Fellow Programme in Management

The Fellow Programme in Management (FPM) is the doctoral programme of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. The objective of the programme is to provide students with necessary skills to identify and research complex issues in the field of management. FPM seeks candidates with outstanding academic backgrounds, intellectual curiosity and discipline needed to make scholarly contribution.

FPM is a research programme. To the selected students, IIMA provides an excellent environment for carrying out advanced research, thus creating highly committed researchers trained in the most recent methodologies and engaged in producing original research work.

IIMA's doctoral programme provides a diverse set of opportunities for interdisciplinary education and research. The small entering class ensures close interaction with the faculty, where students can determine their own directions under the guidance of their thesis advisory committees.

The student becomes part of one of the ten functional/sectoral groups and acquires the basic theoretical knowledge and practical aspects of the area. This allows close interaction with faculty members, who provide the intellectual stimulation and help develop the student's own research interests and professional goals. The programme is strongly committed to preparing thought leaders both for the academic and corporate world.

Students spend generally a little over four years that includes two years of rigorous course work. Course work in the first year provides a general management overview and develops basic skills for analyzing managerial problems. In the second year, students take advanced doctoral level courses in their areas of specialization. The doctoral dissertation, for the next couple of years, provides them with an opportunity to make original contribution to an area of management or to one of its source disciplines.

IIMA's faculty have studied and worked in the best of institutions within India and around the world. Their involvement with public and private organizations internationally allows them to bring relevant managerial issues into the classroom and in their research. This creates an exceptional environment for developing a research programme that can build sound theory for analyzing complex managerial problems.

The programme consists of four stages:

1. First Year
2. Second Year
3. Comprehensive Exam
4. Thesis

The first year of the programme is intended for acquiring the required knowledge of the discipline and functional areas of management, and general management. All FPM students, irrespective of their areas of specialization, take most of the courses offered in the first year of the Post-Graduate Programme. At the end of the first year, the student undergoes a summer placement.

The second year of the programme is intended for acquiring in depth knowledge of the area of specialization and related fields. In addition, students take the FPM compulsory courses, which are specially designed to provide teaching and research skills, and to develop integrated learning.

On completion of the second year course work, the students take the area comprehensive examination.

The area comprehensive examination in the beginning of the 3rd year tests whether the student has obtained a satisfactory level of knowledge in his/her field of specialization and whether he/she has satisfactorily integrated the various courses taken in the area.

After passing the comprehensive examination, the student enters the thesis stage. The student first develops a thesis proposal, for which he/she identifies a thesis topic, forms the Thesis Advisory Committee [TAC], gives a seminar on the thesis proposal to the IIMA academic community, and gets the thesis proposal approved by the TAC. Then the student works closely with the TAC on his/her thesis. On completion of the thesis research, the student gives a seminar, submits the thesis and defends the same.