’s accreditation becomes of utmost importance, without which there can be severe cases of fraud. |
| Higher education | Applying for higher education becomes easy. For example, to pursue a PhD, one must have an MBA degree | Face roadblocks while applying to pursue higher education or jobs overseas. But for a PhD, one needs to have an MBA degree |
Even though there is not much difference between the two in particular but it is often said that having a degree is always better in the long run.