As the number of management aspirants, appearing for Indian Institutes of Management's Common Admission Test (CAT), are increasing year by year, the premier management institutes of the country have decided to convert the examination into a computer-based test from the next year.

 

IIM Calcutta director Shekhar Chaudhuri said during the annual convocation speech of the institute in Kolkata that, managing CAT across the country has become a very complex activity that currently requires intense coordination among seven IIMs. In a few years from now, there would be several more IIMs joining the fold with a promise of making the process even more complex, he said.

 

Therefore, he further added that, the IIMs have jointly decided to convert the paper-pencil test into a computer-based test from the next year so that valuable faculty time can be saved from purely administrative activities. Briefing about the larger intake of students by IIMs he said that, the intake in the two-year full-time programme will increase to 408 during 2009-10 and 462 during 2010-11 in accordance with the OBC reservation policy. There will be 924 students in this programme by 2012, he added.