In a letter to the Human Resource Development Ministry, the AIMA has said MAT’s uniqueness and success lay in its inclusiveness. It is conducted in both the online and paper-based format, reaching out to a much wider audience, accommodating the mixed education background of students while staying rigorous on testing aptitude.

The proposal to introduce and conduct a common management aptitude test (CMAT) exclusively in an online format is ill-suited to a big and diverse country like India. “While such a platform might work for more elite tests like CAT, which are mainly targeted at students in metros seeking admission to Indian Institutes of Management, conducting a common test of this nature in an only online format would only widen the digital divide.”

A large number of students who would avail themselves of this test would be from tier 2 and 3 towns, where accessibility to computers is limited; add to this connectivity, bandwidth and power issues. An online format will hurt the opportunities of many students from non-metros and less-connected areas. Instead of enhancing the scope and accessibility to management degrees, it will only end up being discriminatory, the letter said.

Citing the AIEEE-2011 test, the AIMA said only 4,900 candidates had opted for computer-based test of the 11 lakh applicants which showed that though there had been a significant growth in computer literacy, the reach has not been inclusive with reference to demographic distribution.

The wait for students, who appeared for CAT 2011, will finally be over on January 11, 2012 when theIndian Institutes of Management (IIMs) announce the CAT 2011 Results and open gates to their hallowed corridors.

CAT 2011 Results form the basis of selection criteria not only for IIM aspirants but also for other Tier-II MBA colleges across India.

Administered by Prometric, around 2.05 Lakh candidates appeared for the exam this year, adding over thousand aspirants to the last year’s strength.

Apart from the 33 existing centres, this year, exams were held in three more cities – Jamshedpur, Jammu and Bhilai. Except one incident which took place at the Institute of Local Governance, Bangalore, where a student was shifted to a backup location, CAT 2011 was overall glitch-free.

With the declaration of the CAT Results, the contest between the cream of students gets even intense in the next two rounds of Group Discussion (GD) and Personal Interview

Courtesy: www.IndiaEduNews.net

The CMAT will replace the existing state level and national level entrance exams for management courses except CAT. The decision is aimed at addressing the issue of physical, mental and financial stress on the students appearing in multiple entrance exams, according to an HRD Ministry statement issued today.
The scores awarded will be used for admission in the post graduate management programmes both at degree and diploma level, it said.

The questions will be based on quantitative techniques and data interpretation, logical reasoning, language comprehension and general awareness.
“There shall be negative marking for wrong answers, for each wrong answer 1 mark shall be deducted,” the statement said.

“The respective secretaries of the states dealing with technical education and vice chancellors of the universities have been requested to advise the competent authority for admissions in their respective states to use the merit list of CMAT-2012 for allotment of students in the AICTE approved management institutions for academic year 2012-13,” the statement said.

CMAT scores will help students get admissions in AICTE approved institutes/university departments in all management programmes catering to more than four lakh sanctioned seats of AICTE approved management institutions, the statement said.

The test was conducted in about 68 test centres across 36 cities. This year three new centres such as Bhilai, Jamshedpur and Jammu were added to the existing centres. This year Prometric also started two new world class state-of-the-art testing facilities in Gurgaon and Hyderabad.

“We are happy to announce the successful completion of CAT 2011,” said Soumitra Roy, Managing Director, Prometric India. “This is the third year of the computer-based CAT and we are pleased to have conducted the test in a way that exceeded global standards. A successful computer-based testing programme like the CAT has been built on a strong foundation of operational excellence, and the ability to adapt and apply global best practices depending on the local environment. The continued success of this programme shows that India is moving into a new era of technology-enabled testing and we are happy to be able to apply our expertise in making this a reality,” he further added.

“CAT is recognised as the most important exam in benchmarking candidate aptitude. We are extremely appreciative to Prometric for providing their relentless support and qualified expertise to help us maintain such a high standard,” said Professor Janakiraman Moorthy, CAT 2011 Convener.

The CAT 2011 results are expected to be announced on January 11, 2012 and candidates will be able to log in to view their results on the CAT

The IIT-Delhi, which is organizing IIT-JEE 2012, has invited all IIT directors for a workshop on Friday, where an online model will be demonstrated. The JEE office is hosting the workshop. Sources from IIT-Delhi have confirmed that Education Testing Services (ETS), which conducts the GRE and several other popular global online examinations, will make a presentation at the workshop.

Most officials on record denied plans to go online with JEE. A senior official from one of the IITs claimed that the workshop was scheduled to discuss the possibilities of an online examination for JEE. “We might just discuss the feasibility. No decision has been taken,” said the official.

