The total duration of the PGDRD programme is one year. It comprises three courses from soft skills, six courses from managerial skills, and three courses from technical skills including internship. After successful completion of the program the diploma holders generally show a positive attitude towards self-employment.

The classroom component is offered in the First Trimester (14 weeks); a large part (10 weeks) of the Second Trimester is devoted to classroom followed by eight weeks of rural organisational internship also called as 'field attachment (FA)', and the rest of the Third Trimester (12 weeks) caps up the classroom learning. In effect, the programme envisages twenty courses with 52.5 credits. The courses and the related field and project work cover the essentials of rural society, economics, people and organisations; good governance; natural and human resource development; rural development management principles and practices; project planning and management; management accounting and financial management; IT and ICT; small and medium rural enterprises; rural organisations; rural credit; micro-finance; livelihoods; rural product marketing; infrastructure; social sector services; development communication; skill development; corporate social responsibility; geographical information system, flagship programs and related fields. Based on the programme design and its objectives, the following courses, as shown in the next page, seek to fulfil the objective of the classroom component that is presented in three parts. Field visits and Field Attachment / organisational internship (6 weeks) are interspersed with the classroom component. Other associated academic activities equalling ten weeks duration at different time points include short field visits, seminars, workshops, fortnightly forum presentations, special lectures, thematic assignments, quizzes and examinations. Special lectures, exposure visits, panel discussions, games and case studies comprise the pedagogy and learning methodology. Student seminars, theme-specific assignments and project work are expected to further aid the process of self and interactive learning, both in and outside the classroom.