B-Schools to decide on common interview

The meeting expected to be chaired by HRD Minister Kapil Sibal on November 2 will be held in the backdrop of opposition from a section of IIM teachers to this proposal. While some faculties hold that a centralised interview at one place is not practical, HRD Ministry officials contend such a step will spare the students the trouble of travelling from one place to another to appear for interviews.

As per the present practice, students clearing the Common Admission Test (CAT) apply for group discussion and personal interview separately to each IIM of their choice, and travel from one city to another to appear in them. The faculties have earlier said that holding a common interview and group discussions will come in the way of exercising institute-specific preferences.

This is because some of the B-schools give preference to a candidate’s work experience while others focus on a student’s performance.

According to the convener of CAT 2010 Himanshu Rai, students themselves prefer multiple interviews because that increases their chances of admission.