The Cochin University of Science and Technology will shell out about Rs1.04 crore for its first online common admission test (CAT) for admission to various programmes in the new academic year.
An application filed by The Hindu under the Right to Information Act showed that Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), which won the bid for the inaugural online CAT, had quoted Rs. 299 per student as cost for development of software and conduct of the examination. Expecting the number of applicants to be about 35,000, TCS has shown an estimate of Rs.1,04,65,000 for the conduct of the examination, it said.
The varsity’s International Relations and Academic Admissions (IRAA) wing, which is co-ordinating the conduct of CAT, has informed that four companies participated in the tender process for development of software and conduct of common admission test, 2016. In the technical bid evaluation, TCS and Merittrac Services Ltd qualified for the opening of financial bid. TCS won the bid after submitting the lowest bid.
The online test will be held as per the guidelines for computer-based test prescribed by the regulating agencies including the All India Council for Technical Education. The varsity authorities hope that the shift from the pen-and-paper format will ensure transparency and eliminate errors in the conduct of the test for admission to B. Tech and other courses.
They had a tough time last year after students at several centres complained about the poor printing quality of question papers. The CAT results got delayed following the confusion over the distribution of marks for questions which were not legible in the test for B. Tech exams.
