Would-be MBA students getting ready to take the GMAT might be in for a little surprise when they show up at the testing center. In addition to all the usual security measures—including video monitoring and the computer adaptive test itself—test takers will soon be asked to submit to a new one: a biometric device that uses an infared light to capture the test-taker’s unique “palm vein pattern.”

Pearson VUE, the company that administers the GMAT for the Graduate Management Admission Council, plans to announce the new security effort tomorrow, but BusinessWeek got a sneak peak at it today.

The Fujitsu “PalmSecure” device will be rolled out next month at 16 testing centers in India and Korea for GMAT candidates. It goes live in the U.S. this fall, and when fully deployed will be used in 400 facilities in 107 countries by May 2009.

The announcement comes as the b-school world is embroiled in a cheating scandal involving the GMAT–users of a now-defunct test prep Web site, Scoretop.com, have been accused by GMAC of using it to post and access live test questions, and GMAC has said it will cancel the test scores of anyone who violated its rules.

But the new security measure is designed to stop a different kind of cheating–the use of professional test takers, or proxies, to take the exam on behalf of someone else. GMAC’s been burned by this type of cheater before. Back in 2003, it busted a half dozen people who took the GMAT for others for about $5,000 a pop. GMAC canceled 166 scores as a result, and five of the six imposters ended up at Rikers.

More : businessweek.com

Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow today announced its fourth six months General Management Programme for Defence officers. This 24 weeks General Management Programme is the fourth in a series of such programmes being organized for Defence officers, and the first at NOIDA campus. The programme is open to both short service commission officers and others. The programme was inaugurated today at the NOIDA campus by the Major General, SG Chatterji, VSM, Director General, Resettlement.

The response to the first three programmes conducted by IIML was a huge success with all 49 officers of the first programme and 60 of the second getting good job offers. The third batch, which is undergoing placements right now, is also witnessing a slew of great offers. This year after applying the selection criteria 59 Defence Officers from all three branches of the Armed forces have been selected for the programme. Out of the 59 Officers, 7 candidates are Lady Officers.

“Management education to defence personnel contributes to providing defence officers a second career choice after retirement. But the larger role in the national interest is to prepare a disciplined and responsible citizen to play important roles in today’s competitive business scenario” say Prof. NK Gupta & Prof. SC Bansal, Program Directors.

The Indian Armed Forces carefully selects Officers and continuously trains them in the art, science and craft of WINNING. Every year, hundreds of these Officers retire, with rich experience in learning, critical reasoning, objective decision making, creative thinking, leading and motivating people, running organisations and managing projects. The aim of the programme is to capitalize on these skills of the officers and optimize them to suit the corporate world’s requirements.

As in the past, the fourth programme is also expected to generate an enthusiastic response from the corporate world and given the intense nature of the programme it is sure to equip the participants with the necessary skill set so very essential to conquer the corporate world.

The objective of the GMP is to provide the participants with a basic understanding of the managerial systems and processes. The programme has been designed to provide the defence officers with basic functional inputs in subjects such as accounting and finance, decision sciences, organizational behavior, human resources management, communication skills, marketing, strategy, information technology and business environment.

The idea is to familiarize the officers with the requisite analytical tools and techniques; and develop a holistic perspective and global mindset to understand issues of an enterprise.

Source : prurgent.com

In today’s highly competitive corporate world, working professionals are keen to upgrade their skills and qualifications like never before. SP Jain Center of Management, a business school that offers programs of intensive management business, both working for executives as well as full-time students, recently sought applications for its Executive MBA second batch of sixty and was overwhelmed by the response.

SP Jain Center of Management, located at Knowledge Village, Dubai has a legacy of being at the cutting edge of management education. Its parent campus, SP Jain Institute of Management and Research (SPJIMR), ranked seventh by Asia Inc, the Singapore based business magazine, and India’s top business school for job placements, has been constantly innovating not just the curriculum and pedagogy but also the imparting methodologies employed in business education. These advances are now available at Dubai’s SP Jain campus for the region’s business management aspirants to benefit from.

Kolkata, April 8. Faculty members of the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta (IIM-C) are companies in their opposition to the Union Human Resource Development Ministry’s move to reduce taxes.

Prof. Asish K. Bhattacharyya, Dean (planning and management) of IIM-C and spokesperson of the Faculty, told Business Line, the Faculty of the opinion that the tax was cut under the autonomy of the Institute, which is registered by the association as a body independent, and not a hotel.

Professor Bhattacharyya said that there is an option of the Faculty, have resorted to legal measures. “We are considering all options. The judicial process is not a privileged, but we are obliged for such a measure as a major group of IIM-C,” he says. ”

“We also ask, Mr YC Deveshwar, president of the Governing Council on its draft resolution on reducing fees. IIM-C Faculty strongly believes that the Department of command on the subject was not a” mandatory “At the Institute. Approval for the new session at the IIM-C would begin in late May or early April.

Mr. Deveshwar, it is scheduled for April 16 Faculty.

