The Evolution of National Board of Accreditation Standards for Post Graduate Diploma in Management Programmes in India: From Compliance to Outcomes

NBA accreditation, PGDM, management education, quality assurance, outcome-based education, India, accreditation reform, higher education governance

Purpose:

This paper examines the evolution of National Board of Accreditation (NBA) for Post Graduate Diploma in Management (PGDM) programmes in India and ponders what that trajectory tells about changing conceptions of quality in management education.

Design/Methodology/Approach:

The study adopts a qualitative documentary analysis of NBA annual reports, accreditation manuals, Self-Assessment Report (SAR) formats, process documents, frequently asked questions, and official records of accredited programme. The analysis of documents was done chronologically and comparatively across multiple accreditation cycles.

Findings:

The analysis reveals a clear and progressive movement from a compliance-oriented, input-centred model towards an outcome-focused and evidence-intensive quality framework. Over consecutive accreditation cycles, the evaluation methodology for PGDM programmes became more demanding in relation to programme outcomes, faculty scholarly profile, student performance, governance effectiveness, placement quality, stakeholder engagement, and continuous improvement. Two significant process shifts are also identified: the tightening of programme pre-qualifier requirements and the evolution of the preparation of the eSAR structure from a document-centred submission format to an integrated portal-based workflow. By 2025, institutions were required to submit the eSAR through the eNBA ‘PQ/e-SAR’ portal and retain a system-generated PDF record.

Research Limitations/Implications:

The study is grounded entirely in documentary evidence and therefore does not capture the lived experience of institutions or peer-review teams navigating the accreditation process. Future research incorporating qualitative fieldwork, institutional interviews, or comparative international analysis would extend and deepen the findings.

Practical Implications:

PGDM colleges must not consider accreditation as merely ticking the boxes. It is a continuous quality system that tightly connects program design assessment evidence generation, and internal review. Regulators, on the other hand, could consider providing capacity-building support to small and emerging institutions to make the accreditation framework developmentally equitable.

 

 

Originality/Value:

This article presents a historically oriented approach of the NBA accreditation scope expansion to include PGDM programmes. It places this evolution by referring to the leading discourses of quality assurance, legitimacy, and reform in management education. Besides giving a historical perspective, this article also fills a major gap in the literature by giving a deep academic exploration of the changing NBA accreditation philosophy, especially with regard to higher management education in India.