MUMBAI: In a move that will cut down the multiple entrance exams that
students are forced to take for admission to management courses across the
country, the All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has decided
to conduct a common admission test from 2012-13. The test will cover
admissions to both MBA and postgraduate diploma in management.
The decision to hold a pan-India Common Management Admission Test (CMAT)
was taken at the recent executive council meeting of the AICTE, the
umbrella body for professional courses. While CMAT will be one of the
entrance exams to be held in 2012, the Council wants all its colleges and
institutes to admit students based on their CMAT scores from 2013.
"Almost every college was holding an entrance exam. Moreover, each state
has its own entrance tests, and private associations have their own
exams," AICTE chairman S S Mantha said. "In principle, CMAT will be a test
for all AICTE-approved institutes and will reduce the stress and financial
burden on students."
However, the Indian Institutes of Management, which are independent and
autonomous B-schools, will continue to conduct the CAT (common admission
test). Deemed universities will also hold their individual entrance tests.
But admission to 4,000 colleges that offer an MBA and another 500 which
run diploma programmes will take place on the basis of the CMAT.
"We still have to work out the modalities of conducting the CMAT. But
having so many exams, all of varied difficulty levels, also raises
concerns about the quality of students who enter this professional
course," Mantha added. It is for the first time that the AICTE has spoken
about holding an entrance exam; to date, it has largely been an
approval-seeking body for new colleges and institutes wanting to expand
student intake.
The Management Aptitude Test, which is taken by 3.85 lakh students every
year, is currently the largest B-school entrance test. Hari Krishna Maram,
governing council member of AIMA which conducts MAT, said "I welcome the
idea of a single entrance exam for management courses in the interest of
students. The government has been talking about it for quite sometime, but
the idea hasn`t taken off. I do not know if a single exam will work since
different universities have different admission schedules. MAT, on the
other hand, is conducted four times a year and this helps students to take
the exam whenever they are free."