The programme consists of three stages:
- Coursework
- Comprehensive Exam and Viva Voce
- Thesis Work
Upon joining the programme, scholars will go through coursework in 6 terms spread across 2 academic years. The course curriculum is an important and integral part of a PhD student’s learning process. Coursework for all nine areas has been recommended under the guidance of experienced and learned academicians. The recommended course structure provides inputs related to the foundations of management research, understanding and use of different methodologies, discipline related theory and research, advanced electives, research from allied areas (to motivate interdisciplinary research), academic writing, teaching training modules and workshops. While a basic structure has been proposed each area has also been given the flexibility to recommend courses relevant to their requirements. The breakup of credits in this course structure is given below.
The breakup of credits is presented below:
| Modules | Minimum Credits (1 Credit = 25 Hours) |
|---|
| Research Foundation and Methodology Courses | 8 Credits |
| Foundation MBA Courses | 3 Credits |
| PhD Area Core Courses | 4 Credits |
| PhD Area Elective Courses | 3 Credits |
| PhD Allied Area Courses | 2 Credits |
| CIS and Independent Research Project | 3 Credits |
| Teacher Training (second year summers) | 1 Credits |
| TA ship (3rd and 4th year) | 4 Credits |
| Total Credits | 28 credits (Min Credits – 700 hours) |
Out of above mentioned 28 credits, 23 credits need to be fulfilled in year 1 and year 2. In addition to above modules, each scholar is strongly encouraged to attend externally organized methodology workshops by participating in summer schools organized by leading domestic or international management institutes during 1st year summers, physically or virtually. This would be non-credit requirement.
Research and Methodology Course: This structure provides flexibility to scholars to choose their basket of advanced methodology courses as per their interests. However, the selection of courses by scholars must be done in consultation with their respective area faculty PhD coordinator. Moreover, some basic foundation courses have been declared as compulsory courses. Minimum credits to be completed from foundation and methodology courses is 8 credits, with 7 credits in years 1 and 2, and a 1 credit course on teaching after all the course work is done. Table 1 given below for the same:
| Table 1: Research Foundation and Methodology Courses (Compulsory) |
| Course Title | Credits | Term | Year |
| Philosophy of Management | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Statistics for management research | 0.5 | 1 | 1 |
| Quantitative research methods | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Qualitative research methods | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Academic writing | 0.5 | 3 | 1 |
| Workshop on teacher training | 1 | Between year 2 and 3 (summer break) |
| Total Credits | 5 | |
Besides, these above mentioned courses, scholars would be given an option to choose courses from the basket of elective methodology courses offered across the 1st and 2nd years, based on their research interests. A scholar would be required to undergo a minimum of 3 credits courses from this list and ideally should not exceed 5. The list of elective methodology courses is given below in table 2 below:
| Table 2 – Research Foundation and Methodology Courses (Elective) |
| Course Title | Credits | Term | Year |
| Mathematical methods for research | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Probability theory | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Foundation of Social Science research | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Econometrics 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
| Econometrics 2 | 1 | 4 | 2 |
| Experimental and survey design | 1 | 4 | 2 |
| Advanced Multivariate data analysis | 1 | 5 | 2 |
| Advanced Qualitative research tools and techniques | 1 | 5 | 2 |
| Structural equation modelling | 1 | 5 | 2 |
| Minimum credits to be fulfilled -3 |
MBA Level Courses: The objective of having discipline related basic MBA level courses in the overall course structure, is to introduce scholars to the concepts, however, it is expected that Doctoral students will delve deeper in the course content. This may be operationalized through provision of additional readings to Doctoral students and separate/additional assessment through assignments/term-papers.
The credits for MBA courses should be in the range – 3 to 4 Credits, depending upon the need and the opinion of the Area. These courses must be undertaken in the first year. An indicative list of Area wise MBA courses : MBA Course Details.
PhD Level, Area wise Core courses: Each area should identify core PhD level courses as foundation course offerings for students from the area. These core courses should be taken by all scholars in a particular Area. Credits to be fulfilled from core courses must be at max 4 credits. These courses may be offered from term 2 (year 1) and ideally must be completed by term 4 (year 2), so that electives may be offered in term 5 and term 6. The list of Ph.D core courses for each area : Area wise PhD Core and Elective courses.