In addition, the Supreme Court today directed all six IIMS to submit their comments on the issue of reducing costs by 16 April. The summit also court fixed the hearing of the public interest litigation on the subject, the same day. IIM-C response to the Supreme Court directive on the fee reduction would be completed early next week, according to the Institute of sources.

Prof. Bhattacharyya said: “We are discovering, through legal formalities, if we ever move the court”.

Regarding the issue of autonomy of the Faculty representatives pointed out that the memorandum of freedom of association and rules of IIM-C had clearly stated that “the general superintendence, direction and control over business of society (IIM-C-Gesellschaft) their income and property is vested benefits to the board of directors of the company, which bears the name “Board of Governors.”

The Faculty Council has estimated that the chairman of the Board of Governors, has been specially assigned by which they make, the resolution, Mr. Deveshwar could not as a “compromise” the autonomy of the committee. “The Institute of revenue, academic freedom, decisions concerning the students’ teacher-report and the curricula could not part of the area of the state,” he observed.

Prof. Bhattacharyya also pointed out that the IIM-C Faculty had a position paper of the Government in question to move in a reduction of taxes and the question of autonomy over a month ago, was the distribution to the officers.

THE faculty council of the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta (IIM-C) on Monday decided to move the Calcutta High Court challenging the validity of the 164th meeting of the board of governors, which took place on March 26, 2004.

Prof Asish Bhattacharyya, Dean (Planning & Administration) and spokesperson of the faculty council, told newspersons that the validity of the said meeting was being called into question since four members had been replaced or substituted just before the crucial meeting to decide on the fee cut issue.

The council has also recommended that the Director of the institute provisionally maintain the fee structure for the forthcoming session, which begins in May.

Prof Bhattacharyya said that the council has suggested that since the board of governors has not been able to take a decision on fee reduction as directed by the Union HRD Ministry, the continuation of the same fee structure was advisable in view of smooth functioning of the institute as per the curriculum.

In the just concluded two-year session, IIM-C had charged a total of around Rs 2.5 lakh. The payments were obtained in various stages. The initial payment was around Rs 48,000.

“We have also suggested to the Director, who was present at the council meeting today, that fee received in excess of what might be finally decided by the board of governors or the Supreme Court be refunded with interest to the students.”

Prof Bhattacharyya also said that it has been the practice at IIM-C that before every session the faculty would recommend the fee structure and the board would take it up for approval. The council has also suggested that the Director, in the absence of clarity, might keep aside the Central Government’s proposed grant of Rs 4 crore for 2003-04 on account of non-Plan expenditure.

“The fund has not come in yet. But if it comes, the council advises that it should not be used until the matter is resolved by the Supreme Court or through a process of dialogue.” Meanwhile, the IIM-C faculty council has requested the Ministry that it be included in the process of dialogue on the fee revision issue.

The council has decided to form a three-member committee consisting of two faculty members and one alumnus for the proposed dialogue.

Chairman and Chief Mentor of Infosys Technologies Limited (BSE: INFY) NR Narayana Murthy was presented on Saturday, the “brand-comm’s most admired Business Leader Award.

brand-comm, leading brand consultancy, advertising and relations company, said that after its third annual b-school study, Murthy has been admired for the most visionary and its value for the third consecutive year, managing students from ten institutes across India.

The distinction was Murthy director of the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, Professor PG Apte, said today, the management of students were seeking job opportunities in an environment that was created for their overall growth .

“You need leadership to exceed the global market and in a world increasingly competitive, a visionary, as Narayana Murthy is indeed an inspiration to all of them,” said Apte.

NOW that the IIMs have more or less ruled out a legal recourse against the HRD Ministry’s directive to impose a fee cut in their PGP (Post-Graduate Programmes) courses, the country’s premier business schools are busy considering various options to make up for this revenue loss.

“One of the options before us is to increase the number of Management Development Programmes (MDPs),” said Prof Prakash G. Apte, Director, Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore.

In an exclusive interview with Business Line today, he said that the board of governors would meet in the next four days. “IIM-Bangalore will work out its finances then. We have not yet received the break-up for the planned and non-planned grants.”

But would increasing the number of management development programmes not impose a huge load on the already over-burdened professors who are handling various PG courses, executive education programmes and consultancy assignments?

(IIM-Bangalore, for instance, has about 70 professors for 700 students (400 in the PGP, 300 in the PGP in Software Management and 40 PhD students) and this year, the institute has conducted about 45 MDPs.)

Prof Apte said that they might even consider reducing the number of offerings for the students so that more staff time is available for corporate training programmes.

On whether the institute would recruit more teachers, he said: “Yes, that would be one option,” but expressed doubt about finding the right kind of talent in the industry.

But this too would require Government permission. And what about additional funds for the salaries? With the cut in allocation in this year’s Interim Budget - from Rs 79.73 crore last year to Rs 45 crore in 2004-05 - the IIMs would have to tread this path carefully.

Meanwhile, the Government is also insisting that the IIMs increase intake of students.

This might be one way of boosting their revenues, but Prof Apte said: “We can take about 40 more students, provided we have the right infrastructure like hostel rooms, mess, etc.”

