Kolkata: The Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) have thought for a change in Common Admission Test (CAT) format in order to admit students from diverse academic backgrounds and more girl students. Devi Singh, Director, IIM-Lucknow said that they feel they need to change the way CAT is conducted.
In addition, Ms. Singh said that despite efforts to get students from other backgrounds, the number of engineering students has increased. The blame is on their admission process, she added. A meet was held on the occasion of golden jubilee of IIM-Calcutta.
As per sources, the Directors of IIM Calcutta, Bangalore, Lucknow, Indore and Ranchi noticed in the meet that there had been a greater presence of engineering students in the institutes and girls accounted for only 10% of the students. As per N Ravichandran, Director, IIM-Indore, reason behind high entry of engineering students into the IIMs is because the CAT gives emphasis on quantitative aptitude.
Shekhar Chaudhary, Director, IIM-Calcutta, said that they are now going to take the issue seriously but cannot assure whether this could happen from next academic year. He added that on an average, girls accounted for only 10% of the students are studying in IIMs, while in other B-Schools, the average number was about 40%.
D Purandeswari, Minister of State for Human Resource Development (HRD), also emphasized on the need for inclusiveness of management education. She said that though the demand for management education has increased by leaps and bounds, the IIMs have not been able to respond adequately.