A senior IIT-B professor said, “An online exam may or may not work for JEE. While CAT faced teething problems initially, it is stabilized now. For an exam, where you need to calculate a lot, pen and paper seems to be a better option. But students these days are well versed with technology and in future, everything might be computerized.”

Currently, only two directors have responded to the invitation, claimed an official from IIT-Delhi. “Experts from ETS will make a presentation and showcase their testing systems. It is a successful testing pattern in the US. But there will not be any overnight decision on JEE going online,” said the official.

While in the 2010-2011 academic session the entrance test for courses like Masters of Business Economics, Masters of Finance and Control, Masters of International Business and Masters of Human Resource and Organisational Development were handed over to CAT, this year the university scrapped the entrance test conducted by the Faculty of Management Studies for admission to its full-time MBA programmes.

Last Saturday a meeting of the heads of faculties and departments was convened where exam reforms was discussed and the DU administration stated that even for other postgraduate exams (not entrances) the departments will be entrusted with the responsibility of the same.

Dean, examinations, R C Sharma said: “Primarily the idea is to decentralize the whole process so as to expedite it. This will benefit the students as the results will be declared on time. Moreover, the Supreme Court in a judgement said that the students can ask to see their answer sheets under RTI Act. Instead of the exam branch storing such a huge number of answer sheets, it will be easier for the departments to handle them. Moreover, it will also ease some pressure from the exam branch.” Sharma said that even now most of the exam works are done at department level.

Meanwhile, those courses which admitted students based on CAT score said that the change has reflected in over all qualitative improvement. According to head of the commerce department, Dr K V Bhanumurthy, “The MIB and MHROD were the first course under my department to have joined CAT and we have seen the positives. One major gain has been the qualitative differences. The average CAT score of the admitted students is 95 percentile. The students are more homogeneous now. And we are now bracketed with some of the best B-schools. Earlier our courses have been grossly undervalued. The challenge however is to now improve our pedagogy and delivery as we have comparatively better students, who are motivated and focused.”

“Another advantage is that many of our students now have work experience, which will definitely boost our placement performances in the years to come,” added Bhanumurthy. An exercise which started as to help ease the exam branch as the semester system has added additional pressure has probably resulted as a boon for these postgraduate courses in getting quality students.

Now, however, the IITs have unanimously decided to scrap JMET and accept CAT scores to select students for their MBA programmes. While this move was made in a bid to reduce the number of examinations, students and MBA aspirants feel that this has put them under more pressure.

Vaishnavi Jayaraman, who graduated in mechanical engineering from SSN College, Chennai and plans to do her MBA, says, “Earlier,MBA aspirants had a wider choice of exams. If you did not do well in one exam, you could make up for it in the next one. Now we are under more pressure because we do not have a choice but to perform well in CAT to make it to the top-rung B-schools. On the brighter side, she adds, the pattern has changed for the better with the number of sections reduced from three to two, with a time limit of 70 minutes per section.”

S Balasubramanian, director, TIME (a management coaching centre),believes that the new move has both positives and negatives. The number of exams a student has to prepare for has now come down. But also, now they have only one shot at securing admissions into the college of their choice, he says.

The IITs have a different take on the issue and they believe that the use of CAT scores for admissions is also a way of showing solidarity with other reputed B-schools in the country. G Srinivasan, HOD, department of management studies, IIT Madras ,explains, Every year, only about 40,000 students/aspirants take the JMET,as opposed to over four lakh students who take GATE and JEE. We must acknowledge that although students will be under pressure, this will help reduce their preparation burden. Besides, we have the independence to choose what exams to use for admissions. He argues that there is not much of a difference between JMET and CAT.

LS Ganesh, professor, department of management studies, IIT Madras, says, CAT is a well-evolved exam and in any case, there are more students taking CAT than JMET. Besides, our MBA programmes are on a par with those offered at other reputed institutes. It will help us re-align our image as a business school.
However, other criteria like cutoffs, performance in group discussions and interviews will ultimately dictate admission of a student in the programme.

Courses Offered : Applications are invite for admission to the following programmes

Two year Master of Business Economics (MBE)

Two Year Master of Finance and Control (MFC)

Eligibility

Graduate (Under10+2+3) in any discipline, with at least 50% marks from theUniversity of Delhi or any other University recognized as equivalent thereto with Maths/ Business Maths at class XII level. Reservation of seats as per the Universityrules. Candidates appearing for the Final year of Bachelor Degree in 2012 can also apply.

How To Apply

The Admission Brochure and Form are available between 10.00 am. and 3.00 p.m. (Mon to Fri) from Room No. 229, Arts Faculty Building, South Campus on payment of Rs.1700/- (Rs.800/- for SC / ST Candidates) for two programmes and Rs.1000/- oneprogramme (Rs.500/- for SC / ST Candidates).

