Candidates, institutes happy with new Centralised Admission Process that requires submitting just one form online

Students preparing to get through some of the best management institutes in the state have reasons to cheer. The Consortium of Management Education (COME) has announced the Centralised Admission Process (CAP), which is applicable for PGDM-AICTE approved two-year full time courses. This centralised system will not only help thousands of students save money by filling just one form but also spare them the leg-work. At least 53 MBA institutes in the state and 26 in the city are part of the consortium. Students have to appear for group discussions (GD) and personal interview (PI), which begins from June 8 and will go on till June 21.

"The idea behind advocating CAP at the high court and Supreme Court was to help the students. This system is a first-of-its-kind in the country," said Dr Apoorva Palkar, executive president of COME. "Earlier students had to spend individually on each institute to fill up the forms, but now they just have to pay Rs 750 and choose from member institutes. They won't have to run from one institute to the other and fill up an online form." Students who have appeared for CAT/MAT/XAT/ATMA/JMET/MHCET/ and the respective state-level CET can appear for the GD and PI.

The Supreme Court in a notification had debarred MBA institutes from conducting private tests, but had allowed them to hold group discussions and personal interviews for the next academic year. "This process is for this particular year because by September we will know the court verdict," said Dr Palkar. Fifty per cent weightage will be given to tests and the remaining 50 per cent will be based on academic performance and work experience.

"It will not only help the students but also the institues. PGDM admissions have been long-delayed," Chetan Wakalkar, group director of Indira Group of Institutes. "There's credibility in the process and we do not have to invest time to conduct the GD and PI."

Students speak
Applying individually to each college led to confusion, now the process is simplified.
--Ankur Verma, Pune

We can now apply for our preferred colleges by filling one form. This not only saves money but also energy.
--u00a0Radhika Despande, Satara