Published 8.3.2010 by Bärbel Schwertfeger IIPM not permitted to confer MBA degree For years, the Indian government hasn’t taken any action against the controversial Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM). Now the University Grants Commission (UGC), which as a higher Federal authority in India is responsible for the administration and recognition of universities, has issued a public notice that the business school is not authorized to confer degrees like the MBA and that these degrees are not recognized by the government. The official announcement has already been published in numerous newspapers. But for the University of Buckingham, this is not a reason to break off its talks with the IIPM. “We are aware of the latest developments concerning IIPM and remain in discussion with them,” writes Jane Tapsell, Dean of the University of Buckingham Business School. The school has been in discussion for the past year about the accreditation/validation of a BBA and an MBA. The fact that the IIPM is not a recognized university also does not play a role for some German universities. According to the website of the Mercator School of Management (MSM) at the University of Duisburg-Essen, the former is still cooperating with the IIPM. The university was already informed in 2009 that the IIPM is not a recognized university. The University of Duisburg-Essen, however, is sticking to its cooperation. The school had “assessed beforehand whether the IIPM comes into the question as a partner school for a program exchange” and in doing so “found no reason against entering into the cooperation,” said the school at the time. The University of Bayreuth also clearly still has an exchange program with the IIPM. Revealing is the February 2010 report of a University of Bayreuth student who spent an exchange semester abroad at the IIPM: “The way that group work functions is that one