The Chief General Manager Thiruvananthapuram Regional Office of the National Institute of Agriculture and Rural Development Bank (Nabard), Mr. Shekhawat Brunswick, said that the problems emerging in the banking sector can not be solved with solutions today.

Delivering his speech at a national seminar on “reforms of the banking sector in the new era” here recently organised by the Institute for the Management of Kerala (IMK), Mr. Shekhawat said that reform was a continuous process. The need of the hour was not perfect, but all the forces of excellence in its efforts to ensure that banks purveyed.

According to him, less than 10 per cent of funds paid by banks on their own, such a situation and asked for more stringent measures if banks in India have participated in international benchmarks in the industry.

Mr. Shekhawat is also trying, fears about loans for agricultural purposes based on the misconception that it is more risky than the industry loan programs. During the next few years, banks should look forward to the restoration increasingly on the requirements of new markets and services, he added.

Mr. Shekhawat took the floor to respond to a number of questions arise in the interactive session in the port.

Others said on the occasion of Mrs. Radha Unni, General Manager, State Bank of India, Kerala Circle, and Mr. Hari Kumar EC, Assistant General Manager, State Bank of Travancore, Thiruvananthapuram.

In his presentation on “The objectives of reforms in India”, Ms. Unni pointed out that in comparison with China, reforms have also been paced. The results were for all to see - and non-performing assets in the Chinese banking system had floated nearly 16 per cent, with comparative figures for India to the tune of more than nine per cent.

Ms. Unni said that future reforms Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS), electronic billing and cross-selling is important role to play in defining the contours of the international competitiveness of the banking sector profile, which was the start of ‘India.

Mr. Hari Kumar’s presentation resided in detail with the sea, that changes in the banking sector, would be the year 2010. According to him, 50 percent of the time, banks and unproductive was necessary in order to be entitled to expect reorientation, much more important and productive efforts RTGS, multi-Commodity Exchanges (MCXs) interest rate risk d interest and management in order banks, for more competitive and profitable.

The Indian banking sector, he said, would be in a financial supermarket of the global dimension of the year 2010, he added.

Previously, Dr. Mr. Sivaraman, Director, Center for Management Development (CMD) and Dean, Faculty of Management Studies, opened the national conference. He stressed the need to reform the banking sector reach the common man and strengthen his life.

Dr. M.K. Ramachandran Nair, director, IMK, welcomed the Assembly, while Dr KS Chandrasekar, a member of the faculty to submit a proposal for a vote of thanks.

It will make wonders, but the fact is that tuition at the University of Delhi (DU) remained the same for over six decades.

“Each day, students pay R 30 for a cup of coffee and R 10 for cars, parking. But the monthly charges remained in the studies R 15 and R 18 for Undergraduate and Graduate Programs, and since 1938,” said Vice-Chancellor Deepak Nayyar YOU.

“How long lunch is also available?” he asked. Nayyar standpoint, it is a necessity for the university, their fee structure.

Several students have said they are not just the idea of a tax hike. Given the general increase in income and standard of living, English (Honours), the first year student at St. Stephen’s, Sushmit Sarkar, that higher education was made “at affordable prices” today.

“The university lean costs appear in the report on the” obscenely high fees, some private schools and institutions of the loading operation. Those who can not afford more money for higher education, “he said.

Bemerkte Anjalli Ravi Kumar, a second-year MBA student at the Faculty of Economics of the company: “There is no doubt that we pay much less than what we are able, are willing to pay” . To say that the tuition increases is a step in the right direction, but she stressed that the University must be sensitive to students from lower layers during economic structure of the new taxes.

With the consistent view, Tripti Parule a final-year student in journalism at Kalindi College, said: “We should not lose sight of the fundamental principle of education for all”. “She suggested that the new fee structure is divided into categories based on different income groups.” The section should be financially weak surrender of fees monitoring of subsidies on other weaknesses in the economic hierarchy, “said Parule.

While supporting the idea of a concession for the most weak, the dean of students’ welfare, YOU, Hema Raghavan warned that “things on a silver platter should not lead to assess” . She explains: “In addition to subsidies, we are introducing innovations” Earn while-you-learning “for the disadvantaged section, they can target employees within the university or institution for the plaintiffs’ employment, as a reserve audit in libraries,… In this way, they are aware of the value of grants them. ”

However, there is a section of the community of students - and an influential political in one - to resist any form of movements in the direction of increased fees. The Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) would protest against such an approach, “said DUSU President Nakul Bhardwaj. “Almost 70% of students come from lower-middle class families and even a minimum increase of costs, they can have effects,” he said.

Recognizing that the tax revision “can not be dictated by ‘, but by reflection, consultation and consensus,” Nayyar said: “We must ensure that those who can not afford, not only do not pay, but receive full fees - Liberation. ”

He added: “Universities are now functioning serious resource crunch.Higher education should be financed by the government. Universities should be completed by this attempt at mobilization of resources. “

Jan 2 - KOLKATA, India - India’s next batch of aspiring managers are gearing up for the first step towards achieving their goals as the CAT (Common Admission Test) 2006 results are all set to be declared on Tuesday. Of the 180,000-plus students who sat for the exams this year, only some 1500 will finally make it