The University of Kerala is planning to rope in Keltron for its project to automate the examination wing. An overhaul of the examination mechanism, with priority on integrating IT-enabled services, is also on the cards.
Proposals based on suggestions generated at a recent workshop, organised by the International Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC) of the university, are being considered for the purpose. While they have been ratified by the Syndicate, the approval of the State government has been sought prior to implementation.
Efforts are apace to automate the examination wing through a ‘life cycle management system,’ in which every student, teacher, institution, and course have a unique ID and all processes, ranging from student enrolment to the issuance of degree certificates, are integrated.
It has been proposed to develop a web-based software for the examination management system. Besides, documents, including the transcript of marks, official transcript, percentage, and rank certificates are proposed to be system-generated. The IQAC has also recommended making online the other components of the examination process, including matriculation, registering malpractice cases, percentage of attendance for each semester, collection of fee details, issuance of mark lists and degree certificates.
Administrative steps too have been mooted, on the lines of the successful models adopted by the University of Pune, which has many similarities with the Kerala University in terms of intake and number of courses.
It has been recommended to fix the minimum number of papers to be valued by teachers every day at 60, similar to the practice in the University of Pune. At the undergraduate level in Kerala University, the present figure is 30.
Suggesting stricter norms for valuation, the report submitted to the Syndicate says that only genuine requests from teachers for exemption from valuation duties should be entertained, that too with proper substitution. A separate panel of teachers must be prepared for revaluation.
Terming the existing process of false numbering of answer books primitive, the report calls for replacing it with bar-coding of answer books as done in the A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Technological University.
