Integrated online system for all Maharashtra universities from November

System to cover admission, holding exams, online assessment; agriculture varsities to be left out

After the mess in Mumbai University (MU) over the delays in declaring exam results, the Maharashtra government has prepared a digital automation system called Integrated University Management System (IUMS), which is expected to be implemented from November — the second semester of the academic year. The government will start using the digital platform for a few courses in the beginning on a pilot basis and will gradually include the rest of the courses by the next academic year for a smoother transition.

After the University of Mumbai chose to opt for On-Screen Marking (OSM) last year, there had been unprecedented delay in announcing results. (REPRESENTATIONAL PHOTO/HT FILE)

The issue was discussed in detail in the joint board of vice-chancellors (JBVC) meeting headed by the governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao on Saturday. The JBVC also gave its approval to the plan. A presentation on IUMS was also made by SVR Srinivas, secretary, information technology (IT) department, said a senior official from state higher and technical education department. Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis was also present for the meeting.

IUMS has been prepared by the Directorate of Information Technology (DIT), which works under the state IT department as a solution to all the issues being faced by non-agricultural universities of the state, including MU. It will provide an end-to end solution to universities right from admission of students, conducting examinations, online assessment on answer papers, declaring results in a digital format. The system will also enable the state government to monitor functioning of these universities.

“The complete automation digital system will have different modules related to students, faculty, administration and academic issues. It will provide end-to-end solutions and most importantly, the architecture of the system has been designed in a decentralised manner for each and every university,” said a senior official from the IT department.

The IT department has now suggested that the universities form working groups comprising representatives of students, teachers and others for each faculty of each university in the next 15 days to help the DIT identify requirements as per their needs and accordingly, additions or changes in the system will be made, he added.

Last year, exam results were delayed for more than five months as MU adopted the OSM system for online assessment of answer papers and it could not trace answer booklets. The same was repeated this year when MU conducted 402 exams for all final degree courses and it was found that around 2,000 answer booklets were untraceable. Later, MU clarified that the number of results held in reserve has now been reduced to hundreds.