Students aspiring for admissions into business schools in the state are heading for a fresh trouble with the All-India Council for Technical Education beginning registration for its first computer-based Common Management Admission Test (Cmat-2012) from December 9. While the AICTE has announced that the online exams will be held from February 20 to 28 across 61 cities, including Hyderabad, the managements of B-schools say that they have not received any official communication from the AICTE about the new exam.
While the new exam has caught B-schools and coaching institutes off-guard, MBA aspirants are not sure if they should register for it given that they don’t know which B-schools will be accepting the Cmat scores. The AICTE launched Cmat from this year to address the issue of physical, mental and financial stress on the students because of the number of entrance examinations.
The national-level test will be conducted over nine days in two shifts. Cmat will be a computer-based test of three-hour duration. While the AICTE announced that Cmat scores will help students seek admissions into all management programmes (four lakh seats) in AICTE-approved institutions/university departments, the state government has already clarified that it will go ahead with its annual Integrated Common Entrance Test (Icet) for admissions into MBA colleges affiliated to state universities.
The Associ-ation of Indian Mana-gement Schools (AIMS) made it clear that it will continue its AIMS Test for Management Admissions (ATMA) as usual. Majority of the B-schools in the state are part of AIMS. “The Cmat announced by AICTE is a computer-based test. Since 70 per cent of the students are from rural areas, it would be difficult for them to prepare for Cmat within a short period of time. There are several places in the state where there is no Internet connection. For that reason, we have decided to conduct our test ATMA as usual,” Prof Mohd Masood Ahmed, president of AIMS, said.
However, MBA aspirants are worried over the fresh developments. They say instead of reducing the exams, various agencies have been imposing additional financial burden and causing mental stress by forcing them to appear for multiple tests. “We are already forced to appear for Icet, ATMA, XAT and MAT. Now the AICTE has added a new one in the form of Cmat. Instead of issuing Cmat notification in a hurry, the AICTE should have approached all the state governments and B-schools to convince them to scrap their tests and agree for a single test,” said Vikas Agarwal, an MBA aspirant.
Source : DC