Since its inception in 1963, the National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE), Mumbai, has crossed significant milestones. It has established itself as a pioneer in the field of industry-specific research and teaching. NITIE has an industry-institute interaction cell which undertakes various useful studies, including benchmarking. As a result, postgraduate degrees from this institute are rated highly by the industry.

Apart from the postgraduate diploma in industrial management (PGDIM), NITIE also offers a postgraduate diploma in industrial engineering (PGDIE), a postgraduate diploma in industrial safety and environmental management as well as fellowship programmes.

The application form can be obtained from the institute’s admission cell or can be downloaded from the website (www.nitie.edu). A demand draft of Rs 1,000 (Rs 500 for SC/ST/PD candidates), drawn in favour of NITIE MUMBAI, has to be sent to the National Institute of Industrial Engineering, Vihar Lake, Mumbai-400087 along with the filled-in form, before the end of November.

Eligibility

For the postgraduate diploma in industrial management, candidates need a bachelors degree in any branch of engineering / technology or equivalent with a first division (five per cent concession for SC/ST candidates). Students appearing for their final degree examination are also eligible if they can submit the final year marksheet and the provisional certificate. If they do not get a first division, their admission stands cancelled.

Entrance exam

Selection to PGDIM is based on the candidate’s performance in the Common Admission Test (CAT), group discussion and personal interview. Due weightage is also given to scholastic achievements and work experience. CAT is held every year in December and is conducted by the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs).

Pattern of exam

CAT is a multiple-choice written exam designed to test the candidate’s ability and aptitude to study management. It consists of questions in areas such as quantitative reasoning, verbal skills, reading comprehension and data interpretation.

How to prepare

The questions in the quantitative ability section are designed to test the reasoning skills of candidates rather than their computational skills. You could consult Quantitative and Verbal Ability by Arun Sharma, CAT Guide by Mohd Munir and Quantitative Ability by R.S. Agarwal.

The questions in the data interpretation section evaluate a candidate’s skill at analysing given information. Data sufficiency questions in this section are based on basic mathematics (at times data sufficiency is a part of the quantitative ability section). Candidates will find Data Interpretation by Arun Sharma useful.

CAT usually has six to eight passages in the reading comprehension section, with about 50 questions which have to be answered in 30 minutes. You could go through the Barrons, Princeton or Kaplan guides for this section and develop speed reading techniques.

The questions in the verbal ability section typically comprise sentence correction, sentence sequencing and verbal reasoning. Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension for CAT by Arun Sharma is a good guide.

sample test paper

Quantitative analysis

The price of an article was Rs 25. After two successive cuts, the second cut being one more than the first (in percentage), it now costs Rs 22.80. By how much was the price cut each time?
a) 3% and 4%
b) 4% and 5%
c) 2% and 3%
d) 2½% and 3½%

P, Q and R are pipes attached to a cistern. P and Q can fill it in 10 and 15 minutes respectively while R can empty it in 20 minutes. If P, Q and R are kept open successively for one minute each, find the least integral number of minutes required for the cistern to get filled.

English

Choose the one word or phrase which would best keep the meaning of the original sentence, if it were substituted for the underlined word. Epicureans live for the gratification of their senses.
a) removal
b) repression
c) contentment
d) mortification
e) none of these

The antonym of desist is
a) protest
b) persist
c) insist
d) resis