Common interview plan of IIMs may get delayed

The plan of the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) to conduct a common interview in just one city for aspirants is unlikely to start from the 2010 academic session as was planned earlier. Most IIMs are juggling with issues that are hampering the process which is aimed at easing admissions for students and saving costs too.

The Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry urged the IIMs in July this year to follow the integrated interview process followed by the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). The R C Bhargava Committee, too, had urged the IIMs to admit students through an integrated interview.

However, at present, IIM students who clear the Common Aptitude Test (CAT) exam have to travel five or six times to different cities for interviews (CAT, this year, has 240,000 takers, and will also switch to a computer-based system). Each IIM conducts interviews in major cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata and cities where the respective IIMs are situated.

A common admission process is also expected to reduce the cost faced by students, including traveling to different cities for interviews at different IIMs. This is expected to increase even more with new IIMs coming up.

G R Chandrasekhar, admissions chairperson of IIM Indore, says: “We are still discussing the viability of a common interview system. We interviewed 1,500 candidates last year of which 240 students were admitted.” IIM Indore will hold meetings on November 10 to reach a consensus.

There are a few challenges, though, which are hampering the adoption of this process. IIM-Kozhikode is of the opinion that a common admission procedure, like the IITs, involves lots of major changes, like common shortlisting criterion among IIMs, and logistical issues.

Moreover, while some IIMs have group discussions as part of the selection process, others do not, which makes a common interview for admissions difficult. Besides, there is no uniformity in the student profile called for interviews by various IIMs. Interviews are conducted by each IIM in over five cities. Third, while the CAT exam takes places between November and December, results are declared in January, and the admission process starts immediately after that.

Anadakuttan B Unnithan, the admissions chairperson of IIM Kozhikode, says “the matter is still under discussion. Last year, we interviewed 2,000 candidates of which 300 were admitted. CAT scores alone do not determine admissions at IIMs as group discussions and personal interviews also form the criteria to finalise the admission.”

But the IIMs do acknowledge that there are benefits too. An official in IIM Calcutta’s admissions department, on condition of anonimity, acknowledges that “an integrated interview process helps the institute as well, especially with several new IIMs coming up. Usually, we conduct interviews of 1,300 students of which we select 400 or so. Every institute has to revisit its admission list to ensure all seats are filled up. While the oldest IIMs enjoy 90 per cent conversion rate, the new IIMs would enjoy less with students applying to all IIMs and then making their own choice. An integrated interview process could help all institutes to know whether or not selected students are joining or they would have to redo merit lists.”