The online model will be similar to US exams like the GMAT (Graduate Management Aptitude Test) and the GRE (Graduate Record Examination) except that the results will not appear instantly.

Asish Bhattacharyya, admissions chairperson at IIM Calcutta, said that an online system would "help us handle the huge number of students appearing for the test every year. Last year the number crossed 2.3 lakh". This number is only expected to increase with projections of three lakh-plus in 2009.

The process of conducting the exam—including processing the results and reporting the scores—will be outsourced to a private service provider who has prior experience in online tests. "But the IIMs will retain complete control over the test," said an official.

Most students who are comfortable with the online world have welcomed the move. "I think it’s a great idea if CAT goes online. This will make it more transparent and error-proof," said Mehul Gandhy, a B-school aspirant.

Others from the management field said that while the online exam was an idea whose time had come there were several logistical aspects to be considered. "It’s a great idea but I have my doubts about exactly how the IIMs will manage to conduct the exams online for such large numbers," said Arks Srinivas, director of TIME, a coaching institute.

IIM Ahmedabad hikes fee, becomes costliest

AHMEDABAD : Following the IIM-Bangalore pattern, the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, has announced a quantum jump in its fees structure raising it from the present Rs 2.5 lakh per annum to Rs 5.5 lakh per annum for the first year and Rs 6 lakh for the second year of the two-year post-graduate programme in management.

IIM-Ahemdabad, thus, become the costliest business school in the country.

The nearly 200 per cent hike, applicable for the 2008-2010 batch in June, was announced following a meeting of its Board of Governors on March 29, just before the  43rd convocation later in the evening addressed by the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia.

This is the highest fee hike announced by an IIM. In 2007, the institute had raised its tuition fee from Rs 1.77 lakh to Rs 2 lakh. In the last five years, when Bakul Dholakia was the director, IIM-A fees have increased by only Rs 40,000 — at an annual average of 7 per cent.

The institution, however, reiterated its commitment to support eligible students from the economically weaker sections. No student, if found eligible for admission to the IIM-A, would be deprived of the opportunity purely for financial reasons, Chairman of the Board of governors and society of the IIM-A, Vijaypat Singhania assured. 

In view of the fee hike, the Board also decided to increase the family income limit for eligibility for financial support from Rs 2 lakh per annum to Rs 6 lakh. “Graded need-based financial aid will be available to eligible students who qualify for financial support,” Singhania, said.

The fee hike has been effected despite opposition by the nominees of the Ministry of Human Resource Development and the state government. At the last board meeting held in December, 2007, the Union HRD ministry nominee to the board, additional secretary KM Acharya, and the Gujarat government nominee, higher and technical education secretary P Panneervel, had spoken against fee hike. However, the move was passed by the board.

Contrary to the conventions, the IIM-A avoided convening a conference this year to brief the media on the decisions, apparently fearing a barrage of questions from the media. A major part of the discussion at the Board meeting was dominated by the fee structure, which remained a contentious issue in view of the huge jump proposed at one stroke.

The spokesman claimed that the existing fee structure was “not cost effective” and did not allow “efficient functioning” of the institution. The spokesman, however, could not give the cost structure at the existing rate to justify the fee hike.

Big fee hike by IIM Bangalore

BANGALORE : The Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIM-B) has raised its fee from Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 4 lakh for the first year, and Rs 5 lakh for the second year of its Postgraduate Diploma Programme for 2008-10.

Director of IIM-B, Dr Pankaj Chandra told reporters that the decision was taken at the meeting of the Board of Governors on March 25 before the annual convocation ceremony. The meeting was chaired by Managing Director and Chairman of Reliance Industries Ltd. Mukesh Ambani. The financial assistance provided to students in the programme has been increased from Rs. 91.13 lakh to Rs. 1.5 crore.

Dr Chandra said that the cost of education had gone up and infrastructural growth was also a reason for the fee hike.

The board also decided to increase the scholarship amount from Rs 91 lakh to Rs 1.5 crore for the year 2008-09. Review is going on about the eligibility criteria for the scholarship, Dr Chandra said.

Talking about the selection process for the new batch, sources in IIM-B said personal interviews and group discussions are underway and would be finished on April 4. The list of selected candidates would be declared on April 11, the sources added.

Meanwhile, the post graduate programme batch of 250 students have decided to contribute their caution money of Rs 9,000 each to the ‘Class of 2008 Fund’.

The fund has been donated for the infrastructural activities of the college and for the social service organisation ‘IIMB-Vikasana’.

IIM-Ahmedabad and IIM-Calcutta had announced an increase of Rs 1 lakh per annum  in February and IIM-Lucknow followed.

“I think the institute is expanding in terms of faculty, facilities provided and infrastructure. If I had to get a bigger loan I would be able to manage, but for those who cannot afford it, the institute goes out of its way to provide financial support,” said Aditya Kasyap, a first year student.

