MBA entrance enrolment jumps by 25%

Pune: This year, the common entrance test (CET) for a master's degree in business administration (MBA) has seen a 25% rise in enrolment as against last year. The exam is scheduled on March 12 and 13. Experts have attributed the rise in enrolments to the several investments made under the central government's Make in India campaign programme of the government and the need for management professionals in the industry.
According to the Directorate of Technical Education (DTE), which conducts the examination, as many as 74,000 students from the state have registered for the entrance test until the last date for enrolment for the CET examination on February 23. There is a steep rise in enrolments as against last year when 60,000 students appeared for the exam.
The Common Entrance Test Cell had invited applications for the MAH-MBA/MMS-CET 2016, which will be conducted for admission to courses at government, university-managed, and unaided colleges in the state. The exam would be conducted online on March 12 and 13. Last year, business schools in the state submitted applications to to the All Indian Council of Technical Education (AICTE) to close applied for closing some 32 departments. Of the total, 12 departments were granted the permission to shut. In 2013-14, about 94 management colleges had applied to the AICTE seeking similar closure of shut departments.
The rise in applications this year has left everybody surprised. Mohan Agarwal, a management school expert said that, "The rise in student applications is a reflection of the recent investments that were made during the Make in India week. Students have sensed the surge in the requirement for professionals in the next two to three years, which is when these agreements and investments would actually take shape."
A decade ago, when there was a demand for management courses was much greater, several institutes demanded an increase in the number of seats. Later, however, the demand reduced and these same institutes saw had vacant seats at the end of the admission rounds. Unable to cope, these institutes started applying for shutting down of management courses that were not in demand much.
The CET, to be held in mid-March, will include objective type questions. There would be no descriptive type questions in the test. There won't ill not be any negative marking for incorrect answers and each question will carry a mark for the correct response. The DTE, in its notification, has said that the exam will include be of multiple choice questions, pattern wherein each question is followed by five choices.
Graphic:
Head: As the preparation begins
-- Important dates to remember
-- March 4: Issue of Hall Ticket through registered candidate's login
-- March 12 & 13: Date for online MAH-MBA/MMS-CET 2016
-- March 29: Declaration of MAH-MBA/MMS-CET 2016 result at 5pm
-- May, mid-last week: Registration for counselling round
-- June, first week: Counselling
-- June, first week: Provisional merit list
-- June, first week: Submission of grievance against provisional merit list
-- June, second week: Final merit list
BOX
Courses covered under MAH CET
Master of Business Administration (MBA)
Master of Management Studies (MMS)
Post Graduate Diploma Course in Business Management (PGDBM)
Post Graduate Diploma Course in Management (PGDM)
TOTAL SEATS: 45,621 Eom/swati