IIMC all set to STEP out, 46 grads get scholarships

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KOLKATA: IIM Calcutta (IIMC) students have never had it so good as they gear up to head abroad for the international student exchange programme (STEP) in September. Of the 80 students who are off to the world’s leading B-schools, as opposed to 45 last year, 46 have been offered scholarships.

That’s a nearly 284% jump from the 12 scholarships that were awarded last year. In all, scholarships in excess of Rs 60 lakh have been given to the students this year, with several universities and foreign embassies offering scholarships to attract IIMCians.

The French Embassy and DAAD (German Academic Exchange Programme) have already offered 32 scholarships to IIMC students, each worth $3000. Among US universities, University of Colorado and City University of New York (CUNY) are also providing scholarships to participating students.

The Diamond Management & Consultancy Group has also offered a ‘Diamond Scholarship’, awarded to Prabhat Chandra, the only student in India to get this $3000 scholarship. Besides these, IIMC itself supplements STEP with contributions from its coffers, ensuring that no students miss out on this opportunity due to lack of funds. “IIMC helps its students in all possible ways - bulk airfare discounts, visa assistance, travel insurance and even arranging for French and German classes.

In addition, representatives from Thomas Cook, ICICI Lombard and STIC specially visited the campus to make arrangements for the exchange program participants at discounted rates,” said the STEP representative Gaurav Goyal. IIM Calcutta’s partner universities include Simmons School (Boston), Instituto de Empresa (Madrid), UCLA Andersen School of Management (Los Angeles), Universit Commerciale Luigi Bocconi (Milano), NUS (Singapore), ESCP-EAP (Paris) and 31 other well-known institutes.

The four gaps in B-school teaching

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There are many good things that business schools teach and develop in future managers. They are certainly important for the development of any economy. However, there are things that B-schools do not teach.

They can be explained as the Four ‘R’s:

Risk taking: Risk-taking is not taught. It can be inculcated, cultivated and accentuated. It is important that when you come out of a B-school you do not only look at becoming a manager; you should also be encouraged to look at becoming an entrepreneur. Risk-taking ability is some-thing that helps create path-breaking ideas come to life. B-schools must not only develop managers but also develop entrepreneurs.

Ridicule facing: Many a times when you start something afresh or come up with a new concept in your company, as a manager or as an entrepreneur, many people may laugh at you. They may ridicule you. However, you need to believe in yourself and follow your passion and creativity with tremendous resilience. It is not important who laughs first. According to me, what is important is who has the last laugh, who laughs all the way to the bank.

Revolutionary thought leadership: This is important in any business venture, whether as a manager or an entrepreneur: you need to understand the needs of the consumers, meet those needs and improve the quality of life of the consumers.

This will help both the topline and bottomline. Unfortunately, B-schools propogate an evolutionary approach when they should be encouraging revolutionary thought leadership.

Relationship building: Hardly any attention is paid to this ‘R’. Ethical, honest and sustainable relationships with customers are critical in today’s competitive world. My brand mantra for relationship building is Sambandh nahin toh sab-bandh.

If these four gaps — the Four ‘R’s — are taught, developed, encouraged, inculcated, cultivated or guided, the boom would be faster not only in the economy, but also in the self-confidence and progressive development of every management graduate.

IT training and education market grows at 64%

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BANGALORE: The Indian IT Training and Education market, which is currently $656 million, is growing at a CAGR of 64 per cent. However, the Indian IT e-learning market, which is currently $122 million, is growing at a CAGR (Compound annual growth rate) of 73 per cent, said Navug Mohnot, CEO of India QAI, while announcing education ventures in this space under the name - Edista.

QAI, the leading process consulting organisation, has decided to foray into this space in order to meet the growing need for IT training and education in the country. Quoting interesting trends in IT education, he said 29 per cent of all IT training is on demand: e-learning, as it meets just-in-time training requirements, has maximum reach and no geographical boundaries, offers homogeneity and consistency in content which can be easily upgraded.

