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IIFT open to the idea of an online entrance test, says director


Dr Surajit Mitra, Director, IIFT Delhi & Kolkata

In an exclusive interview with PaGaLGuY, Dr Surajit Mitra, Director at Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT), Delhi and Kolkata talks about sectional cut-offs becoming a permanent feature of the IIFT test, the possibility of shifting the IIFT test online and his views on a single National MBA entrance test.

With an overall economic slowdown this year, how have placements been for IIFT?

Overall placements have been slightly difficult because of the international downturn, particularly in the United States and Europe and consequently in South East Asia. It needs to be kept in mind that the situation has been difficult not just this year but since the year 2008-09. This year, domestic markets, particularly manufacturing and services have been affected.

But what I feel is that even 5.5% growth for a country like India is good enough. Even at 5% growth, various companies and PSUs have vacancies. The only problem is that the number of opportunities becomes fewer and companies emphasise on quality.

I don’t know why we are so apprehensive about placements. Our placement is 100% this year. Our results in various components such as sector, average, CTC, etc are better than last year. I think there is always a requirement and a need for good students. The economy is not buoyant; thus you don’t have a wider choice. Nevertheless, institutions who are admitting bright and competent students won’t face problems.

Secondly, there is a track record of how your students have fared in a particular company. When there was a requirement of 8-12 people, a company might recruit students from IIFT and other institutes. If my students have gone to the company and done well, it will recruit from my institute again. The company may not have a requirement for 6-8 people but they will require 3-4 people. They have a comparative merit system built into their selection process. They will certainly come back to people who are good.

Sectional cut-offs are not a permanent feature in the IIFT test. Why?

From this year, sectional cut-offs will not be an on-off feature in the test. We have started it this year with a very specific view point in mind: a manager is not only skilled in his own subject but should also have an overall knowledge of what is happening in the environment. As a leader, he has to interact with the environment. So we must get students who have that personality and knowledge which is crucial for the globalised scenario today.

Forget about the domestic oriented manager. Big institutes function in a global environment. A person with great deal of knowledge who lacks the skill to market his knowledge is not as successful. Deliberately, we have introduced these sectional cut-offs. We want people with good personality, good knowledge and someone who will interact with the environment and be a leader. Thanks to this, we find that the kinds of candidates we have gotten today are much more grounded and better than before. We are happy about it and we will stick to it.

The IIFT entrance test is one of the few tests which have still not gone online. Why so? Are there any plans of going online?

The Indian Institute of Management (IIMs) have just started online tests. They faced a number of hiccups and problems. The system has to stabilise. At the end of the day, most exams will go online because it is the most economical and logistically efficient system. But the online examination system has to evolve to the extent that it becomes a foolproof system. The students should also be adjusted to this system so they can perform at their best in this mode. It’s a completely different kind of examination system in its thinking and expression.

Online exam has its own shortcomings. Logistically and financially, it might be great but it may not be the best system to gauge the merit of a student. We have definitely thought about shifting to an online exam. However, we want to know whether it is viable to conduct an online standalone test because we want to maintain our distinctiveness. As you know, we have our own test. We don’t go with the Common Admission Test (CAT) because they have lakhs of students taking the test. We have around 50,000 students which is manageable.

So we are looking for a stabilisation and improvement in the online exam system in India.

The CMAT has not faced any technical glitches.

You’re looking only at the technical glitches. I’m looking at whether students are happy doing an online test. Normally, we take feedback after tests. A majority of students are happy with the traditional mode of examination. Gradually, I have seen a shift in this trend. People are getting familiar with it. They use the laptop as a day-to-day gadget to access and communicate.

Secondly, we are only talking about urban students. What about the rural students? Maybe the online test is keeping away a lot of rural talented students. I have no problem with this kind of an exam. I don’t want to give any timeframe to when we may shift to an online exam but we are open to the idea.

What are your views of CMAT? Do you think one single exam will affect IIFT?

