More Commerce Students Sitting For Maharashtra MAH - MBA CET In 2011

Maharashtra has beaten the trend this year. It’s very much in the past news that the Common Entrance Test for MBA has always been taken by engineers, but this time more commerce graduates have signed to take the same test.

Directorate of Technical Education (DTE) data collects almost 25,000 commerce graduates who will be appearing for the MBA-CET on Sunday whereas, 22,000 engineers are going to appear for the exam. The official said, our entrance test gives equal importance to all the sections, no undue weight age is given to mathematics.

The second largest MBA aspirants after commerce are the BSc students. In all, 23,798 of them, including those who have specialized in computer science and Information Technology, will sit for the exam.

Those who study management at the undergraduate level are often told that they are trained to take up managerial level jobs. Clearly, many students felt otherwise and the fourth largest group of candidates who will take the test are BMS graduates.

Last year 1.05 Lakhs took the test whereas this year, there is a slight fall in the number of candidates, i.e., 92,167 candidates who are appearing the test. According to DTE director S K Mahajan, recession and poor placements had led to a drop in applicants and the another reason was the number of candidates who applied from outside the state.

Further Mahajan said, as the number of business schools are increasing in different parts of the country, so we see a drop in applicants from outside Maharashtra,” added Mahajan. This year, 18,916 candidates from out of Maharashtra have signed up for the MBA-CET.

Interestingly, maximum candidates are women as per the information.www.mbacet.org

IIM-Ahmedabad raises fees for post-graduate course

The Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A) has raised the fees for the post-graduate programme in management, an official said on Tuesday.

The students who will be attending the June 2010-12 batches for the two-year course, the fees structure will be Rs.13.70 lakh which will be charged from students in two parts. Rupees 6.6 lakh will be taken in the first year and the balance Rs.7.10 lakh will be charged in the second year. Last year the fee was Rs. 11.5 Lakhs which is now raised to Rs. 12.5 Lakh.

The reason for hiking the fees is due to implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission’s recommendations and the inflation-induced price spiral. The fees to be charged from the student included every other cost in the campus, except the food bill.

It is very clear from the report that the students coming from the economically weaker families having annual income of less than Rs.6 lakh, would continue to enjoy fee waivers. According to the report, 41 students were granted total free ship among the current batch during the two years course.

IIM-Calcutta to boost research and upgrade lab

The Indian Institute of Management-Calcutta (IIM-C) is planning to spend Rs.20 Crore special budgetary grants to help students to do research in global finance markets and to upgrade its financial research and trading lab.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee announced the special grant to the IIM-C in the union budget he presented to the Lok Sabha on Monday. Ashok Banerjee, professor of finance and head of the lab, said the fund will also help students for further research in global finance markets and the money will also help us to upgrade our financial research and trading laboratory into a world class facility.

The lab was set up on November 18, 2008, to support advanced applied research in financial markets and equip finance managers with the mathematical and conceptual theories. Banerjee told the sources that lot of money is required for further research in the global finance markets. So, this money will help the students to a large extent.

He further adds the grant will help us obtain important software and global market data. Right now this is going on a small scale.

'A' for Arrogance in IIM-A..?

AHMEDABAD: Many domestic recruiters at India's top business school used the meltdown of 2009 as an opportunity to avenge the so called arrogance of IIM-A students. Campus interviews during this period were rough, says a recently-released book.

Apparently, most Indian companies had a feeling, even while they were doling out astronomical sums as compensation to these youngsters, that most of these recruits behaved as if they were God's gift to mankind. 

The arrogance showed in 20-minute interviews where students would bluntly ask: "So, how much are you offering?"

Then came the meltdown when many big recruiters shied away from campus interviews. Some recruiters who came started to reject every single student to send out a strong message, writes Saral Mukherjee, placement chairman at IIM-A in the book 'Nurturing Institutional Excellence: Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad'.

Earlier, when the going was good, these domestic recruiters were elbowed out by global firms during placements.

"One recruiter, also an alumnus, told me that students behaved as if a high paying job is an entitlement. Recruiters felt students behaved as if they were doing a favour by coming for pre placement talks," Mukherjee writes.Many companies announced a hiring freeze when the financial markets in the west were unstable in 2009. This led to IIM-A moving from a seller's market to a buyer's market. Mukherjee says that this could be because the students had priced themselves out from the domestic market.

