Frequently Asked Questions

Executive Certificate in Management Program

1. What is the title of the program??

Executive Certificate in Management Program

2. What is the start date of the academic session??

15th September 2017

3. What is the minimum eligibility??

Applicants should have a minimum of 5 years of work experience and an undergraduate

degree of three or four year duration

4. What is the duration of the program??

The total duration of the 10 course Executive Certificate in Management Program is 11/12
months including two academic breaks. The first break is from 15th December to 14th
January and the second break is from 15th March to 14th April.

5. How is the program delivered??

The Executive certificate in Management Program is delivered as a 100% e learning

program with a dedicated faculty support. All course lectures that are part of the
program are prerecorded and hosted on the University servers and are updated by the
faculty at periodical intervals. Enrolled students can access these lectures by logging onto
the University servers using the unique user ID and password assigned to them. The
objective is to offer the desired convenience and flexibility to the working executives
desirous of completing a high quality program with structured learning benefits.

Each course has definitive start and end dates. The courses start on the 15th day of every
month and end on the 14th day of the following month. Though enrolled students have
the flexibility to pace their learning over a 30 day period, they are required to complete
the review of the course lectures and reference resources provided by the faculty,
collaborate with faculty and peer group on a need basis on the virtual discussion boards
and also complete the course related assessments that are part of the mandatory
evaluation within the 30 day period for each course

6. Is there a faculty support??

There is a dedicated faculty support for each of the ten courses that are part of the
program to help students validate and personalize their course experience. As enrolled
students are expected to review the course lectures on different dates and at different
times, the school has provided a 100% virtual support wherein, enrolled students can
reach out to the faculty by posting their queries on the virtual discussion boards. Faculty
would respond to each and every query posted by the students on the discussion boards.

In addition to the virtual support, the faculty would also interact with the students
through live webinars. Live Webinars provide an opportunity to the enrolled students to
validate and personalize their course experience in real time.

7. What is the evaluation process??

The student assessments are based on ongoing evaluation and are designed to ensure
structured learning benefits to the enrolled students. There are two sets of assessments
that form part of the mandatory evaluation. The first assessment is a Multiple Choice
Assessment and the same is linked to the course lectures. Students are required to score
a minimum of 50% with the multiple choice assessment for each course to qualify for the
certification and any student scoring 98% or more in all the ten courses will be considered
by the school for completing the program with a distinction. Students are given three
attempts to better their score with the multiple-choice assessment and the best of the
three scores will be considered by the school.

The second set of assessment that is part of the mandatory evaluation is designed to help
students further their understanding of the courses and competencies. As part of this
assessment, faculty seeds multiple topics on the discussion boards for each course and
enrolled students are required to identify a minimum of four topics from the available
topics, and respond to the four topics by posting their submissions. Students can either
rely on their own understanding or can review third party resources before making their
submissions. Students earn one contribution point for every submission accepted by the
faculty and they are required to earn a minimum of four contribution points per course to
qualify for the certification. If any of the submissions are rejected by the faculty the
students can resubmit them with due corrections based on the faculty feedback.

While submitting their contributions, students may be required to do data mining of their
respective departments for some of the topics, collaborate with a peer group member
for few other topics and use their assimilation and understanding for most of the other
topics. The quality of the contributions and their impact on the peer group is the other
determining factor for awarding the distinction.

8. What if a student is unable to complete the course assessments in the first attempt? Is
there another opportunity?

Students are given three attempts to better their scores with the multiple-choice
assessment and the best of the three scores is considered by the faculty for the
evaluation purpose. Similarly, if any submission made by a student is not accepted by the
faculty they can resubmit their posts by making the necessary changes based on the
faculty inputs

9. Are there any extensions granted to the students who may miss out on the courses
due to personal or professional reasons??

Enrolled students are required to complete each course within a 30 days period to ensure
sustained learning benefits. However, if any student is unable to complete their course
work within the designated period, they can seek a two weeks extension by posting a
request on the McIntire help desk citing the reasons. If a student misses more than one
course, they will have to reenroll into the program by paying a reenrollment fee of USD
2000
10. What is the learning effort for each course? How many hours? What is the suggested
approach??

According to the McIntire school of Commerce, the estimated learning effort is around
16-20 hours over a four weeks period for completing each course. This is based on the
assumption that students would be reviewing the course lectures and would be spending
reasonable time in reviewing the reference resources shared by the faculty as part of the
course lectures and in posting their submissions that are part of the mandatory
evaluations.

However, we have noticed that most students invest over 25 - 30 hours for completing
some of the courses.

As students are likely to invest close to 30 hours for each course, they are advised to take
a weekly approach by identifying two lean days in a week and in investing about three to
four hours on those days for proactively completing the program.

This approach will not only help students in completing the program in a timely manner
but will also provide them an opportunity to review the submissions posted by the peer
group and provide the opportunity to reach out to the faculty for validating and
personalizing their course experience.

11. Does the program offer cohort centric learning benefits??

This asynchronous learning platform provides an opportunity to the enrolled students to

get most cohort centric learning benefits that they other wise expect from class-room
learning through group discussions.

When students respond to the topics seeded by the faculty, they can expect other
students who are part of the class also to respond to the same topics by sharing varied
perspectives. The review of the peer group submissions on the discussion boards are
expected to help students in fine tuning their thought process.

