Karnataka MBA admissions: Group discussion round likely for government seats

June 30, 2013 01:23 pm | Updated June 13, 2016 06:35 am IST - Bangalore:

Members of Eplus clubs from various colleges participating in the group discussion competition at the EPlus Challenge 2013, held in Avanthi Collegein Makavaripalem, Visakhapatnam, on February 22. Photo: K. R. Deepak

Members of Eplus clubs from various colleges participating in the group discussion competition at the EPlus Challenge 2013, held in Avanthi Collegein Makavaripalem, Visakhapatnam, on February 22. Photo: K. R. Deepak

For those aspiring for government quota seats in private colleges to pursue Master of Business Administration (MBA) course in Karnataka, admissions may not be possible just by clearing the entrance exam, if representatives of some B-schools have their way.

Members of the Association of Private Management Institutions of North Karnataka propose to urge the State government to include group discussion (GD) and personal interview (PI) as part of the admission criterion, along the lines of the admissions to the course through the Common Admission Test (CAT). However, there is no proposal to lay down the same criterion for admissions to management quota seats, thus sparking off a debate about discrimination in making admissions to MBA course.

According to the association, admissions to the government quota seats in private colleges should be made based on Common Management Admission Test (CMAT) scores and the performance of the candidate concerned in group discussion and personal interview. The association is proposing that equal weightage should be given to CMAT scores and marks scored by the candidate concerned in group discussion and personal interview rounds.

Ashok H. Chachadi, member of the association, said the reason for them asking for the inclusion of two more rounds for admissions is because the quality of managers can be assessed in a better way through them, as MBA is a participative learning process. “Placements also have suffered because of lack of group discussion skills. The salary packages that are offered to our students have gone down because of this. Test scores alone cannot decide who will make a good manager. Maharashtra has successfully incorporated group discussion and personal interview rounds in their admission process,” said Mr. Chachadi.

Discrimination

Seconding the proposal to to introduce PI and GD rounds in the admission process, Janardhan K., director, Bangalore University’s Canara School of Management Studies, said it is time to integrate these ingredients for selection. However, he questioned how there could be two different processes for admissions to government quota seats and management seats.

Mr. Janardhan, who was part of a three-member committee constituted by Visvesvaraya Technological University (which used to conduct the Postgraduate Common Entrance Test earlier), had submitted a report emphasising on the need for the two rounds of screening. “But to apply it only to aspirants of government quota seats is meaningless,” he said. The 2011 report had suggested group discussion and personal interview rounds for admissions to government and management seats.

Meanwhile, officials of the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) said it was too late to conduct a centralised counselling process with GD and PI this year.

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