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Business News/ Education / News/  Is the IIM charm fading?
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Is the IIM charm fading?

Only 189,759 have applied to appear in the Common Admission Test this year, the lowest since 2007

Some educationists say the charm of a management degree has certainly waned largely on account of the government insisting on opening more schools without any emphasis on quality. Photo: MintPremium
Some educationists say the charm of a management degree has certainly waned largely on account of the government insisting on opening more schools without any emphasis on quality. Photo: Mint

New Delhi: Is the famed appeal of the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) waning?

This year, only 189,759 aspirants have applied to appear in the Common Admission Test (CAT), the lowest number since 2007 when around 250,000 did.

Back then, there were six IIMs. There are currently 13. And the government wants to add six more by 2015. That means the 189,759 aspirants are seeking a place in one of 19 schools.

“This year, the number of applicants is 189,759. I won’t answer any further question," said Rohit Kapoor, convenor of CAT 2014 and a professor at IIM, Indore.

The number of aspirants has fallen despite an improvement in business sentiment.

Some educationists say the charm of a management degree has certainly waned largely on account of the government insisting on opening more schools without any emphasis on quality.

Pritam Singh, a former director of IIM, Lucknow, said the falling number of CAT applicants suggests that people are realizing that they can get by without going to a B-school by simply choosing vocational training, and also that the increasing number of IIMs has affected “Brand IIM".

“The government is only focusing on quantity. Instead, it should focus on building few global schools. IIMs should not be opened in rural areas but in places where there is enough industrial development as it will help both the schools and the companies," Singh added.

Many of the new IIMs face challenges related to both physical and intellectual infrastructure. Most have been operating from temporary campuses and have between 15% and 25% less faculty than they ideally need.

India’s gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to grow 5.6% in the current financial year and further 6.5% in 2015-16, buoyed by strong investments and political certainty, rating agency Fitch Ratings Inc. said on Wednesday. The Reserve Bank of India, too, has projected 5.5% GDP growth for the current year and 6.3% for 2015-16, and this along with a stable government is expected to boost the job market as well.

India has witnessed sub-5% growth in the previous two years. It grew 4.5% in 2012-13 and 4.7% in 2013-14.

A professor at one of the older IIMs did accept the view that the increasing number of IIMs is affecting the equity of the brands, but added that the real reason for the decline in the number of aspirants could be that “only the serious students are applying now". This person, who asked not to be identified, argued that irrespective of the number of IIMs, the aspirants would try to get into the top IIMs, and that consequently, the poor quality of some of the newer IIMs should not affect the number of aspirants.

This year’s CAT is scheduled for 16 and 22 November. The results will be announced in the third week of December. Other than IIMs, several dozen B-schools admit students based on the CAT results.

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Published: 01 Oct 2014, 11:32 PM IST
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