In addition to the topics seeded by the faculty, students can also initiate their own topics
on the discussion boards requesting both faculty and peer group to share their
perspectives and they can also respond to the topics seeded by other students who are
part of the class.
12. Is this a Masters program or a certificate program

The Executive Certificate in Management Program is a certificate program and not a

Masters program

13. What is the difference between Post Graduate Diplomas offered by Indian
Institutions and the Executive Certificate in Management Program??

Both are certificate programs. Diploma is just another name to a certificate program

14. Is this program recognized??

While University of Virginia is a top ranked Public University in the United States of
America, McIntire School of Commerce is ranked number five for their management
programs ahead of more popular schools like Wharton and Cornell according to the
Bloomberg rankings for 2016. McIntire School of Commerce also has the highest
accreditation for management education from AACSB. Only five institutions from India
including IIM Kolkata and ISB managed to obtain the AACSB accreditation as on date.

15. Will this program help in career progression??

Students are requested to review the course catalogue to understand the relevance of
the courses designed for the befit of both current and aspiring leaders.

It is important to know that the recognition or acceptance of any learning effort by the
industry is based on three critical parameters.

The first is the relevance of the program curriculum with the applicants job description,
the second is the quality, rigor and duration of the program and the third and the most
important aspect is the reputation of the certifying institution.

The Executive Certificate in Management Program is designed to deliver 16 key leadership

competencies, that are considered by HR leaders and consulting groups as essential
competencies for the success of an individual as a leader.

When students enroll into the Executive certificate in Management program, they are
subjected to a sustained learning curve, and by the time they complete the program they
would have a far better understanding of the competencies required by them to succeed
in a leadership role.

The one-year duration will help students in implementing some of the techniques and
tools they familiarize as part of the program at their work place even while pursuing the
program under the mentorship of the expert faculty.

A completion certification from a reputed business school of a top ranked American

University is sure to offer much better recognition to the successful students as opposed
to most degrees that are offered by institutions lesser repute.

From 1996 to 2015, McIntire School of Commerce is ranked number 2, ahead of more
popular schools like Wharton and Cornell for their senior Undergraduate Business
program in USA. In 2016, they are ranked number 5 for the same program.

16. Why should a working executive consider ECMP Program as opposed to a MBA or
EMBA Program??

Continuing education is a norm for most organizations with a global foot print as they
recognize that less than 1% of the working population manage to take a sabbatical from
work and invest anywhere between USD 70000- USD 125000 in pursuing either MBA or
EMBA from top ranked American Business Schools. The remaining 99+% working
executives manage their career progression through continuing education. As such
completing the Executive Certificate in Management Program is expected to offer a clear
advantage to the working executives over their peers, who do not possess similar
qualifications from institutions of similar repute.

17. What is the tuition fee for the Executive Certificate in Management Program??

The discounted tuition fee under a corporate partnership program is USD 3800.00 +
Applicable Taxes or its equivalent INR as against the full price of USD 7600 + Applicable
Taxes.

18. What are the applicable Taxes??

According to our auditors, the program does not attract any tax as the Government of
India has exempted Education Services with live faculty support from the tax purview.
However, the GST department is yet to provide a confirmation to this effect in writing as
they are reviewing the fine print. As such, we will not be collecting any tax at the time of
enrollment. However, the same may be collected at a later date (@18%), if the
department decides to levy the tax.

19. Is there a deadline for enrollment confirmation??

Yes. Interested students have to submit the duly filled enrollment forms by 30th August
2017

20. Is there an installment option to pay the tuition fee??

Yes. The installment option is available for employees working in onsite locations except
India. Applicants working outside India can opt to pay the tuition fee in the equated
monthly installments.

21. Is the tuition fee collected in American Dollars??

The students have an option to pay the tuition fee either in American Dollars or in Indian
Rupees. Students paying in American Dollars are required to wire transfer the funds into
the designated account. Students paying in Indian Rupees are required to contact Easy
Educate on the day of transferring the tuition fee to ascertain the applicable exchange
rate valid for the day.

22. Is there an option to pay using Credit Cards??

Yes. Easy Educate has set up a Pay Pal account for the benefit of the overseas applicants
intending to pay the tuition fee using their Credit Cards. Pay Pal charges 3.5% as the
processing fee and the same is collected from the applicants.

23. What is the process to register for this course and when is the last date for
application??

Interested applicants have to submit the duly filled enrollment forms on or before 30th
August 2017. In turn we will share the enrollment request with the McIntire School of
Commerce to ascertain the eligibility and as soon as we receive a confirmation from the
school, we will notify the same to the interested applicant and share our account
information for them to transfer the tuition fee. Upon receiving the tuition fee, the
school will send a communication to the student, confirming their enrollment into the
program. The last date for the tuition fee payment either in full or in part is 05th
September 2017

24. Who can apply from my organization??

The program is highly recommended for Senior Associates and Managers

25. What are the coordinates of the facilitators??

You can reach out to Madhusudan Bandreddy (+91-98663-33678 /

bandreddy@easyeducate.com) of Easy Educate for any further clarifications or support

Disclaimer as below:
a. Cognizant does not guarantee Accreditation of the Program by AICTE, UGC or any
other applicable affiliations.
b. Cognizant does not guarantee quality and content in the Program.
c. Program does not offer a guaranteed employment/promotion in Cognizant.
d. Cognizant does not guarantee Standard of the school offering the Program