Picture from the FMS website

Students and faculty of the Faculty of Management Studies (FMS) took out a silent march to the Vice-Chancellor’s (Delhi University) office earlier today to protest against the cancellation of the FMS entrance exam. Many classes stood cancelled as, though, both students and faculty ‘attended’ classes, little work was done. May students also wore black as a mark of protest. The protesting students told PaGaLGuY that they hoped that all their efforts would push the FMS management to postpone its plans to switch to the Common Admission Test (CAT) by at least a year, if not permanently.

Though there is no official communication from the management to the students in this regard, the students learnt that the final decision to cancel the FMS exam has been deferred by a week and any concrete decision will be taken only by next Wednesday. That the VC is out of town is one of the main reasons for postponing the decision. Students have also decided to take their case to the Dean of the Student Affairs Committee (University of Delhi), if need be.

Apparently, the FMS students were just about the launch the admission portal when they were told that there would be a change in the exam schedule. “We were not told about it earlier, neither when we began work, nor when we completed the job. We were told only just before we were set to roll,” said a student. involved with it

The fresh news that made the rounds today was that with the options of GRE and GMAT having taken a second place (in the previous meetings held by the FMS management to discuss this issue), the Xavier’s Aptitude Test (XAT) and Management Aptitude Test (MAT) were now in the fray. However, none of the officials at FMS were willing to confirm or negate the news. Even the dean said that “all the required information was on the website” and refused to reveal more. But there was no update on the FMS website with regards to the entrance exam. In fact, the website still states that the FMS entrance exam for 2011 will be held in December 2011.

Students who spoke off the record said that the FMS exam has always been known to be the tougher of the two (compared to CAT) and had established a status for itself. “It is sad that the exam is being sacrificed for CAT. There were questions in FMS which you would never see in CAT,” said a student. Another student said that with FMS adopting CAT, all likelihood that the fees would also be raised. “Since FMS will have to pay a huge sum to the IIMs for taking the test, it is certain that there will be an increase in fees from next year.” FMS is one of the few b-schools that figures in the top rung of colleges and charges a meagre amount as fees (Rs 10,500 a year) as compared to the Indian Institutes of Management that charge in lakhs.

“And there are students who have decided to take only the FMS exam this year. They will now have to buy the CAT voucher. How can the management take such a big decision when both the exams are only a few months away,” said yet another student.