Difference between Executive PGDM and PGDM

Today both Executive PGDM (E-PGDM) and regular PGDM courses are some of the most promising and sought-after courses by many students after their graduation and sometimes by working professionals. The Executive PGDM is basically done by working professionals, while the normal PGDM is open for both fresh graduates and working professionals. 

The E-PGDM aspirant usually performs research at great lengths before choosing an E-PGDM course for themselves. But however, there are few confusions that are still unresolved when it comes to both E-PGDM and regular PGDM courses.

There are a good number of differences between E-PGDM and regular PGDM. The present article tries to put across some of the basic differences between these two courses. One such important difference between Executive PGDM and normal PGDM courses is the major cause for the confusion is in the use of the term executive before PGDM courses and regular PGDM courses that are offered in India.

The PGDM courses are basically targeted towards both fresh graduates and experienced graduates, while the E-PGDM course is basically targeted only towards working professionals.

Executive PGDM course is specific

The Executive PGDM (E-PGDM) is a full-time management course for executives that has a duration of 15 to 24 months for completion. The executive PGDM course is specifically designed for working professionals, executives and practicing managers who are in progression to assume senior level responsibilities. The E-PGDM course can be done by many in order to continue their journey on one particular functional area without any change. They basically look for higher roles and promotions in a specific functional area, so E-PGDM is a functional area specific and does not give an opportunity to shift to a different functional role in an organisation after the completion of the course.

While the regular PGDM course is a 2-years normal post graduate course in management that is divided into 4-semesters. PGDM is open for both fresh graduates who are interested in better careers and working professionals who are interested to have a functional area shift along with the management degree.

Executive PGDM vs PGDM

Executive PGDM (E-PGDM) is basically a full-time course that is specifically targeted towards working professionals. The classes for E-PGDM are available both online and weekend classes. The E-PGDM is a full-time course that has to be completed within the specified course duration. The aspirants can take up classes in both online mode and weekends on a regular basis and do not have any flexibility options when it comes to course completion. 

The E-PGDM is best suited for the professionals who are interested in career advancements in their own functional areas. The E-PGDM course further increases the chance of getting promotions for working professionals in the same organisations or different one. 

The PGDM course is ideally chosen either by the fresh graduates who are interested in high paying jobs or by the working professionals who are interested in changing their careers. For instance a BE graduate  who is technically sound, if interested to shift to management role, then he/she may opt for a regular PGDM course and look for such positions.

The working professionals interested to join PGDM course, may have decided to quit the job and join for PGDM course. The PGDM course is more like a regular management degree that is carried out by regular classes, so working professionals might have to quit their jobs in order to join a regular PGDM course.

Who can choose executive PGDM?

The Executive PGDM (E-PGDM) course is best suited for the professionals who want to join at better managerial positions and who are aiming for promotions in an organisation. The course can be done by working professionals and has to be done by both the modes of online classes and weekends classes. The course can be done either by continuing the work or by taking a break from work.

The PGDM course can be chosen by diverse audiences. The fresh graduates who are interested to join higher positions in various organisations and the working professionals who are interested to change their functional area and even professionals who are interested in entrepreneurship and want to start their own ventures. All these categories of audience can join the regular PGDM course.

Finance support is important in both the cases

The professionals who are interested to join E-PGDM have to mobilise their own finances from their savings. Since many organisations do not sponsor E-PGDM courses as they do it for Executive MBA. So, the interested aspirants have to depend on their own financial support to join E PGDM course. The students interested in E-PGDM may have to depend on their own finances for joining the course. If they want to join the best colleges for E-PGDM courses then they have to go for personal loans and join the course.

PGDM courses can be divided into two types according to the desired audiences. The first part is that the fresh graduates interested to join PGDM courses can depend on their parents or guardians for financial support. The students can even apply for educational loans. The second part is that for working professionals, they can depend on their finances or they can apply for educational loans in order to join the regular PGDM course.

Location Specificity

The working professionals interested in pursuing an E-PGDM course should be very specific about their location. Since, only working professionals can join E-PGDM, they have to decide the college that is located in the area where they are working. As they have to manage both work and study, the location plays a key important role. For example, if a working professional is working in Bangalore, then he/she has to choose colleges in Bangalore for his/her E-PGDM studies.

The case is quite the opposite in case of regular PGDM course. Since, a regular PGDM course is a normal degree course where location will not matter that much even for fresh graduates and working professionals. The interested aspirants can choose any location to do their PGDM course irrespective of their native location.

Exposure

The E-PGDM students may get much exposure to the real business world, this is because of time constraints. Since E-PGDM is a time intrinsic course that is carried out by both online and weekend on a regular basis, the working professionals may not be able to get much exposure. As both the faculties and students of E-PGDM course are working professionals nobody has time to interact and get exposed to each other. This is one of the major drawbacks in E-PGDM course. The E-PGDM course will have less interactive sessions like conferences, seminars, etc. The students of E-PGDM cannot find time for all these activities. 

In case of regular PGDM course, the students get a lot of exposure, this is because the students might not have much commitments and time will be more for them when compared to E-PGDM courses. Since the regular PGDM consists of a lot of industry connecting events, seminars, conferences the exposure is quite more for regular PGDM students.

Admission and Selections

Only working professionals are eligible to apply for the E-PGDM course. The working professionals should have a minimum of 5-years of working experience in order to apply for the E-PGDM course. Generally, the admission to E-PGDM course is given to the students who have minimum 5-years of working experience in any reputed company that is registered.  However, as a formality some colleges conduct entrance exams for E-PGDM course, so the students might have to prepare for relevant entrance exams for getting E-PGDM seats.

The eligibility is quite opposite in case of regular PGDM course. The basic eligibility for regular PGDM course is a normal degree from a recognised university. The students who have completed their under-graduation degree in any stream from recognised university are eligible to apply for regular PGDM course. The interested students have to appear for various entrance exams like CAT/XAT/MAT/CMAT/ATMA/GMAT in order to get admission to regular PGDM course.

Time Management

Time management plays a very important role in E-PGDM course. The main reason for this is, as E-PGDM has to be completed in specified course duration. The working professionals may face a lot of challenges because they have to concentrate both on their routine works and course subjects. The course is offered in a blend of online and weekend classes, so the students have to manage time both the ways.  It may prove difficult to handle both these aspects if they decide to take up both working and studying simultaneously. 

So, it is always advised for such students who are interested in E-PGDM to take a break from their normal work and continue to focus on E- PGDM course. But this completely depends upon the individual interests and decisions.

Time management also plays an important role even in regular PGDM courses. The students are required to prepare assignments, projects, etc throughout the course duration. Hence, time management plays a key important role even in regular PGDM courses.

Both E-PGDM and PGDM courses are  full-time courses and require excellent time management. In the case of E-PGDM the professionals have to face the challenges of both work and study and they should be capable of handling both things equally. In the case of regular PGDM courses, the challenges are quite different. The students have to divide time accordingly to study, exam preparations, project works, assignments, etc. Both the courses are time intrinsic and it depends upon the students how they manage in both the cases.

Final Lines

Although both the E-PGDM and PGDM courses come with their own pros and cons, the ultimate decision lies among the students. The eligible students have to decide and then take a call whether to do an E-PGDM or a PGDM.

It may be a challenge for working professionals in both the cases. In both the courses they have to rely on their own financial savings which is quite more when it comes to E-PGDM when compared to normal PGDM course. The educational loans are fairly simple when it comes to regular PGDM course. On the other hand, bank loans may be difficult for an E-PGDM course.

So, the students have to decide and choose wisely which they have to join either an Executive PGDM course or a regular PGDM course.