Forseeing a huge potential in this space, QAI has launched The Edista learning, an on-demand, web enabled curriculum that offers learner centric online curriculum with real time collaboration, Singh said.

The Edista Testing Institute,which is launched in India, is aimed at addressing the fast growing software testing segment, he said. The Indian software testing segment market was two billion dollars and expected to grow at eight billion by 2008 while the size of the testing training market here was $6.6 million and expected to grow at a CAGR of 50 per cent.

Management Entrance Test for IIT B-schools on Dec 9

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The gateway to the prestigious six IIT B-schools and IISc Bangalore’s Department of Management Studies — the Joint Management Entrance Test (JMET) 2008 — will be conducted on Sunday, December 9.

This written management entrance exam is conducted by IIT Kharagpur.
According to IIT Kharagpur, JMET 2008 will be of 2 hours duration. The test will consist of 150 questions (objective / multiple choice type) in Verbal Communication, Logical Reasoning, Quantitative Ability and Data Interpretation areas.

The Schools/ Departments that use JMET scores are:

IIT Bombay: Shailesh J Mehta School of Management
IIT Delhi: Department of Management Studies
IIT Kanpur: Department of industrial & Management Engineering
IIT Kharagpur: Vinod Gupta School of Management
IIT Madras: Department of Management Studies
IIT Roorkee: Department of Management Studies
IISc Bangalore: Department of Management Studies

Clarifying that JMET is only a short-listing test, IIT Kharagpur says, “The results of JMET 2008 provide a basis to each participating institute to shortlist potential candidates for conducting its own selection process, like, Group Discussion/Interview etc. However, calling the candidates for the later process of selection is the prerogative of the admitting institute.”

While the application criteria for IIT B-schools varies somewhat, a Bachelor’s degree in any branch of Engineering or a Master’s degree in Sciences, Agriculture, Commerce or Economics is acceptable.

Management Entrance Test for IIT B-schools on Dec 9

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The gateway to the prestigious six IIT B-schools and IISc Bangalore’s Department of Management Studies — the Joint Management Entrance Test (JMET) 2008 — will be conducted on Sunday, December 9.

This written management entrance exam is conducted by IIT Kharagpur.
According to IIT Kharagpur, JMET 2008 will be of 2 hours duration. The test will consist of 150 questions (objective / multiple choice type) in Verbal Communication, Logical Reasoning, Quantitative Ability and Data Interpretation areas.

The Schools/ Departments that use JMET scores are:

IIT Bombay: Shailesh J Mehta School of Management
IIT Delhi: Department of Management Studies
IIT Kanpur: Department of industrial & Management Engineering
IIT Kharagpur: Vinod Gupta School of Management
IIT Madras: Department of Management Studies
IIT Roorkee: Department of Management Studies
IISc Bangalore: Department of Management Studies

Clarifying that JMET is only a short-listing test, IIT Kharagpur says, “The results of JMET 2008 provide a basis to each participating institute to shortlist potential candidates for conducting its own selection process, like, Group Discussion/Interview etc. However, calling the candidates for the later process of selection is the prerogative of the admitting institute.”

While the application criteria for IIT B-schools varies somewhat, a Bachelor’s degree in any branch of Engineering or a Master’s degree in Sciences, Agriculture, Commerce or Economics is acceptable.

Is education a service or industry?

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CHENNAI: The National Knowledge Commission has focused on the need to step up enrolment in higher education from the present 7 per cent to 15 per cent by 2015. To achieve this doubling in the intake of students into the system, it has recommended the setting up of 1,500 universities. A question therefore arises as to how to fund these universities and institutions of higher learning in the country.

On the one hand, the private sector seems to be playing an increasingly significant role in higher education, especially professional education, in the country. But on the other hand, there appears to be a growing protest against what political parties and parents label the “commercialisation of education”. To many, education remains a service, and indeed, has been categorised in the ‘service sector’ in the World Trade Organisation’s lists.

