Automation of Administration of Examination is Now Easy

The efficiency and exactitude in carrying out administrative work associated with administration of examinations hold a University in high esteem.  This is more relevant in the case of Universities that have large number of colleges affiliated to them.  Though many IT firms have come forward with digital solutions for the governance part of University Examinations, most of them have failed to prove well-tailored to the user's requirements.

A System for Automated Governance of Examinations (SAGE) has been developed by the Computer Centre of University of Kerala for complete automation of all stages of the administrative aspect of examinations. The procedure for governance of examinations has been thoroughly revamped and simplified, based on a model, which numerically represents all examination-related events of this century. New procedures for all the stages from course design to issue of degree certificates have been prescribed and digital solutions provided.

Using the new model, the system ensures exactitude and timeliness in examination governance. The contributions of IT during the last two decades have been fully utilised for all stages viz. the realisation of online registration to online delivery of mark sheets. The provision given for recruiting agencies to verify the genuineness of University degrees on Internet and the instantaneous progress reports made available to the students are some of the remarkable features of this system. All the sections of the examination wing have been made “pen less”. Statistically significant observations on awarding internal assessment marks are also made. The system has been in use for the last 5 years for all the major examinations of University of Kerala. The number of grievances coming to the examination sections has been drastically brought down. The labour productivity has increased by nearly 3 times after the installation of this system. In 2009 another project named “SWEET” (System for Web-Enabled Exam Transactions) was successfully implemented. It enabled all communications between affiliated colleges and University office to be “paper less” by this system.

Benefits of SAGE System

• Improvement in Productivity: timely announcement of the result (within seven days after the evaluation)

• Any Time Information System (ATI): enabling students to get examination related information on Internet

• Official transcript and mark lists are available on the Internet

• Recruiting agencies can verify genuineness of degrees certificates of the candidates

• Timely announcement of revaluation results (within 45 days)

• Interactive website to communicate with University (through the University web portal)

• Information through Interactive Voice Response System (by just entering the registration number on telephone) services through web portal

The System for Automated Governance of Examinations developed for the complete automation of the Examination Wing of Universities has been on a trial run in the University of Kerala. The results have been quite encouraging and the principles of design as a whole can be replicated in other parts of the country as well. The unique aspect of this automated system is that though it makes use of the latest technologies available today, the cost of implementation is considerably low compared to any other system of comparable quality available now. Moreover, as the University owns the source code of the software, any modification in it can be made at any time, without depending on other organisations. This model of IT enabling ensures that new employment opportunities are generated either inside or near the organisation that is modernised.