In our previous article on online MBA coaching websites, we saw how sites such as Test Funda, TCYOnline, and topCATcoaching.com are gaining popularity among MBA aspirants across the country. In the second series, we at MBAUniverse.com examine how they can help MBA aspirants crack CAT 2009, and land a seat in their dream MBA schools.

Kai Peters, Dean and Director, Ashridge Business School, United Kingdom, has been selected as 2009-10 chair of the Board of Directors for the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC). Peters, whose term of office runs through July 1, 2010, leads a 14-member board that includes representatives from academy and industry in 19 countries. The board sets strategic goals and guides the non-profit education organization, which has a membership of 177 leading graduate business schools worldwide.

The Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB) is taking a leap into the digital world! It has roped in US based technology company SunGard to create a digital campus which will help increase efficiencies in course administration, improve student services, and enhance capabilities for collaboration with other MBA institutions. IIM B has selected SunGard Higher Educations Banner Unified Digital Campus (UDC) solution.

All India Management Association (AIMA) is organizing the eighth National HRM Summit on Positioning HR to Create Value: Achieving Speed and Scale on August 7, 8 in New Delhi. Mr. Yogi Sriram, Executive Vice President (HR and Administrative Services) of Larsen and Toubro Ltd (E&C) will be the Summit Director.

The announcement by the IIMs that CAT 2009 will be a computer-based test sent a majority of the MBA aspirants across India into a state of frenzy. Until last year MBA aspirants used to take the traditional paper and pencil pattern of CAT for getting into their dream MBA schools. But ever since the announcement, MBA aspirants have been running amuck in order to get their queries answered on how to go about the CAT 2009 computer-based test. Sensing the gap, many online MBA coaching and testing portals have come up to cash in on the rising demand of online testing.

Sunil Chopra, currently the senior associate dean for curriculum and teaching at Northwestern Universitys Kellogg School of Management, has been named interim dean of the Kellogg School. He takes over from Prof Dipak C Jain, who will step down as the dean on September 1, 2009.

Management (SJMSOM) IIT Bombay, is organizing Finance and Marketing Continuums 2009 on July 18 and July 19, 2009. Continuum is a rolling seminar series that is organized every year by the students of the MBA School -- SJMSOM, IIT Bombay. Each Continuum brings together eminent speakers from the industry as well as the academia and focuses on issues and challenges faced by management functions.

The Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneshwar (XIMB), organized its annual summit Arthashastra, a budget discussion forum conducted by X-Fin, the Finance Club of XIMB, on July 11, 2009.
The event was graced by eminent speakers like Prof Abhijit Sen (Member, Planning Commission of India), FR Joseph (Director, RBI, Eastern Region), Prof Pulin Nayak, (Delhi School of Economics), Jitendra Balakrishnan (DMD, IDBI Bank, Mumbai), Joyant Nayak (Energy Consulting Division, Feedback Ventures) and Rashmi Ranjan Das (Additional Commissioner, Income Tax) among others.

T.A. Pai Management Institute (TAPMI) Manipal inducted a new batch of 120 students in the Post Graduate Diploma in Management program for the session 2009-11. TAPMI also introduced the new batch to the MBA program in a formal way through a week-long orientation program organized at the institute between July 6 and 11, 2009.

The CII will be organizing the National Conference on Skill Development 2009 - Strengthening the Delivery System with the theme of Understanding the National Skills Policy on August 4, 2009, at New Delhi. Talking about the conference, the CII said, This conference is an attempt towards introducing the policy to the various stakeholders. The key objectives of the conference are to understand the ethos ad concepts, identify stakeholder roles for ensuring delivery and to ensure quality and relevance.