Karnataka to conduct PGCET for admissions to MBA 2013: AICTE

All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has allowed Karnataka State Government to conduct Postgraduate Common Entrance Test (PGCET) for admissions to Management Courses in private Higher education Institutions.

Putting the onus of holding the PGCET on the State government, AICTE Chairman S.S. Mantha said, “It is up to the State government to take a call,".

In January this year, AICTE has issued a notice that all AICTE affiliated colleges should consider CMAT for management course admissions.

Post the AICTE announcement, M. Prakash, Secretary of Karnataka Private Post Graduate Colleges Association (KPPGCA) said, "If the PGCET is conducted, we are ready to give the usual 50% seats to the government."

Representatives of KPPGCA -– an association of 169 private institutions, also met Higher Education Minister R.V. Deshpande to discuss the issue.

The announcement comes after a recent a Supreme Court order that puts management education out of the purview of the AICTE.

Recently, Supreme Court has ruled that ‘private colleges need not seek approval from the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) to conduct courses in Master of Business Administration (MBA) and Master of Computer Application (MCA) courses at the postgraduate level.’

The order has apparently raised questions over the sanctity of the CMAT as being the only test to get management seats in government institutes across the country and has put students and college management in a tizzy.

However, sources in the higher education department insist that the likelihood of a PGCET being held for MBA is bleak, though a test will be held for MCA and M.Tech admissions. "The general trend is that 70 per cent applicants in PGCET are for MBA, 30 per cent for MCA. But the government will also consider the fact that those students who wrote the CMAT would be at disadvantage if they had to write PGCET again."