MAT to go online from September 2009

THE Management Aptitude Test (MAT) is all set to go online this September. The All India Management Association (AIMA), responsible for conducting the exam, has taken this decision as a result of an increase in the number of students appearing for the exam.

“AIMA conducts the MAT exam four times a year. And over 400 Bschools accept the MAT score. Last year around 3.5 lakh people took the exam. The online format will be able to attract more candidates both nationally and internationally,” informed C S Bijoy, director, Centre for Management Services, AIMA.

At present, the test is being administered in the paper/pencil mode using optical mark read (OMR) technology. “The present mode requires infrastructure such as classrooms, invigilators, test sheets, logistics, etc. Moreover, if a student misses the test, he/she has to wait for another test cycle. Online tests, however, can change this,” he said. According to Bijoy, the online test will allow students to take the test on different time slots in the first 15 days of February, May, September and December.

The change will be introduced in a phased manner. According to Bijoy, “Students appearing for the MAT this September will have an option to appear for the traditional test or for the online test. AIMA will continue to conduct the MAT in pen/pencil mode for a few years. The process of implementing the online test involves considerable input requirements like cost, time and technology and hence, the process needs to be staggered and executed in a phased manner.”

Now, AIMA is creating the infrastructure in 10 different cities for the online test method. A student will be required to come to an AIMA exam centre to take the test. Commenting on the format and content of the online MAT, Bijoy said, “There will be no change in the exam pattern and the format will remain the same. Questions will be generated automatically for the applicant from a data-bank.” But, students interested in taking the online test may have to pay a higher amount. “Currently the exam fee is Rs 980. The fee may be slightly higher for the online MAT, however, over a period of time we will try and bring it down,” added Bijoy.

IIM-B ranked among top 10 in Asia-Pacific region: Survey

The Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore (IIM-B) has been ranked 6 in the Asia-Pacific region in the QS Global 200 Business Schools 2009: The Employers’ Choice, published recently by Quacquarelli Symonds Ltd. IIM-B is the only Indian management school to rank amongst the top 10, which includes business schools in Australia, Singapore, China and Hong Kong.

Significantly, IIM-B at sixth place has improved on its ranking from the ninth place it received in the previous 2007-08 report. The survey also states that the average GMAT score of students enrolled in the Post-Graduate Programme in Management at IIM-B is 780, which is the highest in the entire region. The “QS Global 200 Business Schools 2009” originated in the early 1990s as an alternative to business school rankings and until this year has been known as the “Global Recruiters’ Top Business Schools Research”.

According to a statement from IIM-B, the report provides a list of 200 business schools currently preferred by the most international employers for the purpose of hiring MBA graduates.

Laid off overseas, IIM students request institutes to place them again

Approximately 300 students from the premier Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and even Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad, who were placed overseas last year, are bearing the brunt of a slowing economy. Having lost their jobs abroad, many students are requesting their institutes to help them with placements again.

Both IIM-Bangalore and IIM-Calcutta confirmed the development. “We have received placement requests from some students from the 2006-08 batch. We are trying to approach companies at a personal level and help these students get placed,” confirmed a professor from IIM Bangalore. A purely informal arrangement, the institute will do this without charging placement fees.

IIM Calcutta, however, added that some students have managed to find jobs on their own in India. “Before we could help the students, they told us they have secured new jobs,” said Prafulla Agnihotri, professor in marketing and chairperson career development and placement at IIM-C. ISB, however, declined to comment.

Last year, out of a batch of 255 students, IIM Ahmedabad placed around 24 per cent at international locations. Major international companies that recruited students included Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan, Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank and Barclays among others. At IIM Bangalore, from a batch of 256 students, over 50 per cent of students accepted overseas offers.

Besides approaching their institutes to be placed again, many of these students are asking their institutes for a teaching post. Others are now back in India hunting for a job, attempting to float their own ventures, waiting for the market to get better or have decided to change their field from finance to marketing.

Dinesh Mohan, a graduate from IIM-C, is a case in point. Mohan, from the 2006-2008 batch, is back in India, and hunting for a job. “I had interned with an international bank in Europe and was offered a job later. But barely four months into the job and the bank asked me and another friend to leave,” says Mohan, adding: “The problem is most of these companies are common recruiters from IIMs. So the students have suffered.”

He is not alone. Many of his friends from other IIMs have joined him in this hunt, having being laid-off from various IIMs, including the biggies — IIM-Ahmedabad, IIM-Bangalore and IIM-Calcutta. Mohan and his friend were recruited at annual salaries of around Rs 35 lakh.

“After this experience I have decided to float my own venture. I can’t be dependent on someone else to take a call on my professional life,” Namit Chandra, one of the students told Business Standard. Chandra, who was placed in the UK with a consulting firm, is back in Ahmedabad after a brief stint of a few months.

Meanwhile, domestic alumni of these premier institutes have also been laid off. At Delhi-based Faculty of Management Studies (FMS), students from its 1990s batch have been retrenched. While some have managed other jobs, others have approached the institute to take up teaching.