Prof. Chandra, in his maiden convocation address said, “I am proud of all of you and exhort you to leave an imprint on India wherever you are.” He also highlighted the fact that the class of 2008 established the Class of 2008 Endowment Fund to support activities at IIM-B.

The convocation was presided over by Gururaj Deshpande, co-founder and Chairman of Sycamore Networks Inc., who awarded the postgraduate diplomas to 266 students who passed out this year. Eight students were also awarded doctorate.

Stressing on innovation and the need for entrepreneurship, Mr. Gururaj said, “I believe that this lot have an opportunity to change the world.”

Medal winners

While Amit Gupta and Abhishek Agarwal won the gold medal for the first and second rank respectively, Sahil Barua won the gold medal for best all-round performance. Subrata Nath won the gold medal for the Post Graduate Programme in Public Policy
Management.

While most students cheered and celebrated their graduation, it was with a tinge of nostalgia that Mr. Agarwal said that the time spent at IIM would be the best two years of their lives.  

Lucknow IIM to hike seats in PGP programme

LUCKNOW : Indian Institute of Management-Lucknow has decided to increase the number of seats in its flagship course- the post graduate programme (PGP) in business administration from 240 to 300 from the new academic session.

Prof Devi Singh, director, IIM-Lucknow, soon after the declaration of CAT results on January 8, told the reporters that the IIM expects to add 60 more seats in the PGP business administration course from next session.

Final announcement of the increase in seats will be made after completing some formalities. He said that group discussion and interviews will be held in February. The process is expected to conclude in April following which final admissions will be done.

Regarding OBC quota in admissions, Prof Singh said that IIMs will go by the verdict of the Supreme Court which is currently hearing the case on implementation of reservation in elite institutes like IITs and IIMs.

While around 1300 candidates were called for group discussions and interview last year for admissions in 240 seats in PGP business administration and 30 seats in agri-business course, the number can increase this year in proportion to the rise in seats.

The list of candidates to be called for group discussion and interview has been finalised. Candidates will soon receive invitations from the institute.

Over 2.3 lakh candidates had appeared for CAT held on November 19, 2007, for admissions to various IIMs. The CAT score is also used by many other management institutes, including management courses of the Lucknow University, for admissions.

IIMs' official percentile cut-off put at 99.3

BANGALORE : The Indian Institute of Managements (IIMs) which had announced their results nearly a week ago, have now disclosed the criteria for shortlisting the candidates for Group Discussions (GD) and Personal Interview (PI).

The IIMs have already dispatched the interview letters to the short-listed candidates for PI and GD based on the overall percentile and cut-off percentile in each section. Of the four IIMs - Ahmedabad, Calcutta, Indore and Kozhikode- the IIM-Ahmedabad has a cut off percentile of 99.3 and above. That’s not all.

The candidates should have a minimum percentile of 95.6 and above, in each of three sections - Data interpretation, Quantitative Ability and Verbal Ability. Well, it’s not surprising given the vigorous selection process, that only 557 candidates can make to the interview stage at IIM-A.

Further, the institute has also mentioned that if the Supreme Court vacates the stay before the admission list for 2008-09 is announced then OBC candidates will be 17 and general will come up to 192.

Categories

The minimum percentile required for an OBC candidate to make it to IIMA in each section is 92 and above and an overall percentile is 98.5 and above. Only 54 candidates will be shortlisted for the interview.

In case of IIM-Calcutta, the overall cut-off percentile is a bit less compared to the IIM-A. The overall percentile score required for candidates to be short listed for GD and PI, is 98.96. The minimum percentile required for the open category in three sections are as follows: Section 1- 95.02; Section 2 - 95.07 and Section 3 - 94.7.

Like other IIMs, IIM Indore (IIM-I) too has shortlisted the candidates for GD and PI based on their performance in CAT, academic record and relevant work experience.

The institute has initial screening criterion to generate the consideration set of candidates. And, this criterion is used to determine the initial pool of eligible candidates.

The minimum percentile required for first shortlist for general and OBC category is 85 and for all the three sections the percentile is 80. For SC, ST and PWD, the overall percentile is 65 and for all the sections is 60.

The candidates in the final shortlist should have an overall percentile of 98.09 for general category; 96.76 for OBC, 84.40 for SC, 76.30 for ST and 78.90 for PWD.

In IIM Kozhikode (IIM-K), the PWD category has been classified into three sections: PWD 1, PWD 2 and PWD 3 and overall percentile for these categories are: 70, 15 and 80 respectively.

However, the total percentile for the general candidates is 98 while the minimum cut-off in all the three sections is 92.

Meanwhile, IIM Bangalore is yet to make public its cut-off percentile.

IIM Indore has a new address -- Prabhandh Shikhar

INDORE : The campus of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) here has been re-named as "Prabhandh Shikhar."

According to an Institute press release the campus was re-named at a brief but solemn function held in the Institute auditorium on November 1.

