Kolkata: The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) have decided to use CAT 2011 as part of the selection process of their MBA and management programmes from the 2012-13 academic year.

The Joint Management Entrance Test (JMET) previously used for admission by the IITs and the IISc stands discontinued, according to an IIM media release here.

The decision was taken after a recent review revealed that the relatively young JMET is not too dissimilar to CAT, and that the effort to organise JMET each year seemed enormous in relation to the approximately 40,000 candidates who took the test each year.

"The intersection of candidates who take both CAT and JMET in a single year is quite large. The decision to use CAT for admission into the IITs and IISc will minimize the test preparation and financial burden on candidates," the release quoted L.S. Ganesh, former head of the IIT-Madras management department, as saying.

The five original IITs - Kharagpur, Bombay, Madras, Kanpur and Delhi - as also IIT-Roorkee are among India's earliest institutions to have offered postgraduate and research programmes in management since the 1960s.

"CAT is an ideal fit for IITs as it is a well-evolved, established, standardized and widely accepted entrance exam for admission into PG programmes in management in India," Ganesh said.

"This is a major initiative that brings two premier higher education systems together. We anticipate that this will result in closer tie-ups and collaborative research work that will provide both sets of institutions a competitive edge in the long run," CAT 2011 convenor Janakiraman Moorthy said.

CAT 2011 will be conducted over a 20-day window Oct 22-Nov 18 across 36 cities. IANS