The Integrated Programme in Management (IPM) was first launched in 2011 by IIM Indore. This programme was one of its kind which allowed fresh high school pass-outs to join an IIM to complete their undergrad as well as post-graduation. While the programme was unique and promising, it invited a lot of criticism and questions on its validity.
However, it managed to withstand the test of time and in 2019, IIM Rohtak followed suit, giving the programme much-needed validity and recognition. This was further followed by IIM Ranchi, Bodhgaya and Jammu in the year 2021. All three institutions have successfully started their first batch of IPM this year.
The programme has been well-received on both ends- the students as well as corporates. IIM Indore has managed to place 100% students of all the pass out batches and the average figures have increased consistently over the year. However, the number of applicants and the demand for this course has increased at an even higher rate.
The current seat matrix is as follows:
- IIM Indore – 150 seats
- IIM Rohtak – 180 seats
- IIM Ranchi – 120 seats
- IIM Jammu – 60 seats
- IIM Bodhgaya – 60 seats
- Total – 570 seats
Given the limited availability of seats in the existing IIM IPMs, most of the IPM aspirants are always on the look for the answer to this question: Is there any IIM planning to start its own integrated programme in the future? If so, when?
Increase in Number of Seats Available in IPM IIM Indore
While IIM Indore offering IPM is nothing new, the good thing is that they’re likely to increase the total intake from next year.
As mentioned earlier, the present intake is capped at 150 students. However, as mentioned by Dr Siddhartha K Rastogi (IIM Indore) in one of his interviews, the institute is likely to increase its intake to 240 seats starting next year. While the change was supposed to be in effect from this year itself, they had to postpone it by a year owing to the pandemic.
While no official announcement has been made by the institute itself, professor Rastogi is a credible-enough source to verify the same.
IIM Lucknow Might Start IPM Next Year
If the sources are to be believed, IIM Lucknow is said to be starting the IPM from next year. The intake for the same is going to be 180 and the announcement is likely to happen on its convocation (late March.)
Again, the information doesn’t come from official channels and is somewhat speculative. However, professor Rastogi confirmed the same in his interview. Moreover, some students of the IPM IIM Rohtak who took part in a competition in IIM Lucknow were also interviewed about the same, strengthening this claim further.
Should the institute provide us with any official announcement regarding the same, we’ll update our post asap.
Is IIM Bangalore Going to Start the IPM?
There is a big rumour going around in the aspirants’ community about IIM Bangalore also planning to offer IPM. This comes after Professor Abhoy K Ojha, Director IIM Bangalore, said in an interview that they are looking forward to the possibility of offering ‘undergraduate programmes’ in their newly constructed campus.
However, no mention specifically targeting IPM was made. Adding to that, the institute recently announced on Twitter about the commencement of a four-year UG program in the liberal arts from 2023, which is in no way related to IPM but is a separate programme altogether with no post-graduation component.
Therefore, I don’t feel like IIM Bangalore is likely to start IPM anytime soon. Even if it’s in talks, it hasn’t been announced yet. Moreover, the already announced liberal arts program is set to be offered from 2023 so one should atleast not expect them to start IPM anytime before that.
What About Other IIMs?
There is very much a possibility of other IIMs following along and starting their own variations of IPM soon. However, it’ll at least take a couple of years for going from the ideation process to implementation. For 2021 aspirants, the best bet is to focus on what’s already announced while keeping hopes for IIM Lucknow as well.
Non IIMs Starting IPM
After the onset of the New Education Policy (NEP), many non-IIMs have also shown interest in the Integrated Programme in Management. NLU Hyderabad (Nalsar) became the first institute of national importance apart from IIMs to start IPM. However, if sources were to be believed, IIIT Allahabad and IIFT Kakinada might be next in the list. It’s likely that these institutions may as well start IPM next year. We covered the same in one of our videos, you can have a look:
Why Have other IIMs not started IPM yet?
The institutes have their own sets of reasons and challenges as to why have they not started the IPM yet. For the old and established IIMs, it’s more of an infrastructural issue. The campuses are already running at their fullest capacities and accomodating a new programme is next to impossible unless a satellite campus is opened (like in the case of IIM Bangalore.)
Adding to that, the needs of undergraduate students are different than that of their MBA counterparts. They tend to be physically more active so they’d require an upgrade in the existing sports facilities too, which isn’t possible for the old IIMs owing to the earlier-mentioned issue.
On the contrary, the newer IIMs would want to focus more on bringing their MBA programme to its fullest capacity before they start with any other programme. This, again, will end up taking some time.
Conclusion
From all the background information that we have, we can conclude that 2021 aspirants can expect to have around 630 IPM seats available to them. This includes 210 seats in IIM Rohtak, 240 seats in IIM Indore, and 180 seats in IIM Lucknow (hopefully.)
If you’re an IPMAT aspirant looking to crack the entrance in your first attempt, you can have a look at our specialized preparation courses taught by your seniors-to-be.