"One recruiter came for final placement interviews and rejected every single candidate. Yet, the same recruiter picked 75 per cent of students he interviewed for summer internships just a year later. I believe the recruiter was trying to make a point in a most dramatic fashion," writes Mukherjee.

However, Mukherjee adds that IIM-A as an institution is not arrogant but the behaviour of the students during placement may have conveyed the image. The consistent rankings of IIM-A as the premier business school should generate humility and a quiet confidence instead of arrogance. Much has changed after the mayhem in 2009. Mukherjee told TOI, "The recession has taught the students that arrogance has no value. The arrogance that recruiters were talking about was a result of demand exceeding supply. But today, we have a new system in place where demand is matched with supply."

Source: The Times of India

Learning to be CEOs less fun now at IIM-A

Study Repeated After 33 Years Shows Sea Change At India’s Best Business School

Ahmedabad: The profile of the CEOs-in-the-making at the country’s top business school has changed drastically in the last three decades. Growing pressures have turned him/her less jovial, more introvert and led to lesser social interactions as compared to 33 years ago, says a study conducted to understand the changes in student perceptions at Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.

TV Rao, adjunct professor at IIM-A, has recently followed up on a study he did in 1977 of student preferences of the institutional environment of IIM-A. The batches of 2009-11 and 2010-12 were surveyed using the same questionnaire and the results show a sea change.

“Students today perceive the campus as business-like and system-driven. There is less debate and more conformity to rules and regulations. Social interaction seems less and focused achievement is preferred adding a lot of seriousness to life,” says Rao.

The study has been published as a chapter ‘Change at IIM-A’ in the book ‘Nurturing Institutional Excellence: Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.’

Back in 1977, 38 students responded to the questionnaire. This time, 108 students were surveyed.

Source : The Times of India

MBA, MCA Colleges Scout For Students

Officials say nearly 40 per cent of the seats on offer will remain vacant following the drop in number of aspirants; colleges told to fend for themselves

The once keenly sought-after MBA and MCA courses have seen a significant drop in the number of aspirants opting for them. While last year, 25 per cent seats of the two courses remained vacant, the figure is expected to go up to 40 per cent this year. 

Though the known management colleges have been able to sustain student flow, the situation is grim for colleges in the interiors of the state. If sources in the education department are to believe, these colleges may end up getting only five or seven students this year. Anticipating the alarming situation, the state government, in its May 30 notification for GCET, has asked the colleges to fill the vacant seats on their own. 

“Last year, 23 colleges had only 20-odd students each against the capacity of 120 and about 4,800 seats remained vacant. Later, the education department asked the institutes to fill the vacant seats on their own. But this year, the department, in the notification has clearly directed the institutes to fill the remaining seats on their own,” said a source in Gujarat Technological University (GTU). 

The notification also states that students from outside Gujarat, who have cleared CAT or MAT, can also be given admission against the vacant seats.

NO NOD FOR GCET OUTSIDE STATE 

The sudden fall in MBA and MCA aspirants has made GTU scout for students outside Gujarat. However, its plan to conduct GCET outside the state has been shelved as the state has denied its nod for it. 

“Considering the situation, the university decided to conduct GCET in Delhi, Bombay and other metros. But it didn’t get permission from the state,” the source said. 

The technological varsity had attempted to revive students’ interest in management courses. “GTU organised meeting between the college authorities and employers to integrate the latter’s suggestion to make the courses market-driven. The move was aimed at attracting students. But nothing worked out. It’s difficult now to convince students about the job prospects of the courses,” said the source. 

GCET DATE IN A DAY OR TWO 

The date of GCET is likely to be announced in a day or two. “The notification of GCET has been issued on May 30. We will hold a meeting on Wednesday to decide on the date of the entrance test. Last year, about 25 per cent MBA and MCA seats remained vacant,” said GTU Vice Chancellor Akshai Aggarwal. There are 110 MBA and 78 MCA colleges in the state which offer 13,200 and 8,000 seats respectively. There are 110 MBA and 78 MCA colleges in the state which offer 13,200 and 8,000 seats respectively.

Source : Ahmedabad Mirror