CAT centres way out of city, complain aspirants

 

The CAT exam centres in the city are at Aalim Muhammed Salegh College of Engineering, Muthapudupet, Avadi, Dhanalakshmi Engineering College, Manimangalam, G.K.M. College of Engineering and Technology, Perungalathur, K.C.G. College of Technology, Karapakkam, and Saveetha Engineering College, Thandalam.

 

Suresh, a CAT aspirant in the city, who opted to take the test at Aalim Muhammed Salegh college in the morning batch on November 22 lamented that he needs to travel over 50 km for about two hours to reach the test centre.

 

“It is not fair on the part of the CAT organising committee to designate test centres which are far away when there are plenty of arts and science colleges with good infrastructure in the city. Think of the plight of a student who takes the test in the morning batch, the stress and strain that is on him when he travels such a long distance. Even losing one mark makes a lot of difference to a student’s career as he may not get a seat in an IIM,” he said.

 

Shravan, another MBA aspirant, raised concerns that the coordination committee had done away with the option which lets students select their preferred date of taking up the test. 

 

“This year, the coordination committee has let the CAT test centre decide students’ exam date; this should not have been done,” he said.

 

Former IIM-Ranchi director, Prof M.J. Xavier, said IIMs should not pass on the responsibility to the private college to select test centres and allot test dates for students. “The coordination committee has to take students’ convenience into account before finalising exam centres. Instead of making students come to the exam centres to take the test, IIMs can make the test fully online, giving students an opportunity to do it from their home or wherever they want. If IIMs are concerned about security, there are different technologies available today to check their identity so they need not worry,” he said.