The 14th batch of the one-year full-time residential Post-Graduate Programme in Management for Executives (PGPX) at Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIM-A) was inaugurated by Director Prof Errol D’Souza. Prof Arindam Banerjee, Chairperson, PGPX, and Prof Shailesh Gandhi, Dean, IIM-A, welcomed the gathering. This year, the batch had 23 per cent of women.
Diversity is important
Prof Banerjee said, “Diversity in the student population helps enrich the learning process which, in turn, brings different perspectives to a classroom discussion. It appears that we are on the right track in terms of work experience, profiles and gender diversity.”
IAF Squadron Leader (Retd) Shally Aggarwal, student of the current batch, said, “From the onset of my MBA journey, I looked for a programme that can offer an excellent classroom learning experience for individuals like me who have intense work experience. PGPX outshines other comparable programmes because of the rich diversity — in terms of industry, roles, geography and cultures, that form the basis of unparalleled exposure and peer-to-peer learning.”
Other than gender diversity, the batch also has diverse work experience in different fields (21 industries, innumerable functional areas and 140 companies), NRIs (9.29 per cent reside outside India and are spread across six countries) and have international work experience (35 per cent of the batch has worked abroad before joining).
1,000 students graduated so far
More than 1,000 students have graduated from PGPX since its launch. Till 2016-17, the intake was 90 and from 2017-18, another section was added to enhance the learning experience of students. As it received a positive response, the institute decided to keep the section and, accordingly, 140 students were admitted this year.
The candidates have an average GMAT score of 702 and GRE score of 320. The batch has an average work experience of around nine years and an average experience of at least one year abroad.