Terms & Academics at ISB

Read on, as we walk you through a term wise academic experience of the ISB Post Graduate Programme (PGP)

Indian School of Business, with its unique one-year MBA-equivalent program offering, has set a new benchmark in the global academic world. But spawning 850 highly competent and outstanding business graduates every year is no mean feat!

The ISB PGP is carefully crafted as a 52-week highly engaging and extremely fast-paced program, with five key objectives –

• Promoting interpersonal awareness and teamwork
• Developing critical and integrative thinking
• Building awareness of global issues and their business impact
• Cultivating effective oral communication
• Encouraging ethical responsibility

These objectives are brought to life both in curriculum and pedagogy.  

Course Structure and Overview

The 12-month program requires successful completion of 32 credits to graduate across its 8 terms (typically of 5-weeks each), where-in students were traditionally required to complete 4 credits in each of the first 4 terms and then choose to take on between 3-5 credits in each of the remaining elective terms.

But with PGP 2.0, which has been introduced from Class of 2021 onwards, ISB has enhanced its curriculum with a larger focus on hybrid learning (digital + in-class). The first term has now been replaced with a 10-week Digital Headstart Module or DHM, with the overall course duration remaining unchanged.

Terms 1-3 | Core Terms

The first three terms focus on helping students build strong foundational business concepts and consist of 4 courses each. PGP students are required to take mid-term and end-term examinations, along with weekly written tests for all subjects during these terms. Since the ISB curriculum is designed to promote teamwork, each course also requires mandatory submissions of multiple group assignments, for which students are by default divided into study groups of 4-5 by the school. It is also during the core terms that elections for student body and all professional & social clubs are held, thus constantly keeping students on toes.

DHM

This module is a digital replacement of the first term, created with the objective of offering extended practical learning opportunities to students.

DHM comprises the following:

• 4 easy-paced, core courses: Financial Accounting & Decision Making, Managerial Economics, Marketing Management & Statistical Methods for Management Decisions
• Independent research project opportunity under Faculty guidance
• Learning and career growth events
• O-week and LEAD: a 3-day program aimed at equipping students with a better understanding of their strengths & areas of improvement

Terms 4 | Crossover Term

Term 4 is referred to as the crossover term at ISB and eases the transition from core terms to elective terms. This term offers 2 mandatory core courses, while granting students the freedom to choose remaining 2-3 courses of their choice. Students zero-in on these electives basis their desired functional/industry specializations.  

Term 5-8 | Elective Terms

If you thought life during core terms sounded hectic, wait till you read on about elective terms.

Evening yoga sessions, dance bonanzas, the club meets, marquee events, professional expert seminars, placement prep, case comps, alum resume reviews and unending electives to choose from – welcome to terms 5 to 8! Things definitely pick up during these terms – both academically and socially.

ISB offers six functional specializations (called Majors), in Finance, Operations, Marketing, Entrepreneurship, Information Systems and Strategy & Leadership along with four industry specializations, in Healthcare, Public Policy, Manufacturing, and Infrastructure. While industry specializations are optional, students must major in at least one functional specialization, with maximum capped at two.

ISB offers options galore at both Hyderabad & Mohali campus, for students to choose their electives from. However, each functional specialization has 2-3 subjects marked as ‘mandatory’ and students are required to take at least one of them amongst the required 6 credits per specialization quota to fulfill graduation requirement. Students often evaluate their electives on multiple parameters like faculty expertise, relevance to post ISB-goals, subject popularity, course structure and even, absence of written exams!

PS: Students are free to pick their own study groups during elective terms.

This comprehensive breakdown of the course structure allows each student to tailor their ISB PGP experience as per their needs and future goals, while also being exposed to global business best practices. Furthermore, the relative grading pattern followed by ISB across all terms creates a rich and healthy learning environment.

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