But private enterprise hesitantly suggests that education can be listed as an ‘industry,’ and made eligible for the funding or financing facilities available to industrial enterprises.

Role of private sector
With the popularisation of the private self-financing colleges, and the Deemed Universities, the role of the private sector in education has been accepted and recognised. Questions remain on the collection of capitation fees and the fee structure in these institutions. As an education administrator says: “They are not charitable institutions and obviously want to make a profit. So they charge more. We have to factor their investment costs too.”

According to one of the founders of a self-financing college near Chennai, their trust’s initial investment itself was of the order of Rs. 120 crore — in terms of land, construction, equipment, and buses. It was only after the first batch passed out that the break-even was achieved. “It was because we provided quality education, offered all facilities, and the campus placement was good that we became a popular college. It takes time and effort to achieve that,” he explains.

Divided opinion
A cross-section of academics and education entrepreneurs appear divided when it comes to calling ‘education’ an ‘industry’.

Even if the profit motive of private colleges cannot be hidden or wished away, they do not want to be openly called industries. They say the institutions manage with different sources of funding — sponsorship, philanthropy, R&D grants from governments and their agencies, fees, and loans.
The provision for a management quota of seats, with double or treble the fees charged for government quota seats provides a cushion, but only for the more popular institutions. The introduction of an NRI quota of seats, for which the fee structure is even higher and often payable in foreign currency, brings some relief. But bank loans become inevitable, imperative.

Classification
That is where, the classification of an educational enterprise as an industry can bring them some relief. The tourism sector wanted to be listed as an industry for exactly this benefit. But the education entrepreneurs do not want to openly seek that classification.

As the Dean of a Deemed University reasons: “Higher education in India is beginning to show signs of tremendous economic activity and just falls short of being categorised as an industry. It needs not be defined as an industry, but can be for a very limited purpose, encouraged to compete, innovate and build a modern society.” When higher education has become a tool to measure the developed status of a country, how can the country achieve a doubling of its enrolment in higher education within a decade from now? As governments are finding it increasingly difficult to fund higher education, how are new institutions and universities to be financed? Education administrators leave it to the Planning Commission, the Centre and the banks to come up with an acceptable formula.

CAT-IIMs announce revised non-IIMs B-schools list for CAT 2007

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CAT-IIMs have released a revised list of institutes who can officially use CAT 2007 scores. The new list, released on official CAT website (www.CATIIM.in), names 111 non-IIM institutes who will officially receive CAT scores.

Mumbai based SP Jain Institute of Management & Research (SPJIMR) and Institute of Management, Nirma University of Science & Technology, Ahmedabad are noticeable additions.
Six other institutes that have been added are: Bengal Institute of Technology & Management, Shantinikhetan; Management Institute of Durgapur; Mangalmay Institute of Management Studies, Greater Noida; Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology, Bhopal; University of Petroleum & Energy Studies, Gurgaon and Vignana Jyothi Institute of Management, Secunderabad.

As reported earlier, several new B-schools have decided to be part of this prestigious entrance test. New schools include Apeejay School of Management, New Delhi; Ishan Institute of Management & Technology, Greater Noida; Fortune Institute of International Business, New Delhi; Kohinoor Business School, Pune; Delhi School of Professional Studies & Research, Rohini; Asian School of Business Management, Bhubaneshwar; Pearl School of Business, Gurgaon; Institute of Finance and International Management, Bangalore; Gitam Institute of Foreign Trade, Vishakhapatnam; Jaipuria Institute of Management, Noida. All these names are part of the new CAT 2007 non-IIMs institution list.

MBAUniverse.com readers will remember that this portal ran a story on July 20 highlighting the fact that SPJIMR and Institute of Management, Nirma University of Science & Technology were not part of the first list of non-IIMs institutes released in official CAT Bulletin. Both these institutes, responding to MBAUniverse.com query, had informed us that their institute were indeed part of CAT 2007, but were left out due to “tight deadlines of CAT Bulletin 2007.” These institutes now figure in the revised list.

