POST GRADUATE DIPLOMA IN FINANCE – MUCH BETTER THAN GENERAL MBA
Focus is the key difference
A post graduate diploma in management (PGDM) or a general MBA degree as it is commonly known as and a post graduate diploma in finance (PGDF/PGDFM) are often confused to be one and the same courses but they are almost completely different in their course curriculum, duration, teaching objectives and goals. Students need to study in depth both the courses when making a decision. However, this applies to students who are willing to do their masters in finance. Marketing, HR and other fields have no link with PGDFM.
Duration
For people who are in hurry to complete their masters degree PGDFM is any day better than MBA because it is a one year course as compared to two year full time MBA. The course is hectic than an MBA because of the time duration and a wider range of finance aspects that are covered within one year. Some institutes do offer a two year PGDFM which is more beneficial because of the depth in which each subject is dealt with.
Course material
PGDFM has a wider course material than any of the finance courses an especially MBA. Subjects are covered from almost every strata of finance a few of them include Corporate Finance, Risk and Insurance Management, Security analysis, portfolio management, M & A, financial institutions, Foreign exchange management, etc. A general MBA in finance never covers such a wide strata of courses. This course material makes the person ideal for any kind of finance job. This is the main reason why demand for PGDFM graduates is rising and many organisations prefer them to general MBA-Finance students. Another important aspect is that PGDFM compulsorily teachers management control system which includes working on Excel and using other software. In modernised world no finance operation is done without involvement of Excel or any other in-house software that companies develop.
Job switch
For a person who has done PGDFM it is much easier to switch one job from the other with different profiles. The main reason for this is the wide range of subjects that are being taught in PGDFM. It is a focussed course but focussed on core finance not any sub extension of finance. In MBA general finance is not taught in much depth and focussed finance course like MBA – Banking management carry a huge disadvantage with them and that is the person never gets an option to switch to other profile like Equity research or any other profile. So, for people who are pursuing general MBA they should be sure of as to what are their objectives in life because a wrong field may not give you the satisfaction that a masters degree should give.
MBA or PGDFM
Looking at the discussion above it is clear that in you are looking for a career in finance than PGDFM is the course to go for. The teaching technique and the course material is far more refined than a regular MBA programme as the whole focus is on digging the finance nail hard in you. |