The Admission Brochure and Form can be requested by post by sending a Demand Draft in favour of ‘Director, University of Delhi South Campus” payable at New Delhi of Rs. 1800/- Rs.900/- for SC / ST Candidates) for two programmes and Rs.1000/- one programme (Rs.600/- for SC / ST Candidates).

The filled in application form should be mailed lo The Admission Coordinator, Room No. 229, Arts Faculty Building, University of Delhi South Campus, Benito Juarez Road, New Delhi- 110021 so as to reach by 05.12.2011.

Online applications can he made at www.mba-du.org or www.mfc.edu from 19th September, 2011

Contact Details

Room No. 229, Arts Faculty Building, University of Delhi South Campus, Benito Juarez Road, New Delhi- 110021

Tel: 011 – 24111141, 24118854
Email: admissions@mfc.edu
Website: www.mbe-du.org, www.mfc.edu

Last date for receipt of form : 05 December 2011

Admission procedure

CAT results will be used for short listing candidates for the above programmes. So a candidate has to appear for the Common Admission Test (CAT) conducted by the IIMs. (IIMs have no role in the selection process or in the conduct of theprogramme

The threat is real. Although some top institutes like the IITs, the Indian Institute of Science, FMS and MICA have signed up to accept CAT-2011 scores, 58 B-schools across India like IMD, Delhi, have opted out this year. The total number of colleges that have retained CAT to admit students is 155, way below MAT’s tally of 1,800.

Management schools were forced to choose between CAT, MAT and the state-level CET after the All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) sent out a circular to this effect in August 2010. After the AICTE diktat, colleges opted for a test that suited the student profile they were looking for-for instance, the top colleges went in for the tougher CAT while those in the middle rung opted for MAT. Another factor in the CAT-MAT competition is that the former is more expensive than the latter-to be a part of the CAT group, a B-school must shell out a registration fee of Rs 2 lakh and another Rs 200 for verifying each score card, while the MAT registration is only Rs 50,000.

Convenor Janakiraman Moorthy admits that some colleges have opted out of CAT. “But it’s not the number of institutes accepting CAT that is important,” he says. “What one must note is that some of the country’s most prestigious B-schools admit students on the basis of the CAT.” Hari Krishna Maram, governing council member, AIMA, points out that the number of colleges accepting MAT scores is going up by 8% every year, thanks to the new B-schools mushrooming in the country.

(1) Master of International Business (MIB) 

(2) Master of Human Resource and Organizational Development (MHROD)

Eligibility

Bachelors degree in any discipline from the University of Delhi or any other University recognized as an equivalent thereto, with at least 50% marks in aggregate. Relaxation of 5% Marks for SC/ST/CW/PH /OBC candidates.

Candidates appearing in the Final year degree examination may also apply, Reservation of seats for SC/ST/CW/PH/ OBO Foreign candidates are admissible as per the University rules.

How To Apply

The Prospectus and Application form (i) can be obtained in person against a Bank Draft of Rs.1000/- for one course and Rs.1700/- for both courses ( Rs.800/- and Rs.1200/- respectively only for the SC/ ST/ PH/ CW/ OBC Category), drawn in favour of the Registrar, University of Delhi, from any nationalized Bank, payable at Delhi

(ii) Prospectus can also be downloaded from Website : www.commercedu.com and http://www.du.ac.in by paying the same fees as above or

(iii) by post from the Section Officer, Department of Commerce, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi, Delhi-110007 by adding Rs.100/- to the above mentioned fees according to the respective category fee along with one self-addressed envelope (28 cms X 22 cms) Write name, address, telephone and course(s) applied for at the back of Bank Draft. Also enclose one self addressed (size 10”X4″) envelope with postage stamps of Rs.5/- affixed on envelope for delivery of Admit Card etc. along with the duly filled in application form.

(iv) Student can also apply online through http://docdse.admissionhelp.com and may make payment using credit / debit cards, net banking, cash deposit with Axis Bank and CBS branches of post office by adding a service fee of Rs.100 only.

Contact Details

Department of Commerce, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi, New Delhi – 110007

Tel: 011-45108880-83

Website: http://www.commercedu.com , http://www.du.ac.in

Last date for receipt of form

27 January 2012

ADMISSION PROCESS

The admission to MIB/MHROD courses will be made on the basis of CAT score, GD score, and Interview score. Students will have to submit CAT score after appearing in the Common Admission Test conducted by IIMs.

The candidate has to apply separately for CAT 2011 to IIMs and for GD & interview to the Department.