CAT Going Online - IIMs to outsource the Exam

After facing criticism over errors and leaking of exam questions ahead of the common admission test (CAT), an all-India test conducted by the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) as an entrance exam for their much-soughtafter management programmes, IIMs are now looking to outsource the exam to a global testing company.

The institutes, which have rolled out the process for inviting tenders from companies for conducting CAT, have already shortlisted four companies, two of which command strong presence in global testing market.

The companies in the race are ETS Prometric, Eduquity Ventures, Attest and Pearson VUE (Virtual University Enterprises).

While ETS Prometric is a US-based company that handles global exams, such as the graduate record examination (GRE) and test of English as a foreign language (TOEFL) for admission to universities and colleges in the US, Pearson VUE of Pearson Plc., based in the UK, is the sole testing partner worldwide for tests such as the graduate management aptitude test (GMAT) and Cisco Corp.’s certification exam.

Of the two Indian companies in the bidding process, Bangalore-based Eduquity Ventures currently conducts Bitsat for the Birla Institute of Technology, Pilani, and Attest is a testing division of Aptech Ltd, a company that deals in computer training and courseware.

The four companies have been selected after a March pre-qualification notice.

About 30 companies had placed initial bids.

Hoping to make CAT an online test by 2009, IIMs are currently working on the tender document for the process. >>> Read Complete news at Livemint