Karnataka Examinations Authority will conduct entrance test for MBA courses

From this year, the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) has been saddled with the responsibility of conducting entrance examinations for the masters in business administration (MBA) courses for colleges that fall under the Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU).The KEA will also conduct entrance examinations for admission to masters in technology and computer applications courses. Until now, the responsibility for conducting the entrance tests for these courses was with the VTU. The state higher education department, in an official order, notified this change.

Sources in the KEA confirmed this and said, We have received orders from the higher education department, and we will take further action.KEA officials said that the plan is to conduct the entrance tests in the first week of July.Results would be announced by the second week of July, and counselling sessions for joining the courses could begin from the third week of July, said a source.Every year, according to statistics available from VTU, nearly 25,000 candidates apply for the MBA course, and the MTech course receives nearly 15,000 applicants.The demand for the MBA course is higher, even though the number of seats available is only about 8,000,a source said.At least initially, the KEA does not plan to have counselling sessions for any of these courses outside Bangalore.For all the courses, the counselling will be conducted only in Bangalore, at the KEA, Malleswarm. We will think of extending counselling services to other centres next year, a source said.VTU authorities, however, admitted to this reporter that they were far from pleased by this move of the higher education department. An official from the higher education department explained,This is not merely a matter of the prestige of the university. We want the entire admission process to be transparent.