After experiencing periods of slump over the last few years, the number of registrations for the Common Admission Test (CAT) to the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and other leading B-schools has hit a seven-year high.
The office of the convenor of CAT-2016 said there have been over 2.32 lakh registrations this time, as against 2.18 lakh for CAT-2015. Registrations for CAT-2016 closed on Tuesday. The number of registrations this year is the highest since 2010, a release from IIM-Bengaluru said.
The number of female candidates too has risen slightly. “While we still have more male candidates (67 per cent), the percentage of female candidates has marginally increased by one per cent from last year. This is a good sign but not good enough,” Rajendra K. Bandi, convenor, CAT-2016, was quoted as saying.
However, if one looks at the total increase in the applications — about 14,000 — almost half of them have come from female candidates. “This is a positive sign. This means the increase in female candidates is more than the increase of male candidates,” he said.
The number of applications from persons with disabilities has also risen from 901 to 938. “In this category, the percentage of male candidates is very high (more than 80 per cent), which is something to think about. Our social system needs to encourage female students who are differently abled. However, on the positive side, the percentage of such female candidates has increased from 14.76 to 17.48. A small positive step, but miles to go on this,” Prof. Bandi said.
CAT-2016 will be conducted on December 4. The results are expected in the second week of January.