PhD Electives in Major Area: Elective courses must be selected from the basket of PhD level electives offered by an Area. The scholar must be given an option to choose courses from amongst the offerings from the area that match his/her research interests. In this, the area faculty PhD coordinator must be consulted, and if need be, the faculty PhD coordinator may explore the interests of the scholar and communicate it to the area. The electives list is flexible and could change as per the interests of the area faculty and area scholars. These discussions must be over by term 2 of year 1, so that Scholars can select their course bundle carefully and also faculty are provided with adequate time to design courses. Minimum credits to be fulfilled from elective courses must be 3 credits and maximum 4 credits.
Allied Discipline Courses: The committee recommends that each scholar must undergo some courses from an allied area chosen by each scholar as his/her secondary research area. This is to promote interdisciplinary research. Each scholar must decide which allied area PhD level electives they want to register for, after discussion with the faculty PhD coordinator. Minimum credits to be fulfilled from allied area courses must be 2 credits.
Qualifying CGPA
The qualifying CGPA at the end of first year (i.e. at the end of term III), at the end of CIS/Summer project and at the end of second year (i.e. at the end of term VI) should be at least 7.0 on a 10 point scale (A+: 10; A: 9; B+:8; B: 7 and so on). Scholars failing to meet the cut-off CGPA at the end of any of these mentioned three stages are required to withdraw from the programme. In addition, PhD scholars also need to maintain minimum GPA of 7.0 in the area level courses on an overall basis and maintain minimum GPA of 7.0 in the research methodology courses on an overall basis at the end of abovementioned three stages to continue in the programme. Scholars failing to qualify accordingly will not be allowed to sit in the comprehensive examination.
Comprehensive examination: After successful completion of coursework of first two years, scholars take a CE (Comprehensive Examination) to be administered by the respective areas of specialization in third year.
Thesis Stage
After passing the comprehensive examination the scholar will start working on his/her FPM dissertation under the guidance of a Thesis Advisory Committee (TAC). The dissertation will be evaluated by a panel of experts from within and outside the Institute. The scholar also has to defend his/her thesis in a public defense in presence of panel of examiners.
Programme Duration
Candidates are expected to submit their thesis in around four and a half years’ period from the date of initial registration. The maximum time allowed for completion of successful PhD thesis defense is six years from the date of initial registration.
Award of Title
Scholars, after completion of all the requirements of the programme, will be awarded the title " Doctor of Philosophy".
Institutional Support
The institute will provide substantial infrastructural and financial support to FPM scholars.
The institute has a state-of-art learning resource center. The center has a collection of more than 7000 printed books and has subscribed a volume of online books and all the important online journals in the field of Management and other related disciplines from publishers and aggregators such as ABI / Inform Complete, EBSCO Business Source Complete, EBSCO Econlit, Elsevier (Science Direct), Emerald Management, Informs, JSTOR, Springer Link, Oxford University Press, Sage HSS Collection, Taylor and Francis, Wiley online journals etc.
The center has also subscribed corporate and economic data bases such as CMIE - EIS, IAS, Prowess, CRISINFAC, Euromonitor (Passport), Frost & Sullivan, Gartner, Indiastat.com, INSIGHT, MIMI (MICA), SCC Online etc. The Institute has 11 Bloomberg terminal.
No fee is charged for the FPM. Currently each scholar is given the financial support as follows:
Fellowship:
| Year 1: | Rs 30,000 p.m. |
| Year 2: | Rs 30,000 p.m. |
| Year 3: | Rs 33,000 p.m. |
| Year 4: | Rs 35,000 p.m. |
| Contingency grant : | Rs 25,000 p.a. |
| Equipment grant : | Rs 50,000 (one time) |
Financial support is also provided for international and national conferences (as per FPM Policy). Each candidate is provided free residential accommodation in the hostel. The hostel mess run by the student body; for which the FPM scholars will have to contribute on pro-rata basis. For married participants additional amount of Rs. 5000/m will be reimbursed on production of rent receipt.
