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IIM-Rohtak Director, Dheeraj Sharma has proposed the idea to set up a CAT Corporation to conduct CAT in Indian and Foreign Languages. Find out what he has to say about it.
Dheeraj Sharma, the director of IIM-Rohtak has suggested scheduling the CAT exam in both, Indian as well as Foreign languages. He further proposed conducting the B-school entrance examination, multiple times a year. The director said that CAT can be made as an international exam and languages such as Arabic, Burmese, Nepalese, Persian, Sinhalese and Thai can be included to attract international students. He believes that doing so would motivate them to take up a management programme in India.
As per the director, ‘CAT corporation’ can be created by the Indian Institutes of Management. The corporation can be housed by any one of the IIMs and chaired regularly by each one of them. At present, the CAT exam is held in just the English language. Sharma, the director of IIM-Rohtak said that CAT corporation has the potential of becoming an international organisation if CAT turns into a multilingual exam. He also claimed that doing so would make it easy for international institutes of the neighbouring countries of India to use the CAT scores.
As per the reports, in December 2020, Sharma had raised the idea of holding CAT in multiple regional languages, however, only three IIMs responded to the proposal saying that no such discussion is likely to take place. The Rohtak director highlighted that making CAT, a multilingual exam would improve the Indian economy, especially in rural and semi-urban areas as comprehending the regional language and context will act as an additional asset for the management graduates.
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Prof MP Ram Mohan who is also the Chairperson of Admissions, IIM-Ahmedabad stated that CAT is a joint exercise that is hosted by a group of 6 IIMs. Holding the exam in regional languages requires the availability of faculty and staff at IIMs, capacity and competence. Mohan said no hasty decision can be taken on this matter as it requires a discussion from the end of all the concerned parties.
Dheeraj Sharma elaborated on the subject and said that the English language is a skill that can be polished by the IIM system. He said that considering it as the mandatory criteria would exclude a lot of talented candidates from participating in the exam who do not possess that skill. The director said the authorities can take up the initiative by adding only a few scheduled languages to the CAT exam at first. More languages can be added or deducted from the same after gauging at the response of the applicants.
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Bhimaraya Metri, who is the director of IIM-Nagpur shared his opinion by saying that the National Education Policy stresses on lowering entry barriers for all and enabling access to quality education. Hence, the ultimate objective is to ensure that language does not act as a barrier to ensure higher education.
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