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BEGINNING this year Delhi University’s department of financial studies (DFS) and department of business economics (DBE) will conduct a joint entrance exam. Students appearing for the exam will be eligible to apply for a two-year master of finance and control (MFC) programme and two-year master of business economics (MBE) programme for the academic session commencing July 2010.

"Over the years we held separate exams, but maximum candidates applying for both the courses were common. The joint entrance will save time and resources for both departments," said Muneesh Kumar, coordinator, admission and placements, DFS. This is the first time that two departments of the university have agreed to conduct a common exam.

Discussing the joint entrance exam, Kumar says, "Both the departments selected candidates on the basis of four components: quantitative aptitude, verbal ability, reasoning and general economic awareness. These four components will remain the same." Admission will be based on the scores of the joint entrance exam followed by interviews which the departments will conduct separately.

"Going forward we would like to collaborate more with the financial studies department in terms of research and faculty exchange," says Aradhna Aggarwal, associate professor, DBE. "Since the focus of DFE is finance we would like to use the faculty from that department to teach our students and our faculty could help them strengthen economics topics."

Kumar says the exam is a step towards creating synergies between various departments of the university. The university offers a variety of business and finance related courses including the Faculty of Management Studies’ MBA, a master of human resource and organisational development (MHROD) at Delhi School of Economics, and the MFC and MBE. According to Kumar, however, there is not much collaboration between these departments. "The time is not far when Indian universities will be facing competition from foreign universities. It is the market-oriented courses that face the biggest threat. We have realised that we can strengthen these courses by collaborating with different departments. We can’t exist as islands of excellence," he said.

The admission test will be held on March 21 at Delhi, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhopal, Bhubaneshwar, Chandigarh, Chennai, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow and Mumbai. Graduates or postgraduate students (any discipline) with 50% marks are eligible to apply. The prospects and applications forms can be downloaded. Last date for submission of completed application form is February 24.