BHOPAL: The charm of management schools are gradually fading away, at least in the state capital. Techies especially the engineering graduates are slowly reversing the trend of making a beeline at B- schools and instead are focusing on higher studies in Engineering and related fields.

The figures of aspirants who registered for the recently held Common Aptitude Test (CAT) also suggest that engineering students are now keen to purse GATE, (Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering). TOI looked into the issue and tried to find a reason for this migration of interest among students

Last year the enrolment for the CAT and other management schools from the city was over 8,000 but this year the numbers have dropped rapidly to around 5,000.that is almost a 40 percent drop. There has been a major shift towards GATE from CAT due to the large fee for MBA studies. More and more engineering students from the city are moving away from MBA (Masters in Business Administration) because there has been a fee hike in most of the management institutes. Also the job scenario abroad is bleak following the economic crisis. Hence students are looking for other options. other than appearing for CAT.

The GATE enrolment figures shows that last year there were about five lakh candidates appearing for GATE while this year the number has more than doubled as over 11 lakh registrations have been reported across the country. Currently even PSUs like ONGC, BHEL, IOCL etc. require a GATE score from the applicants for the jobs.

The stipend of Rs 15,000 the students receive on clearing GATE and while pursuing M.Tech is an added attraction to most. MBA course on the other hand offers no such stipend and burns a big hole in the students' pockets.

In fact, the eligibility criteria for GATE has changed this year. For the 2012 exam, only final year students are eligible but previously even third year engineering students used to apply for the GATE exam as the GATE score was valid for two years.