The autonomous Ernakulam Maharaja’s College is considering a proposal to hold its examinations online from the next academic year.
A decision to revamp the examination system by integrating information and communication technology (ICT) tools will be taken up for a detailed discussion at the next governing council meeting of the college in January.
Confirming the development, chairman of the council P.K. Abdul Azis told The Hindu that the online examination would help in releasing the results in record time. Moreover, the system would also check the delay in publishing the results conducted in the pen-paper format, he said.
Stating that the Boards of Studies would soon come up with question banks in various subjects, Dr. Azis said that teachers could choose question papers from this bank for each examination. The college enjoys the powers to conduct its own examination under the autonomous status accorded to it by the government and Mahatma Gandhi University.
Dr. Azis said that a flexible online examination system would be worked out soon. The college had deputed a faculty member as the Controller of Examinations to chalk out an action plan for revamping the examination and evaluation pattern. The online examination would also ease the burden on teachers, who usually spent a lot of time on valuation of answer sheets in the existing format, he said.
The first governing council meet entrusted the Boards of Studies to initiate discussions on revamping the curriculum for the undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. The college authorities would seek the help of experts from institutes such as IITs, the Indian Institute of Science, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, and the Delhi School of Economics before finalising the revised curriculum. Workshops involving renowned professors from these institutes would be conducted on the campus.
The governing council has urged faculty members to earn their PhDs within five to seven years as part of elevating the academic status of the college. They would be encouraged to secure consultancy and project works funded by national agencies. The laboratories on the campus would also be modernised soon.
