IIM Bangalore has introduced an online undergraduate program (BBA) that focuses on digital business and entrepreneurship. This program is designed to blend in digital technology, business management principles, and an entrepreneurial mindset.

It would be a 3-year long undergraduate degree with flexible exit i.e., students can exit at the end of the 1st year with a certificate, 2 years of course completion would be considered a diploma or students can complete all 3 years and graduate. The course would primarily be asynchronous with pre recorded sessions. 1st years would majorly focus on digital business, while 2nd and 3rd years would focus more on entrepreneurship.

The minimum entrance requirement is 60 per cent in 12th standard. Hence anyone who has just completed 12th grade, planning to do a 2nd undergrad degree, or looking to learn more about what the course offers, can apply, per the institute. Students will be screened based on an entrance test. This test would be 90 minutes long with 60 questions.

 “As an institute, we have 10 years of experience delivering high quality online education. One of the most important things about online education is it gives better access. It also helps in bringing down cost substantially. We believe we have the capability to offer a really good learning experience online, and hence, this venture into a full fledged online undergraduate program.” Said Prof. Rishikesha T. Krishnan, Director, IIM Bangalore. 

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IIM-B is planning to take about 1,000 students for this course. The fees would amount to a total of 4.5 lakh for all three years, with each year having 45 credits. A total of 60 subjects will be covered within the duration of the course. There would be 2 live sessions per subject in order to facilitate interaction between students and faculty. The weekly schedule would comprise 3 hours of learning, 1.5 hours of reading and 30 minutes of assignment work. The final exams would be physical, proctored exams happening at multiple centres.

The course will commence from September 2024. Applications for the same will be open from June 15. This course is open to only Indian nationals residing in India as of now.

There would be a total of 50 faculty members who would be mentoring students. Students will undergo a digital recruitment process at the end of the course, where they would upload their resumes on a digital platform and recruiters would take in students according to their requirements.

“IIM Bangalore completed its golden jubilee in 2023. Just before the same, we were discussing what we should do differently, going forward. That’s when we started looking at the broader education landscape. What we saw was that as a country, we are putting more emphasis on high quality undergraduate programs. All the policies of the government currently focus on the need to get our youngsters ready to be able to contribute to the modern economy, which India is rapidly becoming,” Krishnan further added.

(Reported by bl intern Nivasini Azagappan)

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