AICTE recently announced the dates and registration process details for the conduct of the ambitious Common Management Admissions Test (CMAT), the computer based test that is all set to debut in February (20 to 28) 2012. The national level test will be held in 61 cities in two slots, and the registration begins Friday, 9 December 2011.

The key question which is coming in the minds of MBA aspirants is ‘Will the top B-schools use scores for admissions 2012-14?’. Since registration process for CMAT opens in a few days time, many aspirants have been calling MBAUniverse.com to know if they should register for CMAT 2012, and what are the benefits. The official exam website www.aicte-cmat.in does not yet mention the participating B schools.

To help MBA aspirants, MBAUniverse.com spoke to Directors and Deans of leading B-schools like XLRI Jamshedpur, IMT Ghaziabad, IMI Delhi, BIMTECH Greater Noida, TAPMI Manipal, and K J Somaiya Mumbai and many other B-schools.

All B-schools that we spoke with have decided NOT TO wait for CMAT 2012 scores (which will be released only in March 2012) for their current admission process, and will be going ahead with CAT 2011, XAT 2012 or other exams as already announced in their admission notification. Top B-schools are, however, not against using CMAT for admissions in 2013.

The Directors were unanimous on labeling the AICTE CMAT exam as a ‘late announcement’.

XLRI Director Fr. E. Abraham said, "We have already started our admission process. XAT will be held on January 8, 2012. We will not be altering the admission process or timelines to accommodate AICTE CMAT.”

Dr. A M Sherry, Admission Chairperson, IMT Group of Institutes speaking to MBAUniverse.com said, “The admission process of IMT is going on at present and it will be too late for us to incorporate the CMAT 2012 scores. They have made the announcement quite late and including the test scores will delay the entire admission process.”

KJ Somaiya Director General Dr. Suresh Ghai said, "AICTE has announced the exam dates very late. This will delay the entire admission process at KJ Somaiya. We will not be waiting for CMAT scores for admissions for 2012-14 batch."

Dr H Chaturvedi, Director, BIMTECH Greater Noida said, "Our admission process is underway. We are accepting CAT, XAT and MAT scores. Our admission deadlines are stiff, and we will not be using the CMAT 2012. Like last year, we don't want to suffer because of what AICTE dictates."

Similar reactions also came from IMI Delhi, TAPMI Manipal and many other B-schools that MBAUniverse.com spoke with.

But, what is to be noted is that B-schools have welcomed the AICTE's common test in principle. They opine that if the timelines and exam process are managed professionally, a single test can be a boon for aspirants as well as B-schools.

Dr. A M Sherry, Admission Chairperson, IMT Group of Institutes said, “In principle, having a common management exam under the supervision of AICTE is a good idea. There are too many tests at the moment...apart from the nationally recognized tests like CAT, XAT & MAT, every university is holding its own entrance exam. They too should be brought under the ambit of CMAT.”

“It is good that they have launched the test. They are making it at par with CAT in terms of pattern and mode of delivery. They must have done a lot of homework before going ahead with the test,” stated Prof. Chowdari Prasad, Dean (Planning & Development), TAPMI Manipal.

This leads to the possibility for the B-schools to accept CMAT scores for admissions 2013 and beyond. “We have nothing against the test. We might consider CMAT in our next academic year after having a discussion with our management committee,” said a Director of a leading B-school.

According to Prof. Prasad, AICTE might make it mandatory to accept the test scores for the B-schools under AICTE umbrella. “In such a case, we will have to accept the scores. This year (2012 admissions) we would like to observe how it goes,” stated Prof. Prasad.

IMI, which has its campuses at Delhi, Bhubaneswar and Kolkata will also not consider the possibilities of considering CMAT scores, until and unless the first exam is conducted.

“We cannot take a decision on whether to include CMAT or not so early. We need to have a detailed look at the pattern of the exam, the quality, content and difficulty level of the test. Based on this year's results, for 2013 admissions, we will be able to decide whether to consider CMAT or not,” mentioned Dr. P C Mehra, Admission Chairperson, IMI Delhi and Bhubaneswar.

‘AICTE needs to bridge information gaps’

The top B-schools have a feeling that there is a lot of ambiguity in the conduct of the exam and those areas need to be addressed by AICTE.

One such question is the relevance of the exam, while there are so many MBA entrance exams being conducted in India.

Fr. E Abraham, Director, XLRI Jamshedpur said, “I don’t understand the need for another national level MBA Entrance Exam. CAT, XAT, ATMA and MAT are already there, the scores of which are accepted by B-schools across India.”

Dr. Sherry added, “Few days back AICTE mentioned that they are going to accept GMAT scores. Other MBA entrance exams like ATMA have also been announced. Previously they had announced their plan to conduct one centralized MBA entrance exam, but now all this is showing a contradictory picture.”

One of the major gaps in the announcement of CMAT is the lack of information on participating institutes. In case of exams like CAT, XAT, MAT and ATMA, their official websites carry detailed information with regards to the participating institutes. CMAT official website www.AICTE-CMAT.com has no such information at the time of filing this report.

Some B-school Directors are also raising the larger question -- Is AICTE legally correct in launching a ‘National exam’? They cite the Supreme Court order, passed on 26 July, 2011, that allowed AICTE to launch a "All India Entrance Examination of AICTE for 2012-13 in place of State Level Examinations by the respective State Government."

Our readers will remember the bitter spat between AICTE and B-school consortiums like AIMS, EPSI and some private B-schools, who had challenged AICTE's December 28, 2010 notification. The notification called for sweeping changes in the way B-schools conduct their entrance process and pedagogy.

B-schools had objected to this notification and subsequently approached High Court and Supreme Court for relief. On July 26, 2011 the Supreme Court, while partially vindicating the stance of private B-schools, had allowed AICTE to conduct its own entrance exam.

MBAUniverse.com has accessed the copy of the Supreme Court order which stated, "The interim order will not come in the way of All India Council of Technical Education amending its Regulations (AICTE Approval Process Handbook) to introduce All India Entrance Examination of AICTE for 2012-13 in place of State Level Examinations by the respective State Government."

Questions are making the rounds: Will the state level MBA entrance exam be replaced by AICTE CMAT? Will CMAT co-exist with CAT? What will happen to other MBA entrance exams, such as XAT, MAT, ATMA?

But for now, as India's leading B-schools like XLRI, IMT, KJ Somaiya, IMI, TAPMI, and BIMTECH, are not going to use CMAT 2012 score for 2012-14 admissions, keen MBA aspirants can be rest assured that their application process for top 50 B-schools will be complete with national exams like CAT, XAT, MAT and ATMA. AICTE CMAT is just an optional exam that they can take to possibly target Tier II and Tier III B-schools.

Source: MBA Universe

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