The government-appointed Administrator of Annamalai University said reforms were introduced in the conduct of entrance examinations for admission to professional courses in the institution.
Addressing a press conference on the university premises at Chidambaram on Saturday, Shiv Das Meena said that for the first time in the 84-year-history of the university OMR (optical mark recognition) answer sheets would be introduced in the entrance examinations for admission to MBBS, BDS, B.Pharmacy, BPT, BE, B.Sc (Agriculture) and B.Sc (Horticulture) courses. As the OMR would be scanned by the computer, it would ensure fair, speedy and accurate correction of answer sheets without giving any room for human error or oversight.
Such a system has been in vogue in entrance tests being conducted for admission to National Institutes of Technology and in the Joint Entrance Examinations.
Another reformation would be made in the issue of hall tickets. The photographs and signatures of the candidates, as found in the applications, would be scanned, and both the images would be transferred to the hall tickets. Mirror images of hall tickets would be handed over to the invigilators for the purpose of cross verification and to ensure the authenticity of the candidates.
Mr. Meena further noted that the response from the candidates for the entrance examinations, scheduled to be held on June 7, 8 and 9, in the past few days was quite overwhelming, as the university received, on an average, 800 applications.
Therefore, it had been decided to extend the last date for receiving the filled in applications from May 28 to May 30, he said.
