Like most of the confused software engineers , I enrolled for a correspondence MBA program at ICFAI. Never knowing what to expect , I have had a mixed experience so far.I am yet to complete my course but will list out some of the pro’s and con’s that I have run into so far
Pro’s :
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a) Impressed with their professionalism in the manner they conduct exams ,
distribute course materials on time and simplicity of their admission formalities
b) This is one institute that has really adopted IT in an big way. Online registration ,
Optical Character Reader Sheets for exams and
Online publishing of results / previous marks etc. Their site has a good
professional interface as well.
c) The Standard seems to be decent atleast for a person who is from a technical
background. The Course Material is sufficient to keep you busy for their quarterly
exams.
d) You would not clear the papers unless you put in the efforts. The Standards are
high even for a correspondence course that you pay 50k for.
Cons :
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a) The more I have learnt of ICFAI , I am lead to believe that they are into the
’’business of education’’. There are no free lunches and everything comes at a fee.
They charge you for Papers , for classes , for previous examination papers and
the most ridiculous being Charing you for the Suggested answers of the papers
you have attended. The longer you pursue the course the more
you keep shelling out. There is a fee that you need to pay when you
start Stage 3 as well as fees if you do not complete the course in 4 years.
b) Unless you are focussed to complete the course , do not enroll. The entire course
amount of 50-60K is collected within the first 6 months. I have seen friends of
mine who have appeared for just a couple of the 20 odd papers { for various
reasons } till date but having already paid the entire 50k within the first 6 months.
c) Recognition is something still unknown of. Their marketing department has worked
well to the extent that atleast everyone knows ICFAI. AICTE recognition is still
a dream.
Overall a pretty decent course for its content that can prove to be a bit costly unless you manage to finish it off within 2 - 2.5 years