MBA hottest degree across the world: Study

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BANGALORE: Recruiters around the world are on a big MBA talent hunt. The UK is now paying the highest salaries for MBAs worldwide.

China is the hottest market with more and more MBAs joining Chinese companies. Asian students are among the highest GMAT scorers in the world. The Top MBA International MBA Recruitment and Salary Report 2007, made available to TOI, reveals these and other interesting trends of MBA education in 35 countries.

The survey is the most extensive and presents an unrivalled view of the World MBA recruitment market with responses from 489 companies worldwide.

“Hiring predictions from MBA recruiters suggest that MBA demand worldwide will set a new record in 2007. In most countries, the survey has shown that there is a rise in demand for the MBA course, specially among people who seek a career change or who wish to start business,” says marketing director (India and Middle East) Biren Patel of Quacquarelli Symonds, the world’s leading network for top careers and education which conducted the survey.

Surprisingly, industrial companies are hiring MBAs from a broader number of business schools than ever before. But it is the consulting and financial services which will account for 50% of MBA hires at many B-schools, even in the future.

Such is the demand for MBAs that in North America, where foreign students find it challenging to get H1 visas, recruiters are finding the ways to hire people. Many Western European countries are becoming hot spots for MBA recruiting.

The UK is at full employment, particularly, due to the implementation of the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme, the visa regime that is favourable to MBAs of any nationality.

Dominique D’Arcy of Manchester Business School says: “Increasingly, the MBA is becoming the mainstream qualification for recruiters in many Western European Countries as has been the case in the US for years.”

Dubai, too, is a hiring hub. Companies there are seeking MBAs in large numbers. The study has shown that the demand will continue to grow in 2008. And there seem to be no imminent indicators of a possible drop in demand. Yet, the research has a word of caution: the supply of MBAs is not growing as rapidly and companies may not be willing to push salaries much higher.

Chris Higgins at Wharton says, “MBA candidates need to remain flexible about career aspirations.”

But nothing best sums up the trend than what Graham Hastie from the London Business School says: “99% of the class 2007 had paid summer internships — a record for the school.”

Where do I do my MBA from?

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Today there are more than a thousand institutions in our country offering PGDM’s and MBA degrees.

Management Education in India made a formal beginning in the 1950’s, with the Indian Institute of Social Welfare becoming the earliest institution to have a formal education programme in management education. In the 1960s the Government initiatives in management education became a reality with the establishment of two IIM’s, one in Kolkata and another at Ahmedabad. It was observed that there was a good demand for these management graduates and their need was felt in all sectors. Naturally the demand for management education programmes grew and having a Post Graduate Qualification in Management became the in thing. The private sector too entered this field and several educational ventures were launched.

Today there are more than a thousand institutions in our country offering PGDM’s and MBA degrees. The aspiring student no doubt has a vast choice but the claims made by the institutions with their attractive endorsements actually put him/her into a mire of confusion.This brings us to the million-dollar question that every student is faced with: How should I choose the institution that would make or break my future?First things first – Ask yourself, why do I want to get a Post Graduate qualification in Management? Is it because I want to get a lucrative job? Or become an entrepreneur? Or am I just doing it because my friends are. Clarify your objectives first.

Next, gather information about the institutions from various sources like journals, the Internet, your friends and relatives. One very crucial source of information would be the alumni of the institute as well as the students currently pursuing the course. For some students location may limit the choice of the institution.Your search parameters must essentially include:

Infrastructure: A good institution must provide an interesting learning environment in terms of well equipped labs and libraries, classrooms, discussion rooms, conference rooms, auditorium, canteen and facilities for some extra curricular activities.

Faculty: Even world-class infrastructure is no replacement for good faculty. Check for the profile of the faculty; look for their experience in the industry, the courses they cover and the academic achievements beyond teaching. Ideally an institute must have a faculty profile, which is made up of a healthy blend of academicians, policy makers, administrators and managers to deliver the knowledge, skills and give a comprehensive perspective of the corporate world.

