Top choice for international students
The IICT and IIPM online MBA
An autonomous institute programme running since 1997, with alumni in more than 30 countries. US$400 for the complete qualification — not per year, not per semester. Finish in two years, or take the fast track and finish in one.
- years, since 1997
- 28
- countries with alumni
- 30+
- complete fee
- US$400
- years to finish
- 1–2
What it costs, in full
US$400 (₹32,350) covers the entire programme. Tuition for all four semesters, examinations, study material and the certificate. There is no per-semester surprise, because there is no per-semester billing — the number you are quoted is the number you pay.
The fast-track option, which compresses the same curriculum into one year, carries a small additional charge per semester. Ask for the exact figure before you choose it.
For comparison, the syllabus on this site is the same core taught in programmes costing forty to fifty times that. Read all 14 papers and judge for yourself whether the difference is in the teaching or in the price.
What you are awarded — stated plainly
IICT — the Indian Institute of Commerce and Trade, Lucknow (IICT Business School) and IIPM — the Indian Institute of Pharmaceutical Marketing, Lucknow are autonomous institutes. They award their own qualification under their own name. This is not a UGC-entitled university degree, and we are not going to blur that, because the distinction is the single most useful thing this site teaches.
The IIMs awarded a diploma rather than a degree until 2017, so an institute award is not automatically the lesser thing. But it is a different instrument, and which one you need depends entirely on what you are going to do with it.
Take a university degree instead if you need it for Indian government recruitment, for PhD admission, or for a role whose written policy names a degree. The open universities are listed here — we will point you at a competitor rather than sell you the wrong instrument.
If you are outside India
Alumni are working in more than 30 countries, and for most employers the qualification does what any management credential does: it evidences the study and the capability.
Where you need to be careful is formal credential evaluation. If the qualification has to be assessed by a foreign government, a licensing body, or a university admissions office — for a visa, for professional registration, or for further study — those bodies apply their own rules to foreign qualifications, and an institute award is assessed differently from a university degree.
We cannot tell you how a specific country will treat it, and nobody honestly can. Check with the evaluating body in your country before you enrol if that is your purpose. If your purpose is the learning and the credential for ordinary employment, this caveat does not apply to you.
How it is delivered
- Fully online. Study from any country, on your own schedule.
- No entrance examination. Admission is on your graduating marks.
- The full 51-credit curriculum — the same 14 papers set out on this site, which you can read in full before you pay anything.
- Two years, or one on the fast track. The curriculum is identical; the calendar is compressed.
Why we publish the syllabus first
Most institutions show you a brochure and a fee. We show you every paper, what it covers, how it is assessed, and our own view of whether it repays the effort — including the papers we think are dull and the ones we think are undervalued. All 14 of them.
If you read the whole curriculum and decide you do not want it, that is a good outcome. It is a great deal cheaper to find that out now.