RESTON, VA and GURGAON, INDIA--(Marketwired - March 11, 2015) - The Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC®) today announced that it will assume ownership and management of the NMAT™ exam in India from the Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS). The exam will be retitled the NMAT by GMAC™ exam.
The deal marks a new stage in GMAC's participation in the India graduate management admissions market and complements the presence of the organization's GMAT exam. Through this acquisition, GMAC strengthens its mission of supporting quality management education. Assuming ownership of the NMAT exam provides GMAC with new opportunities to partake in efforts to improve the accessibility of admissions to graduate management programs by encouraging participation of a deeper and more diverse candidate pool in India.
"We see great opportunity in the Indian management education marketplace, which is one of the most dynamic education markets in the world," said Sangeet Chowfla, president and CEO of GMAC. "Our purchase of the NMAT exam furthers GMAC's mission to help build the study of management education locally, regionally and globally, and to make admissions more relevant, accessible and successful for additional candidates."
Chowfla continued, "I want to thank NMIMS, and particularly Dr. Rajan Saxena, for making the NMAT the quality exam it is today. I applaud them -- and others -- for the work they have done in making Indian graduate management education the source of student opportunity it is today. NMIMS has played an important role -- along with many of GMAC's other member schools in India -- in developing a society, an education and business sector and a national policy making sector, that value and support management education as a path to individual, societal and national success."
Dr. Rajan Saxena, vice chancellor of NMIMS University, added, "Over the last two decades since NMAT was conceived and launched, the test has become more candidate friendly and has steadily grown, especially after it evolved from paper pencil mode to computer-based. Our vision is to develop the NMAT into an industry standard test for India's business schools. GMAC is a non-profit association of the world's leading business schools that has developed outstanding products and admission processes that benefit Indian schools as well. At NMIMS, we share GMAC's vision of creating an admission test for the Indian management education market that makes management programs accessible to a more diverse pool of candidates. This collaboration would not have been possible without the commitment of the GMAC leadership team, in particular, GMAC President and CEO Sangeet Chowfla."
GMAC also is pleased to announce that -- along with the graduate management programs of NMIMS -- Alliance University, SRM University, BML Munjal University, VIT University, ICFAI Business School (IBS) and Ansal University have chosen to accept the NMAT by GMAC exam for admissions to their graduate management programs.
GMAC will continue speaking with other private universities and schools in India about adopting the NMAT by GMAC for admissions to their programs. GMAC's goal is to fortify the NMAT by GMAC as a premier and preferred admissions exam for Indian graduate management institutions.
For students, the NMAT by GMAC and the process of taking the exam will remain the same. GMAC plans to improve some aspects of score reporting to schools that accept the NMAT by GMAC, and will, in subsequent years, incorporate additional features that will enhance the test-taker experience.
The NMAT by GMAC exam will be offered between October and December 2015, as previously scheduled, and registration will commence in July 2015. GMAC will continue to work with Pearson VUE -- GMAC's global partner for delivery of the GMAT exam -- to administer the exam. Pearson VUE has been delivering the NMAT exam since 2009, in partnership with NMIMS.
About GMAC: The Graduate Management Admission Council (gmac.com) is a nonprofit education organization of leading graduate business schools and owner of the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT exam), used by more than 6,100 graduate business and management programs worldwide -- along with other products designed to help students find, connect and apply and gain admittance to business and management programs around the world. GMAC is based in Reston, Va., and has regional offices in London, New Delhi and Hong Kong. The GMAT exam -- the only standardized test designed expressly for graduate business and management programs worldwide -- is continuously available at 600 test centers in 113 countries. More information about the GMAT exam is available at mba.com. For more information about GMAC, please visit gmac.com/newscenter.