One single exam is a good thought because it leads to standardisation. It saves the students’ time as they don’t have to run from one exam to another. But the moment it’s one single exam, you also create a hierarchy of institutions depending on the preference of students. It emerges automatically and this may or may not be the right thing to do.

Once you have a hierarchy, the best students will go to the top institutes. Secondly, you must also realise that certain institutes specialise in certain areas or sectors. We specialise in International Business. There is no other institute in the country which can compete with us on International Business. Most of the courses are hands-on because IIFT was created for that purpose by the HRD Ministry. My question for a single exam is if there is an overall exam, will you get the kind of talent you are looking for?

In my question paper, I will search for talent for International Business. But in CMAT that’s not possible. The second problem is that you create an artificial hierarchy. It will get more institutionalised which is not good.

FMS is using the CAT as their entrance test and says that it hasn’t affected the quality of students in any way. Will the CAT suit your admissions?

Ours is a specialised institution but FMS is not. They are a great institute by their own merit and I recognise that they have a certain emphasis on marketing. But I have a specialised institute. Before I join this overall exam process, I have to think a lot. Till now, my students have been very successful in international business because that is my core competency. I have a commitment to the government and country to develop human resources for international business management. I cannot move away from that.

For me, it is slightly difficult at this stage to take a call whether to join the CMAT, etc or not. But I am not saying an outright ‘no’ as an answer. Probably, we will have further filtration processes which will strain the student. At the moment, things are well balanced. A particular set of institutes are going by CAT. One or two institutes have stand-alone exams and people are not hesitating. I had 40,000 applications last year. It’s not a bad response at all and I am quite happy with the kind of students I am getting.

I won’t like to take a quick call on this but there is always the thought.

Any plans for the future or changes in the institute?

This year, we are not increasing the number of seats because of infrastructure requirements. The moment I increase the number of seats for financial gain, my quality of infrastructure will go down. I don’t want to do that at any cost.

Our new Kolkata campus is likely to be inaugurated by the middle of this year. Probably in Kolkata, we might increase the intake because we have a huge infrastructure which we can utilise judiciously. But I can’t decide right now. Our Kolkata centre will also give us an opportunity to run the MDP programmes. We didn’t have enough space earlier.

In the Tanzania centre, we have 50 part-time students. We are going to introduce a day time course for 60 students on International Business Logistics there. It will be a PG degree course.

Drawing from your experience working in the Government of India, will you add anything to the curriculum?

I’m not only a government officer, I started my career as a teacher. I have a liking for academics and I’m a voracious reader. That is why I chose to be on this job. Since I have worked in commerce and economics, this institute interested me because in India, what we require is human resource development. General education takes the nation to a point but not beyond it. If you really want to have rapid development, you have to train your human resource at a quicker pace and at a better quality. I found that IIFT can provide this education. Therefore, I’m not looking at myself only as a business school churning out MBAs. I am looking at this institution as a knowledge centre for trade, management and development.

Today we require a focussed and elaborate research on various areas of development which very few institutes are doing. Somehow, all institutions are looking at their financial models. Because we are not doing that kind of research, we have not been able to provide those inputs in strategy and policy making, both in the government and the private sector. I think an institution like IIFT should provide those inputs as a knowledge centre.

For example, you want to do business with Latin America and we are thinking in terms of investment. We don’t have enough research or data on how to access the market, its dialectics, what areas we have a comparative advantage in, etc. The private sector cannot generate these kinds of inputs for themselves. It is for institutes like us to do it and we should encourage the private sector. For example, one of the biggest trading in the world is energy trading. Unfortunately, we do not have much research on how India should strategise itself on energy trading. Who will do it? Academic institutions will do it. If you look at developed economies, it is normally the academia that provides such inputs. A leading business school, apart from producing business leaders, has got a distinct role to play as a knowledge centre for development of the policy, strategy and general economy of the country.

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