Pedagogy: Find out what teaching methods are used. Ideally it should include lectures, case studies, seminars, group discussions, business games, role-plays, simulation exercises, structured and unstructured group work and field visits. At this level the emphasis should rest on involving the students in learning and helping them to relate concepts and theories to business requirements. Consistent with advances in teaching technology, the programme must familiarise students in the use of computers and utilising them in different functional areas of management.

Course Curriculum: Examine the course curriculum, see how often it is updated, how relevant it is to industry demands. (You can ask your parents or teachers or maybe any of your relatives from the industry)

Placement Record: Placement here refers to two kinds - placement during summer internships and final placements. Generally a good summer placement would also result in a final placement. However ask for details as to where the students were placed for internship in the previous years, how professionally the internship was managed by the institute and the outcome of the same.
Final placement is of course what most people look for, except for those who want to start off on their own or manage their family business.

Industry-Institute interface: Much has been said about this by several institutions, claiming to have a good industry-institute interface. However it is not enough if the institute has arranged visits or invited experts from a particular industry to visit the institute. It is vital to know the quality of interaction between the industry and the institution in terms of live projects, conferences and workshops held of this purpose.

Finally before taking the plunge, remember, a good institution is no replacement for hard work and a great attitude. Go ahead and jump right into the fascinating world of management education. All the best!!!!

Are classrooms ready for laptops?

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There was a time, when notebooks in a classroom meant a sheaf of paper in a hardbound cover. Now, imagine a classroom in which the teacher is wirelessly connected to students through their notebooks – the computer variety. No messy tangled wires here, thanks to wireless connectivity. The student is served interactive content controlled by the teacher. This content includes primary curriculum as well as other resources such as encyclopedias and dictionaries.
Students practise their learning through tests, ensuring that they not only learn but also improve their scores and performance. The students are wired in a controlled environment with limited access to sites they can visit. The teacher controls the entire user experience.

Imagine again. The same computer network also performs mundane tasks such as attendance monitoring, preparation for lessons, and executing class tests, and providing feedback on students to administrators and parents. The network also empowers parents by enabling them to keep a close tab on their children by accessing feedback from teachers, helping them to coach their children in better ways.

Now, stop imagining. The good news is that such projects have already been launched in India. It has already been working in countries like Nigeria and Brazil.

Some of the biggest names in technology are behind the main project. Microchip makers AMD and Intel, software giant Microsoft, and HCL are among the backers of the idea of taking notebook computers, long considered the symbol of the yuppie executive, to schools.

Under the World Ahead Program, companies like Intel are looking at the huge rural Indian market of 6,50,000 villages. The chip maker’s Classmate PC, launched last month, fits into this big picture. Classmate PC has already run the pilots in India with sixth standard students at the Delhi Public School at Vasundhara in Ghaziabad. Intel also recently ran a pilot with the Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti (NVS) and initiated another pilot in which it has seeded Classmate PCs for fourth standard students at the Padma Sheshadri Bal Bhavan, Bangalore to research and gather engineering feedback.

“The primary charter of Craig Barrett’s visit to India is to drive the Intel World Ahead Program with communities, government, academia and industry. This program is an initiative through which Intel plans to invest $1 billion globally over the next 5 years to accelerate access to uncompromised technology across four major focus areas: accessibility, connectivity, education and content,” Intel said. There is also a project called One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) . OLPC was founded by digital guru Nicholas Negroponte with a core of the prestigious Media Lab veterans, but quickly expanded to include a wide range of people from academia, industry, the arts, business, and the open-source software community.

