Introduction

Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (IIMC) being driven by its vision of creating an international centre of excellence in all aspects of management education has been making a persistent effort to internationalize its activities and acquire an international character during the past one decade. The Institute has made significant progress in forging stable student exchange partnerships with more than forty Universities / Institutions across different continents. In the last Strategy Retreat in November, 2009, it was discussed and decided that IIMC would explore other avenues of internationalization such as dual degree programme with foreign Universities / Institutions to bring in more cultural diversity in the flagship MBA programme and also give our students opportunities to acquire cross cultural experiences by spending longer time in select partner schools. Around this time, ESCP Europe, one of the partner institutions from France, expressed its willingness to launch a dual degree programme with IIMC. This draft agreement has been prepared based on several rounds of discussions among the authorized representatives of both the institutions to take the proposal forward.

IIMC and ESCP-EAP, now ESCP Europe signed a comprehensive Cooperation Agreement in 2003. Since then the two institutes have developed a fruitful collaboration through a strong student exchange programme. Every year students from both the schools have been provided with an opportunity to enroll in the students’ exchange programme and undergo one academic term at respective campuses as part of their Post Graduate Programmes.

IIMC and ESCP Europe want to further strengthen this relationship by giving the select group of students from both the schools an opportunity to obtain Post Graduate Diploma / Degree from both IIMC and ESCP Europe. As for IIMC this programme will be open to the participants joining IIM Calcutta’s PGDM programme only. As for ESCP Europe, the programme will be open to the Master in Management students only.

The present arrangement is for the Paris campus of ESCP Europe. However, this arrangement can be extended to other campuses of ESCP Europe with mutual consent in the future.

This document underlines the broad contours of the proposed arrangement.

Selection

Students of IIMC will be selected on the dual degree / diploma track according to ESCP Europe rules. The selection process will involve use of CAT/ GMAT score and performance in Group Discussion and an interview with a panel which includes at least one authorized representative from each institution. Students of PGDM programme of IIMC with at least one year work experience will be eligible for this programme.

Students of ESCP Europe will be selected on the dual degree / diploma track according to IIMC rules. The selection process will involve the entry requirements of ESCP Europe based on competitive admission tests and interviews, including an interview with a panel which includes at least one representative from each institution. Preference would be given to French and other non-Indian students studying in ESCP Europe for admissions to the Dual Degree Programme.

Programme Structure

To obtain the PGDM degree of IIMC the dual degree students are required to undertake a minimum of 90 IIMC credit equivalent (120 ECTS equivalent) courses. In addition to these, summer internship of 8-10 weeks (which is equivalent to 3 IIMC credit) is mandatory for the participants for the award of the diploma from IIMC.

To obtain the MiM degree of ESCP Europe the dual degree students are required to have successfully completed the admission tests, have completed 120 ECTS credits (among which seminars and French language courses) and have completed a minimum of 39 weeks of professional experience.

1. IIMC students

Students from IIMC enrolled in the dual degree programme need to adhere to the following guidelines:

a. Students will take the Term 1 and 2 (June to December) courses at IIM Calcutta. During this period they will not only have to complete the IIMC requirements, but also have to take an additional intensive French Language course to be conducted at IIM Calcutta. This will enable them to validate required ESCP Europe’s pre requisite courses and core courses as decided by appropriate authority (See Appendix 1). Thereafter, students will spend 2 semesters at ESCP Europe from January to December. During this period they need to complete 5 ESCP Europe core courses (each of 30 hours duration or equivalent) plus at least 5 elective courses (each of 30 hours duration or equivalent) and a Master Thesis. Besides, during the summer (May to August), students will have to do an internship anywhere in the world for 8 -10 weeks. ESCP Europe will help students find the above internship. The MiM degree constraints are detailed in Appendix 2.

b. Students will have to undertake a research project (Master Thesis) as compulsory course for dual degree / diploma, which will be considered equivalent to 2 IIMC elective courses or 6 IIMC credits. They have to start the preliminary work for the project including project topic selection before February of the first year and complete the project by December of the second year. The final presentation of the project report will be held in December in ESCP Europe. The thesis should comply with the requirements of both programmes.

c. Students will take the last term (i.e., term 6) courses at IIMC from December to March and fulfill IIMC requirements during this term, and complete a minimum of 4 elective courses (each of 30 hours duration) to be eligible for ESCP Europe degree.

2. ESCP EUROPE students

Students from ESCP Europe enrolled in the dual degree programme need to adhere to the following guidelines:

a. ESCP EUROPE students having already successfully completed the Pre Master year of the Master in Management programme or directly enrolled in the Master course take the first year of the Master courses at ESCP Europe. During the first Master year and previous studies (including Pre Master year) they will validate the equivalent of IIMC core courses as per the Appendix 1 and obtain pass grades in all the specified courses.

b. After completing the core courses requirement in ESCP Europe, they will join IIMC in June of their second Master year (at the beginning of IIM Calcutta’s Term IV). They will spend three terms at IIMC during June to March and take the complete second year programme of IIMC including the core courses, if any.

3. Award of Degree / Diploma

a. IIMC students enrolled in the dual degree programme will graduate from IIMC in April provided they have completed all the requirements towards the fulfillment of the PGDM of IIMC including 8-10 weeks internship.

b. To graduate from ESCP Europe in September, IIMC Students enrolled in the dual degree programme will have to comply with the requirements of the MiM programme, including work experience and the defense of their Master Thesis.

c. ESCP Europe students enrolled in the dual degree programme will graduate from ESCP Europe in September provided that they have fulfilled all the requirements of the MiM programme.

d. ESCP Europe students enrolled in the dual degree programme will graduate from IIMC in April of the following year provided they have completed all the requirements towards the fulfillment of the PGDM of IIMC including a proof of 8-10 weeks of work experience. A provisional certificate will be issued to the students in September along with the degree of ESCP Europe.

4. Tuition Fees

The students will pay tuition fees and other fees such as reading materials, case studies and books, internet expenses, insurance or social security expenses at their Institution of origin. The host Institution will not charge any tuition fee and other fees. However other charges such as boarding and lodging. will be charged as per the institutional rules by both the institutions.

In case of imbalance of the number of students enrolled in the Dual Degree programme by each institution, the institution which has enrolled less students will be able to send an additional number of exchange students to the other institution. The number of exchange semesters will be equivalent to the number of semesters not used for the Dual Degree.

Placement Support

Both IIMC and ESCP Europe students who undertake the Dual Degree program shall be entitled to full placement support services which the regular students at IIMC (PGDM program) and ESCP Europe (Master in Management) enjoy, at no extra cost to the candidates.