Reforms introduced in Calicut University to speed up the issuance of degree certificates have embarrassed the university with hundreds of certificates being returned for correction.
While some B.Com. students were given BBA degrees, a nursing student got MBBS degree. There are several cases of BA students getting B.Sc. and B.Com. degrees and vice versa. Mistakes in names and subjects are aplenty.
Officials point out that it is first time in the history of the university that such a huge number of degree certificates are returned for correction.
The mistakes have been apparently ascribed to the digitisation reforms, which eliminate several points of checking and cross-checking.
Earlier, the certificate prepared by the section concerned used to be sent to the hologram section, from where it would be sent back for another round of checking.
The certificate was checked by several officials, including the Controller of Examinations, before the Vice Chancellor signed on it.
The signed certificate used to be checked again by the section concerned before it was sent to the dispatch section.
But the reforms have done away with all those gates of checking. The certificate prepared by the section concerned is today sent to the hologram section, from where it goes online to the Vice Chancellor’s office.
The certificate is printed there after placing the VC’s digital signature on it, and sent directly to the students.
University authorities admit that some mistakes have happened, but it saved a lot of time and energy. But, according to employees and teachers on the campus, the time and the energy the university has saved could not salvage the damage it did to its reputation.
Digitisation eliminates cross-checking in Calicut University, and among many gaffes,
a nursing student
is issued MBBS certificate.