OLPC has a plan to offer laptop computers at $100 –that is just about Rs. 4,000. The scheme was rejected by the government last year. The reason for rejection wasn’t spelled out clearly. Nigeria is said to have ordered 10 million pieces under the scheme. Intel joined the project last month. There are also unconfirmed reports that IBM is working on a Rs. 8,000 machine for students, to be launched this year.The good news is that the student’s notebook is not fragile, unlike many corporate laptops that are delicate. It is as tough and rugged as computers could get. A water-proof keyboard, a seven-inch protected LCD screen, a shock-proof shell with an attachable cover all make it a strong proposition.

What if careless students lose their data? The notebook doesn’t have a hard disk. It has a flash memory of 1 to 2 gigabytes (GB) which means that even under strenuous conditions the data will be safe. For those worried about schoolbag weights, the news is that the device weighs only 1.45 kg and works on battery backup of 3-4 hours.

Though Intel has joined the OLPC project, its separate experiment earned the description of “Battle of Goodwill” for the project in which it rivaled OLPC in vying to equip children with aggressively priced laptops. Both were until recently seen as fierce competitors. While the success of OLPC largely depends on support and big orders from governments, Intel for the time being seems to be taking a different route by getting private financiers such as IL&FS into the project.

Both Intel and OLPC need orders to get the pricing right. OLPC’s $100 price tag in India can only be a reality if it gets large orders. Intel has priced its Classmate PC at Rs 18,000. However, the idea of laptops replacing paper notebooks receives mixed reactions from citizens.
Madhur, a teacher at a prestigious Gurgaon school termed it as “progressive and a step in the right direction.”But not everybody is optimistic.

“In India everybody is out to extract money. The school, tutors and now private firms. Why can’t they simply work on the quality of education instead of gizmos?” said Supriya Rathore, wife of an army official.

CAT marks not enough, board scores key at IIM-B

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New Delhi: Cracking the CAT or the Combined Admission Test is just not enough to get into the IIMs. Your Class X and XII marks matter more.

IIM-Bangalore has revealed the details of just what it takes to get into one of the country’s top B- schools.

Contrary to popular perception, CAT scores make up only one-fifth of an aspirant’s final score. Other criteria include the applicant’s X and XII results, which together account for almost 25 per cent of the final score.

The results in the graduate degree exams account for 15 per cent of the final score.
The maximum weightage is given to group discussions and personal interviews, which account for 35 per cent of the total score. The remaining 5 per cent depends on whether the aspirant has taken a Chartered Accountancy course.

Placement Highlights from Top B-schools

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FMS, Delhi University

Paris-based Calyon Bank made the highest domestic offer of INR 16.0 Lakhs per annum.
The highest number of offers was made by Cognizant Technologies with 15 offers. With 10 offers each, IBM, Standard Chartered Bank & ICICI Bank were a close second.

Nearly 48% of the batch opted for a career in Finance. On an average, the highest numbers of offers were made by Banks, with an astounding 62 offers being made IN ALL.

MBA (Management of Services), the 2-year full-time programme of FMS, saw its second batch getting placed, recording an average salary of INR 10.55 Lakhs per annum as opposed to last year’s INR 7.5 Lakhs p.a. The first international offers for the MBA (MS) Batch were made by Jumbo Electronics, Dubai, for an annual salary of AED 220,000 per annum.

A strong 78% of the batch of 2007 converted the option of “Dream Company” - thereby getting an offer from the company they aspired and dreamt of. Compared to other B-schools, this highlights the kind of choice that FMS offers to every student.

MDI Gurgaon

Highlight of placements at MDI Gurgaon was that offers poured in from students’ “dream companies” and that too in their preferred profiles.

160 students received 215 offers in all, making it 1.34 offers per student.
Top-notch international recruiters like Macquarie Bank and Emerio visited MDI campus for the first time.

XLRI Jamshedpur
The Campus Recruitment Process at XLRI ended with an epoch-making 50% rise in average salary, higher than any B-school in India.
Consulting and Finance firms were the cynosure of this paradigm-shifting placement scene at XLRI, making 24% & 30% of the offers respectively.