Mrs. Madhuri Dabral, Director, Postal Services, GPO, Indore was the chief guest at the function and Dr S.P. Parashar, Director of the Institute presided over it.

Dr Parashar announced the new name of the campus as “Prabhandh Shikhar” and explained its significance saying that it is the dream of all IIMI Community to reach the pinnacle of management education. The new name “Prabhandh Shikhar” is the reflection of that, he said.

Mrs. Madhuri Dabral, Director, Postal Services, GPO, Indore unveiled the new postal address for the institute. The new address of the IIMI, she declared, would be Indian Institute of Management Indore, Prabhandh Shikhar, Rau–Prithampur Road,
Indore-453 331.

Bangalore IIM to offer more executive MBAs

BANGALORE : The Indian Institute of Management (IIM) here may soon add more executive management programmes to its already existing list.

Also in the offing is an international programme called Advanced Leadership Programme (ALP), which will be jointly offered by IIMB with INSEAD-Singapore campus, Lancaster-UK, and McGill-Canada.

Speaking about the new initiatives, Prakash G Apte, director, IIM-B said on October 28: "We are planning some more executive MBA programmes for 2008 which will be partly delivered through the distance education mode and partly through a regular campus."

About the international ALP programme, he said that the programme is built around the fact that working executives need to stop and reflect about their growth and how to use their experiences to upgrade their skills. "With three international B-schools involved in its delivery, it makes it an international programme," said Apte.

The director also informed that the B-school is working on a postgraduate programme in software, commencing from 2008, as well as expanding its students and faculty exchange and research work.

Regarding the mushrooming of executive MBA programmes across all B-schools, Apte said that since there is an increase in demand for skill up-gradation in every sector, the demand for executive MBAs is rising gradually.

On quality of such programmes, Apte said: "While witnessing such growth, not all players would care for quality, but will rather focus on profit-making. This is unavoidable unless the government takes some steps to strengthen the university B-schools with good compensations for faculty and infrastructure development."

The two private management schools doing well in India currently, according to Apte, are MDI Gurgaon and ISB Hyderabad. "The schools are doing well and setting standards for others to emulate."

On the overall education system in the country, Apte feels that a lot of targeted subsidies are necessary to develop the education system in the country. "Unless we improve access to quality school education and provide financial incentives for school education right from the village level and attract and retain teachers, the complete education system will fail," he opines.

He went on to add: "Instead of populist subsidies, we should give targeted subsidies like incentives to teachers teaching in village schools and its students."

NEHU vice-chancellor is Shillong IIM project director

SHILLONG: The Vice-Chancellor of North Eastern Hill University (NEHU) Prof Pramod Tandon has been appointed as Project Director of the seventh Indian Institute of Management (IIM) to be set up here under the name of Rajiv Gandhi Indian Institute of Management (RGIIM).

The decision to this effect was taken by the Union Cabinet which also nominated Rathindra Nath Dutta as Chairman while at the same time creating the posts of Director, Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) and two support staff for the new IIM.

Following the appointment of Prof Tandon as Project Director, certain steps have been initiated including constitution of the Search-cum-Selection Committee for the post of Director which had been advertised on June 14 this year.

The other posts of CAO, faculty members and support staff was also being processed actively to enable RGIIM to start admission from July 2008 at its temporary premises at NEHU Mayurbhanj campus, Nongthymmai.

Shillong IIM gets Centre's approval & money

NEW DELHI : On February 22 the Union Cabinet approved a non-recurring expenditure of Rs 120.67 crore over a period of five years and Rs 45.08 crore for recurring expenditure over a period of six years for the new Indian Institute of Management at Shillong.

Briefing reporters after the cabinet meeting Finance Minister P Chidambaram said that the Centre would accept 120 acres of land, free of cost, from Meghalaya government for the institute.

While clearing the plan for `Rajiv Gandhi Indian Institute of Management’ at Shillong, Mr Chidambram  made it clear that there would not be any reservation for students from Meghalaya or the northeastern region in the institute. Since this would be a national-level institute, there would not be any reservation in the Post-Graduate programme, he said.

Like other IIMs admission to this institute shall be through Common Admission Test (CAT), Mr Chidambaram said, adding that there would be special courses of local relevance like tourism.

There were widespread apprehensions that the IIM would not take off since the Planning Commission had slashed its budget to the HRD Ministry, which is the nodal ministry for the institute. The IIM was sanctioned for Meghalaya after a long-drawn-out struggle with Asom, which also wanted to set up the prestigious institute.

While clearing the IIM proposal the Cabinet also decided to create a post of Director in the scale of pay of Rs 25,000 (fixed) and a post of Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) in the scale of Rs 12,000-375-16500 along with the necessary support staff, the Finance Minister said.

The Institute would be run and managed by a Society to be registered under the Societies Registration Act 1860. IIM Shillong will be the seventh IIM in the country with the other six IIMs situated in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Kolkata, Lucknow, Indore and Kozhikode respectively.