Rise in CAT, NMAT registrations: A sign of stability?

The CAT2011 and NMAT 2012registrationnumbers have brought the much awaited relief to management educators, who were till now worried about the dip inregistrationfigures over the past few years.

IIM Calcutta, the B school having the responsibility of conducting CAT 2011, announced on 7 October 2011 the preliminaryregistrationdata for CAT 2011.The CAT2011 voucher sales had ended on 1 October, and about 2.06 lakh vouchers were sold.The CAT2011registrationwindow ended at midnight on 4 October with approximately 2.05 lakh registered CAT aspirants. The exam is all set to begin from October 22, 2011.

There is marginal increase of 0.49% when compared to last years CAT registrations of 2.04 lakh. Theregistration processhas ended smoothly, said Professor Janakiraman Moorthy, CAT 2011 Convener and faculty at IIM Calcutta. The full and final report on CAT 2011registrationdata is expected to be available by 18 October 2011.
The CAT2010 had in total 2.06 lakh candidates. CAT 2009registrationfigures were 2.42 lakh.The CAT2009registrationfigures had similarly witnessed a marginal dip in comparison to CAT 2008. The registered takers of CAT 2008 were 2.46 lakh.
The number of CAT applicants has stabilised now, said Professor Janakiraman Moorthy to MBAUniverse.com. On the stagnant numbers of aspirants, Moorthy said the current economic situation and the future expectations were impacting the numbers to a great extent.
For instance, those in the IT industry seem to be holding on to their jobs, rather than going for MBA studies. Once the economic outlook improves, we may see the number going up again, he added.
The good news is also coming in from the organizers of NMAT 2012. We discuss it in detail below.
Impact of Entry of IIT DMSs & FMS Delhi on CAT 2011 It is being widely believed by experts that owing to the scrapping of JMET and FMS entrance exams, the aspirants who prepared solely for these MBA entrance exams had to opt for CAT this year to join their preferred B-schools. Till now, every year, approximately 45,000 candidates used to take FMSentrance examevery year. The number of test takers for JMETentrance examfor the IITs ranged from 30,000 to 40,000.
But on the other side of the coin some experts say that the entry of FMS Delhi and IIT DMS aspirants cannot be counted for impact study as majority of them have been taking CAT also, as an additional exam over the years.
NMAT 2012 NMAT 2012 has registered approximately 20% increase in the number of registrations so far, as on Monday, 10 October 2011.
The exam has witnessed 51,000 registrations as on 10 October 2011, which is the closing day for the normal registrations window. This is 9,550 more than the total figure of 40,000 for NMAT 2011.
Speaking to MBAUniverse.com on the number of registrations for NMAT 2012 on 10 October 2011 in New Delhi, Dr. Rajan Saxena, Vice Chancellor, NMIMS said, NMAT 2012 has witnessed an increase of 20% in the number of registrations as of today i.e. 10 October 2011. We are looking forward to further rise in the numbers of NMAT 2012 takers as the lateregistrationwindow is opening from 11 October till 20 October.
When asked by MBAUniverse.com on whether this is reflective of an overall rise in demand for pursuing MBA, Dr. Saxena said, It is difficult to generalize. We should not take this rise in numbers as representative of overall change of sentiments amongst the student community for pursuing MBA. The fact remains that for quality institutions like NMIMS there always will remain many takers.
I will like to add that this significant growth in numbers is in line with the quality of MBA programmes offered by NMIMS. We are happy with this growth of NMAT, Dr. Saxena added.
More Acceptance of Computer Based Exams The rise in the number of registrations for CAT 2011 and NMAT 2012 surely indicates rise of trust on computer based entrance exams. Both the exams had gone computer based in the year 2009. Both the exams have stabilised since then by adopting more up to date technologies and understanding the needs of the B schools as well as the MBA aspirants.