There has been a significant increase in the number of women as well as students from non-engineering stream to apply for the Common Admission Test (CAT) for the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) even as the total number of applicants for CAT was an all time high of 2,18,664, in the past five years.
Interestingly, the number of female candidates in the applicant pool has increased from 59,211 in 2014 to 69,176 in 2015 - an increase of 17 per cent. There is also a significant increase in the number of candidates from non-engineering background from 37 per in 2014 to 46 per cent in 2015.
“We have been striving to bring diversity to our classrooms and these changes should reflect in the next Post Graduate Programme in Management Course at IIM-Ahmedabad. I am sure we would see an increase in diversity for other IIMs as well. We also see the diversity reflected in the number of transgender applicants, which stands at 80,” said Prof Tathagat Bandyopadhyay, convener, CAT- 2015.
There has been a 26 per cent increase in the number of registrations from Maharashtra (6,973), the highest increase among all States, followed by Uttar Pradesh (2,181, about 9 per cent), and Telangana (1,909, about 23 per cent).
One of the reasons for the substantial increase in registrations in Maharashtra could be attributed to the setting up of IIM Nagpur. “It is heartening to note a 16 per cent (457) increase in the number of registrations from the North-Eastern States of India,” Prof Bandopadhyay said.
CAT registration deadline was extended from September 20 to September 25 - similar to the 5-day extension offered in 2014 - resulting in 35,632 more registrations during this 5-day window.