XLRI and XAT

XLRI- Xaviers School of Management was founded in 1949, and is one of the most prestigious B- school of the country. Every year, lakh of students run in the race to get into this institute for its management programs. The institute hold Xaviers Aptitude Test (XAT) every year to shortlist students for its offered MBA programs. XLRI is accredited by the london based Association of MBAs (AMBAs) and was ranked 4th among the top 91 b- schools in the country.

This year, XAT 2017 exam will be conducted on 8 January 2017. The registrations for the exam began on 17 August 2016 and the registrations will end on 30 November 2016. The admit card will be available from 20 December 2016 onwards for download. Candidates can download the admit card from the official site of XAT by logging on via their registered email id and password.

XLRI started by offering courses for administration and trade unions in 1949 preceding setting up a two-year, full-time program in mechanical welfare in 1953. In 1955 it went up against the name Xavier Labor Relations Institute, and turned into India's most established business administration school. The Jesuit-oversaw school offers various projects: a full-time, 2-year, post-graduate system in Business Management, Personnel Management, and Industrial Relations (renamed Human Resources Management in 2011); Global Business Management; a 15-month, full-time, General Management program (PGDM- GM); a doctoral kindred system (FPM); and a few official training programs including a three-years, low maintenance program in Business Management for Working Executives and Business Owners.

The Director is Fr. E. Abraham, the Dean of Academics is Dr. Ashis Kumar Pani, and Fr. S. George, S.J., is the Dean of Administration. The Associate Dean of projects is Dr. Santanu Sarkar, Associate Dean of Student Affairs is Fr Antony Uvari and Associate Dean of Corporate Programs is Dr. M.G. Jomon. The Chairman of the Board of Governors is Mr. T.V. Narendran. The Board incorporates Rajive Kaul (Chairman of NICCO Corporation Ltd.), Sumit Mazumder (President of Confederation of Indian Industry and Chairman and Managing Director of TIL Ltd.), and Rekha M Menon (Managing Director-HR, Accenture), Subodh Bhargava (Chairman of Tata Communications Ltd.), and others.

XAT exam consists of five sections namely the Verbal and Logical Ability, Decision Making, Quantitative Ability and Data Interpretation, General Knowledge and Essay writing. The total time afor the test is 210 minutes and it is an objective type pen- paper based test. All questions carry equal marks and one fourth of the marks will be deducted for every incorrect answer. Also, o.o5 marks will be deducted for unattempted questions. However, this will be applicable for 13 unattempted questions. Hence, one cannot just guess the answers and this makes XAT one of the toughest exams. The difficulty level of the paper has been kept in such a way, that no one section is too difficult to solve.

Once the result is out, the final selection process of different b- schools will begin. The selection procedure of XLRI is a two step process. The shortlisting of candidates are done on the basis of the score in the first part of the test. The general knowledge section score is not considered in this shortlisting, however the score of this section will be considered in the final selection procedure. There will be a group discussion and a personal interview session for the final selection procedure. The final shortlisting score of the candidates will be the combination of their XATscore, group discussion score and the personal interview score. MICA conducts group exercises in lieu of group discussions.

The institute offers the following the programs:

General Management Programme (PGDM-GM) – 15 months

Business Management (BM) – 2 years

Human Resource Management (HRM) – 2 years

Global Business Management (Global BM) – 2 years

Fellow Programme in Management (FPM) – 4 years

Masters Program in Positive Organization Development & Change (MPOD), offered jointly by XLRI Jamshedpur and Case Western Reserve University's Weatherhead School of Management (Cleveland, USA) - 15 months [7]

Executive Fellow Programme in Management (Exec-FPM)

Executive Post Graduate Programmes (Exec-PGP) in India, Dubai, and Singapore – 3 years

Post Graduate Programme for Certificate in Entrepreneurship Management (PGP-CEM)

Post Graduate Certification in Agri-Business Management (PGCABM) – 6 months (Ikisan Ltd. and XLRI Joint Management Program)

Post Graduate Certification in Business Management (PGCBM) – 12 months

Post Graduate Certification in Logistics and Supply Chain Management (PGCLSCM) – 12 months

Post Graduate Certification in Human Resource Management (PGCHRM) – 12 months

Post Graduate Certification in Retail Management (PGCRM) – 12 months

Post Graduate Certification in Sales & Marketing Management (PGCSMM) – 12 moths

Executive Diploma Programme in Human Resource Management – 12 months

Post Graduate Diploma in Business Management (PGDBM) in Singapore

General Management Programme for Defence Personnel

Management Development Programmes

International Student Exchange Programme

Aspirants who are interested in attempting the exam, may apply for the same now as the registration window is open. One can log on to the official site of XAT and apply online. The application process will only be complete once the application fees has been paid.