IIT B-schools to have single online portal for MBA applications

Plan a host of measures to make their MBA programmes more attractive and sought after

After doing away with the Joint Management Entrance Test (JMET) last year and embracing the Common Admission Test (CAT), the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are now planning a slew of measures to make their management programmes more attractive and sought after.

Foremost on the list is to merge their application process and adopt a common online portal for admissions in MBA programmes.

“It would be ideal to have a single portal for inviting applications and coordination among all IITs to conduct group discussion and personal interview so that duplication of efforts is avoided and the entire process of admissions is simplified. As 70-80 per cent of the candidate pool is common among the IIT B-schools, it will be in a relief for both the institutes and the students. The IITs will end up utilising their efforts and resources in an optimum manner. Also, the candidates will not have to juggle at multiple places, saving time and expenses,” said M P Gupta, admissions coordinator at IIT Delhi’s Department of Management Studies.

Currently, candidates apply separately to each management programme of IITs, supplying almost the same data to all, with each application costing Rs 1,500.

The IIT B-schools which are planning to merge and have common application portals are Sailesh J Mehta School of Management (IIT-Bombay), Department of Management Studies (IIT-Delhi), Department of Management Studies (IIT-Roorkee), Vinod Gupta School of Management (IIT-Kharagpur) and Department of Management Studies (IIT-Madras). The common portal will be handled by IITs in rotation and in coordination with the IIM organising CAT. In the common process, candidates will be required to mention their preference order for IIT B-schools, probably similar to the B Tech admission process of IITs. With these plans, the next five years will be a period to watch out for these big-league management schools as the IITs.

These schools are also contemplating the launch of a new dual degree: a five-year course combining their B Tech and MBA programmes. The proposal is at an advanced stage of planning and is likely to be launched in July 2013.

IIT students will be given an option to enter the dual degree programme in their second or third year, as most will take time to get the necessary exposure for such a decision. Interested students will be required to go through an internal group discussion and personal interview process, before qualifying for the dual degree.

“Since many IIT students are already going on to do an MBA subsequently after passing out of IITs, why not give them an option to do so here? Also, IITs have the entire wherewithal to efficiently deliver MBA education, making it an easy process to implement,” added Gupta.

These B-schools are also revamping their curriculum. The B-schools want to make their curriculum more contemporary, with a heavy emphasis on global exposure. Another important change for candidates will be review of the admission criteria, with aim to simplify it and give chance to any graduate, not only engineers.

Discussions are also on for offering MBAs with focus on emerging areas such as infrastructure, healthcare, public sector, international business, real estate, media etc. Executive MBA, a common feature of the programmes of major B-schools, is also on the table.