A proposal to conduct Karnataka Management Aptitude Test (KMAT) for the 2013-14 academic year by the Karnataka Post Graduates Private Colleges Association (KPGPCA) has been put across to the Department of Higher Education. The KMAT, conducted by the KPGPCA, is the only way of entry to the MBA, MCA and MTech courses in private colleges, till last year.
The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) had made it mandatory for acceptance of the national Common Management Aptitude Test (CMAT) across the country for postgraduate courses. Despite the AICTE conducting the single test across the country, CMAT has failed to garner the required number of registrations in Karnataka.
Dr M Prakash, Secretary, KPGPCA, said: “Of the 24,000 seats, 50 per cent comes under management quota. With the poor number of test takers and the mandatory instruction from the AICTE to use CMAT for the 2013 admissions, it is not possible for the managements to fill seats without students.”
“The Association had written to the Department of Higher Education seeking permission to conduct KMAT 2013. The request has been forwarded to AICTE, but so far the association has not received any communication,” Dr Prakash said.
An official from Karnataka Examinations Authority said although the national test was conducted thrice and will be conducted the fourth time in May, the number of test takers has not even clocked 5,000. “With such few registrations, the seat selection process will be difficult and KEA has the onus of conducting the counselling process. The remaining seats from the government quota after the counselling has to be surrendered to the managements. The poor registration is mainly due to the online test which has failed to attract rural students,” the official added.
CMAT being an online test has been one of the reasons for the abysmal number of test takers, while the KMAT and state conducted entrance tests have been pencil and paper based tests. The seat selection process for the 2012 academic year was behind schedule due to the delay in counselling by KEA and the postgraduate classes started as late as November.