Covid-19 impact: IIMs to roll out shortlists for admissions from May 8

In a normal year IIMs usually send out invitations to shortlisted candidates for participating in their respective admission process by mid-April

IIM Ahmadabad, IIM Bill, Indian Institute of Management, IIMs — This year, shortlists of aspirants have been delayed due to the lockdown

2 min read Last Updated : May 07 2020 | 1:17 AM IST

With the lockdown due to Covid-19 pandemic impacting their academic calendar, the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) are ready to roll out the first shortlists of aspirants for the new academic year from May 8 onwards.

Having wrapped up the process for the Common Admission Test (CAT) 2019, entrance test to IIMs and over 150 non-IIM B-schools, the convening institute, IIM Kozhikode, said that the each campus would release a shortlist for their post graduate programmes.

While in a normal year IIMs usually send out invitations to shortlisted candidates for participating in their respective admission process by mid-April, this year, the same has been delayed due to the lockdown. At present, unlike in a normal year when candidates were given over two weeks of time to accept the invitation to participate in the admission process, the deadline would be squeezed.

However, CAT 2019 convenor and IIM Kozhikode faculty member Shubhasis Dey told Business Standard that the IIMs were confident of getting the new batch ready by June end as usual.

According to Debashis Chatterjee, director of IIM Kozhikode, CAT 2019 was not only a challenge in terms of the sheer intensity of record applicants, but also due to the emerging threat of the spread of novel coronavirus pandemic across the globe during the concluding phase of the exam.

"However, this proved to be a surmountable hindrance as IIM Kozhikode and other IIMs were able to complete the process by quickly adapting to the needs with the aid of technology and virtual personal interviews. IIMs will be announcing the final PGP Short-List based on CAT 2019 results from May 08 onwards and we are eager to welcome the successful candidates into the IIM fold," said Chatterjee.

He further said that CAT 2019, which was conducted on November 24 2019, recorded the highest number of CAT registrations as well as CAT takers in the last 10 years with 244,190 candidates registering for the online exam. Out of this 209,926 candidates successfully appeared for CAT 2019, which was conducted at 376 test centres spread across 156 cities in India.

Moreover, CAT 2019 also saw an increase in female-male ratio at 35.73 per cent as compared to 35.02 per cent in CAT 2018.