AICTE Banned XAT, ATMA A& MICAT as Entry Point To B-Schools

The latest reforms in All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has shocked all the management aspirants across India by banning top MBA entrance exams like XAT, ATMA, and MICAT as entry points to B-schools approved by AICTE. According to new reforms of AICTE Only state government-run management entrance exams such as Maharashtra CET or ICET in Andhra Pradesh, CAT and MAT are now allowed to serve as entry criteria for aspirants of PGDM (Post Graduate Diploma Programs in Management) programs for business institutes.

However, Dr Prabhat Kumar Sahoo, Director and regional officer of AICTE, Western Region has stated that he will be sending in his suggestion to include XAT in the list of approved MBA entrance exams along with CAT and MAT and there is still a chance that it might get accepted. Till the clouds on XAT clear away, all b-schools will have to accept scores of CAT, MAT or state CETs as their entry criteria for their management programmes.

Autonomous Business Schools such as Goa Institute of Management (GIM), SP Jain Institute of Management & Research (SPJMR) and National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE) in Mumbai, Management Development Institute (MDI) in Gurgaon, and Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad (MICA) that had their own admission processes but were offering AICTE-approved PGDM programmes will not conduct separate entrance tests anymore and will accept scores of state CETs, CAT and MAT only.

Since the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) are not governed by the AICTE, the new rules will not affect them or their admission processes. B-schools affiliated to different universities or deemed universities such as Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS), Symbiosis, FMS Delhi or IIFT Delhi will also not be affected by the new regulations, as they are not governed by AICTE.
According to Dr. Sahoo, B-schools who wish to judge students on their specialized skills can always do so at the the GD (general discussion) and PI (personal interview) stage. The move has been made to streamline the process of management entrance and to ensure that seats are filled only on the basis of merit and that quality in education in maintained in all the institutes.