PUNE: Business school aspirants, burdened with the prospect of facing different entrance tests for different business schools (b-schools), may finally heave a sigh of relief.
Central policy makers in higher education are seriously contemplating restricting the number of entrance tests to five, starting as early as the next academic year (2003-04).
If that comes through, the 800-plus recognised b-schools spread across the country will have to base their admissions on one of the five short-listed entrance tests.
Moreover, the price of the admission B-school admission form is likely to be restricted to Rs 250. This was revealed by Dr K. Subramaniyam, senior advisor (postgraduate studies), All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).
The five exams are: the common admission test (CAT) for entry to the Indian Institutes of Management; the Xavier’s Management Admission Test conducted by the Xavier’s Labour Relations Institute, Jamshedpur; the joint management entrance test (JMET) conducted by the IITs; the entrance test conducted by the Association of All-India Management Schools (ATMA) and the common entrance tests devised by different states.
While a joint committee of the AICTE and the University Grants Commission (UGC) has mooted the above proposal, a final decision is expected next month, said Subramaniyam. Management gurus in Pune, are divided over the issue.
While Dr S.W. Bhave, senior research guide for various universities, termed it a welcome move, Kumar Srinivasan, director, PICT School of Information Technology and Management, said the government should rather focus on conducting a non-partial ranking of all b-schools, as is done in the US. Such a system will help students identify credible institutions to pursue higher studies.
Subramaniyam, however, pointed out, “Today, b-school aspirants have to appear for 10-12 entrance tests in order to ensure entry to at least one.”
This not only forced students to spend a lot of money in applying to the different institutes, but also took a heavy mental and physical toll. All this would be eliminated once the desired level of uniformity is injected into the admission system, Subramaniyam added.
The senior policy maker said the committee has also decided to fix the price of admission forms in bschools at Rs 250. “It has been found that business institutes been charging up to Rs 1,500 for mere admission forms,” he said. This decision will be applicable to all bschools, including the IIMs.
“We are in the process of sending copies of a circular to the effect to business institutes across the country,” Subramaniyam said, warning that defiance of the order could invite serious trouble for the institutes.
According to him, the committee would also look into the option of regularising the entrance examination for the MCA (master of computer application) course.