Hewitt was the top recruiter in consulting with 18 offers, followed by Accenture Business Consulting with 8 offers. Goldman Sachs was the largest recruiter in finance with 9 offers.

NITIE, Mumbai
More than 10% of the PGDIM batch at NITIE joined the millionaire club.
ICICI Bank (20), Cognizant Technology Solutions (20), ICICI Prudential (17), Kotak Mahindra (16), IBM (11) were among the top recruiters.
The Banking, Financial Services and Insurance sector ranked among students’ top preferences with 35% accepted offers across companies in this sector.

IMT, Ghaziabad
Kotak Mahindra became largest recruiter at IMT Ghaziabad, handed out 31 offers, followed by Infosys, Cognizant Technology Solutions, ICICI Prudential, Bharti and Trident.

The placement process saw first-time recruiters including, eClerx, Jumbo International, Covansys, Dell and Accenture visiting the campus.
Along with the flagship PGDBM program, the newer programs in Human Resource Management (MHRM) and International Business (MIB) also saw substantial hike, both in the average compensation package and in terms of number of offers.

SPJIMR, Mumbai
Placements 2007 Creates 85 Millionaires at SPJIMR, Mumbai.
Companies resorted to the phone-a-friend option, calling up their head-offices and carving out special profiles other than those usually on offer.

Participants had 4 offers to consider on an average, with the choice set hitting 10 in some cases.
This year’s placement process saw more than 160 lateral offers generated for 65 candidates.

The highest international offer at SPJIMR was of 43,000 pounds by ICICI Bank for a treasury position in UK.

TISS, Mumbai
Companies like Deutsche Bank, Ernst & Young, Asian Paints & Wipro made Pre-Placement Offers to TISS students.

The institute maintained its enduring relationship with corporate bigwigs like ITC, IBM, HLL, etc., and began new innings with top profile and global companies like HSBC, Dell, Nokia, PwC, etc.

JBIMS, Mumbai
One in every two students, from the batch of 2007 at JBIMS gets offers to become a millionaire.
The institute had its highest number of international and lateral offers. Lateral offers were made to 20% of the batch, while 15% of the batch bagged international offers. Major recruiters for overseas placements were Olam International, First Gulf Bank, Sharaf Group, Man Financial and Jumbo Electronics.

IIFT, Delhi
20% of the batch receives Pre-Placement Offers at IIFT, Delhi.
Olam International and Backes & Strauss made international offers, apart from offers from Australian Wheat Board for their Trading operations.

The average package offered this year was INR 9.3 Lakhs with highest international package of USD 100,000 (offered by Olam International) and highest domestic package of INR 19.2 Lakhs (offered by Lehman Brothers).
The other higher paying offers were from Citigroup, Backes & Strauss, Standard Chartered, DTZ, etc.

XLRI to hold XAT 2008 on January 6

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Xavier Labour Relations Institute (XLRI) Jamshedpur has announced dates for its entrance exam Xavier Admission Test, popularly called XAT.

Fr N Casimirraj S J, Director, XLRI informed MBAUniverse.com, “XAT will be held on Sunday, January 06, 2008. The online registration for XAT and XLRI will start from September 1, 2007.” Apart from XLRI, XAT score are also used by many other B-Schools like Xavier Institute of Management Bhuneshwar, (XIMB), Xavier Institute of Social Service (XISS), Goa Institute of Management (GIM), Goa.

The last date of registration to XAT is November 30.
According to XLRI, XAT covers three objective-type test areas: verbal ability, quantitative ability and decision-making ability. There are also questions on Values. Students also have to write essays on a topic based on current value systems.

XLRI has been conducting its all-India admission tests for more than 50 years. Using this experience and expertise it has extended this test to other Management Institutes. Last year there are 35 other Management Institutes that select students using XAT 2007.

Founded in 1949, one of India’s premier management institutes, XLRI is running two-year full time Management Programmes in Personal Management and Industrial Relation Programme; General Management Programme; Executive PG Programme; Fellow Programme in Management.