While 20,000 engineering students anxiously wait to start their careers with job offers, Anna University took the decision to conduct the semester-end exams for the final year students, which will be proctored online, by the ending of the month. Anna University is the first university of the state to flow with the decision with conducting exams online amid the viral crisis. Students who lack resources, such as devices and internet connectivity, will have a choice to take offline exams at a later date. Since the final exams validate the degrees and provide help with early boarding recruitment of students, the exams are treated very crucial.
The proctoring test is supposed to be conducted for an hour, separately for every subject, in the form of multiple-choice questions. Artificial intelligence tools will keep a track of physical movements of candidates, audio, and usage of the computer screens to prevent possible malpractices. The university has proposed tender inviting bids for conduction of the test, which is supposedly estimated at Rs. 1.9cr, including students from affiliated colleges and relevant university departments.
Vice-chancellor of Anna University, M. K. Surappa stated that the decision to conduct the online exam is taken to protect the future of the students, as it will give credibility to their degrees and facilitate early on-boarding as well as higher studies. Seeing that there has been a loss of working days, portions could not be completed, therefore, the university will drop one out of five units for each subject. As commented by Surappa, a weightage of 30% will be given to online tests while 70% weightage will be given on internal assessments and project submissions by the students.
The autonomous colleges, when inquired, also gave firm statements about their plans and strategies of online tests for final year students. The University Grant Commission has instructed that exams for the final year must be conducted, online or offline, a move which was challenged in Supreme Court. However, academicians say that professional course under-graduates, like B.Tech, B.E, need other forms of assessment prior to graduation.
The state government has promoted all batches of students to their respective next year without exams other than the final year students. They have also written to the Ministry of Human Resource Development for cancellation of final year exams which has yet to receive a response.
President of Private Educational Institutions Employees Association, K. M. Karthik said that there has been a collection of fees for the canceling of exams; therefore, they mustn’t collect fees for the next semester exams. However, officials of the university responded stating the approval of state government with collecting exam fees.
Also See: New Norms Regarding Online Classes in Pune University
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