The objective of the coursework is to impart scholarship and to equip the student with the latest developments in the discipline, including the tools of research.

In the first year the student takes 8 courses of 4 credits each spread across two semesters. They consist of Seminar Courses, Inter disciplinary Courses, and Research Methods. Each course is allotted 33 classroom sessions of 1 hour 15 minutes each. The number of hours of work to be put in by the student for a particular course depends upon the number of credits allotted for that course. A credit is a convenient unit which denotes the estimated time required to be put in by a student for the course during the week, including classroom sessions.

Students should maintain a minimum GPA of 7.5/10.0 in each semester. However, if the GPA falls below 7.5/10; the performance of student will be reviewed and he/she may be given an opportunity to improve the performance, completely under the discretion of the management. The student is expected to secure a grade ‘C’ and above in all the courses, failing which he/she will be required to repeat the course and improve the grade.

However, in case of consistent low grades, students may be allowed to continue in the Program without stipend and will be given one chance to show an improvement in their performance in order to continue in the Program.

Students will do a research project in their area of interest under the guidance of a mentor and will present a research seminar before he/she takes the Ph.D qualifying exam. The objective of the Summer Research Project is to ensure that the student is exposed to research writing leading to a future publication. This project is evaluated and graded as Satisfactory/ Unsatisfactory.

Students, who successfully complete the coursework with a minimum CGPA of 7.5 along with a satisfactory grade in the summer research project, are eligible to appear for the Ph.D qualifying examination based on the completed coursework. The examination will be conducted in the area of specialization and the research methods. The qualifying examination will test the students’ knowledge in the coursework and their ability to apply the same in research. It will consist of written papers followed by a viva voce.

Upon successful completion of the Qualifying Examination, the student should work for preparation of the Thesis proposal and defend the proposal at a seminar, prior to its submission, before the faculty members and fellow Ph.D students in the presence of the Doctoral Advisory Committee. The student is expected to complete and submit the Research Proposal for Ph.D Thesis within two semesters of passing the Qualifying examination. Students are also expected to present at least one seminar per semester in their respective departments demonstrating their progress.

The main objective of the Visiting Scholar Program (VSP) is to sensitize students to the teaching and research environment in an international context. After successful completion of Ph.D qualifying examination, in the second year of the program, the students are eligible to spend 5-6 months abroad under the VSP on selfsupported basis. As many as 60 scholars from various batches have benefitted till date from the VSP. All necessary support in terms of documentations required for VSP will be provided by IBS. The universities with which IBS has tied up are: McCallum Graduate School of Business, Bentley University, MA, USA; Martin J. Whitman School of Management, Syracuse University, New York, USA; Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia; The College of Business Administration, University of Toledo, Ohio, USA; University of Memphis, Tennessee, USA; Spears School of Business, Oklahoma State University, USA.

By beginning of third year, students are supposed to defend their theses proposals and in the fourth year, students have to complete the Ph.D thesis work and submit for evaluation.

Associateship is one of the important components of the Ph.D curriculum in developing professional competencies among the students. During the program, the students will be associated with faculty members who will act as Mentors to the students and provide them continuous guidance. The nature of associateship is normally in the areas of teaching, research, case development and institutional development with an objective that each student is thoroughly exposed to the nuances of these areas.