32,000 applicants to sit for MAT on May 6, 2012

The All Indian Management Association (AIMA) has decided to focus on University Grants Commission (UGC) approved private management institutions in order to continue with the Management Aptitude Test (MAT). It has no plans to scrap the exam as yet. Currently, AIMA is signed up with 50 private institutions and universities offering Masters of Business Administration (MBA) courses, informed the Director of Centre for Management Services of AIMA, Wg Cdr V S Bejoy. The number of B-schools signed up for MAT was 575 as in December 2011 – this figure has come down to 504 after the introduction of Common Management Aptitude Test (CMAT).

“Even as CMAT which is an online entrance test for management has been accepted by the State Governments of Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Nagaland and Goa, MAT is a more widely accepted score as a majority of the students still want to sit for the paper-pencil format of the test. In fact, we also have the option for online test but only 8 to 9 per cent of the candidates register for it,” said Bejoy.

Although, he agreed that there is a clear fall in the number of MAT applicants, the fact that the exam is held four times a year, keeps the tempo going. “We received 56,000 plus applications for the December 2011 but around 32,000 applications for the upcoming MAT entrance which is to be held on May 6. But this fall in the number of applicants in May 2012 is mainly due to the economic scenario which has led to the slowdown in the job market,” he explained.

According to an official statement released on April 10, 2012 on AIMA’s website, “there are no plans to discontinue the MAT exam, as it is the largest test of its kind with national acceptance. AIMA will continue to administer MAT to Master of Business Administration (MBA) aspirants and recently concluded a test on February 5, 2012.”

Meanwhile, a decision on making CMAT mandatory for the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) approved colleges is pending at the Supreme Court. The decision of this case is vital for AIMA as it will decide the future scope of MAT. If the apex court makes CMAT mandatory for the AICTE approved colleges, AIMA will completely shift focus to the private universities and institutions such as Sikkim Manipal University, Annamalai University that are approved by UGC and may not have the AICTE approval, added Bejoy.

Notably, almost 70,000 aspirants across the country had registered for the first edition of CMAT. The entrance test, for admission to 3,500-odd MBA colleges in the country, was conducted online by the AICTE over a period of eight days from February 20, 2012. The announcement regarding CMAT was made by AICTE during December 2011 for admission into B-schools, barring The Indian Institute of Management.

Already, state entrance exams such as Maharashtra Common Entrance Test (MAH-CET) was conducted for the last time this year. Similarly, the Rajasthan Management Aptitude Test (RMAT) that used to be conducted by Rajasthan Technical University was also scrapped this year.