IIM-Sambalpur to conduct online exam of first year MBA students

Bhubaneswar: The Indian Institute of Management, Sambalpur (IIM-S) has decided to conduct the end term examinations of the first-year MBA students using the online proctoring system in view of the COVID-19 lockdown.

This will be the first-of-its-kind initiative taken by any IIM across the country.  The batch of 2019-2021 had to leave campus and return home before their examination started due to the lockdown.

Speaking on implementing the innovative digital solutions for both prospective and present students, Prof Mahadeo Jaiswal, Director, IIM Sambalpur, stated, “Although our major admission process as part of CAP 2020 along with the other IIM’s were completed before lockdown, however for the remaining process for around 400 candidates, we had to adopt online proctoring systems for Written Ability Test (WAT) and Online VC for Personal Interview (PI).” 

“We also had to postpone the end term exam of MBA first year due to lockdown and now we have decided to conduct that through the same process as well. Students can appear for the tests by logging in through their laptop/desktop at their home in different parts of the country,” he added.

About 100 students will be appearing for the term end exam of 10-12 subjects. This system of conducting tests online allows more transparency in the process.

The third-party online proctoring portal will serve only as a platform for the students to appear and give the examination. The questions will be set by the faculty of IIM Sambalpur and the answer scripts will be scrutinised by them as well.

IIM Sambalpur also announced the successful completion of 100% Summer Placements for the Fifth Batch (2019-21) of its flagship MBA programme.

With more than 85 companies participating in the on-campus Summer Internship placement process for a batch strength of 95 students, this year concluded with one of the best placement seasons beating previous years’ records.

The institute has witnessed a highly coveted pool of first-time recruiters and the noteworthy mentions are Boston Consulting Group, Google, Walmart, McDonald’s, Amul, Aditya Birla Fashion & Retail (Pantaloons), Bajaj Allianz General and Life Insurance, Bajaj Finserv, DSM Group, Ernst&Young, IBM, Justdial, Jubilant Life Sciences, KPMG, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Reserve Bank of India, SIDBI, Tata Steel BSL, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), V Guard among many others.

The influx of recruiters saw an increase of over 40% this year providing opportunities in multiple domains viz., Advertising, Apparel, Automobile, Analyst, BFSI, Chemicals, Consulting, Consumer Goods & Services, E-Commerce, Edu-tech, Financial Services, FMCG, Insurance, IT/ITES, Mining, Pharmaceuticals, and Retail.