Education, Careers & Professional News
IIMs decide not to let CAT out of their bag
The Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) have decided not to let go their prized possession. This years Common Admission Test (CAT) will still be conducted by the CAT group of IIMs.
At a meeting of all the five IIM directors excepting IIM-Kozhikode director, it was decided that a hasty decision of outsourcing CAT could damage the reputation of the entrance test. Though a large number of agencies had sought interest in conducting CAT, directors were unanimous that it was too early to let CAT go out of their bag this year.
But we are not against the idea of outsourcing. This year there was still too many pending decisions to take, too many checks to be made. We felt it was too premature to let an external agency conduct the test, Prakash G Apte, director, IIM-B said.
In the wake of question paper leak in 2003 and conduct of the entrance test taking away chunk of faculty time, IIMs had decided to outsource a part of the CAT process in 2005. Now, this decision has been put off till next year and the CAT group has been asked to work out the modalities.
We have given our decision based on the presentation made by the CAT group. Now it for the PGP chairpersons to take a final decision, Apte said.
All the six IIMs had come out with an open advertisement seeking the services of an organisation which will have to undertake on a `national scale` the printing and processing of application forms for the test and undertaking associated tasks like issuing hall tickets and organising venues and conducting the test on a specified day in about 25 cities