Centre at BU for digital evaluation of answer sheets

Bangalore University will digitally evaluate the answer sheets of all examinations by the end of this year. The ambitious project will help it cut down the evaluation budget by over 90%, from Rs 2.5 crore a year to just about Rs 20 lakh.

The university is setting up an exclusive centre where the answer sheets of engineering and science courses will be digitally assessed at the end of the even-semester exams next month. By the end of this year, the digital evaluation will cover all the courses offered by BU. In effect, the university will no longer physically evaluate the answer sheets.

BU is setting up the Model Digital Evaluation Centre in association with Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) on two acres of land next to the upcoming Jnanabharathi metro station at a cost of Rs 10 crore. The centre will house 50 guest rooms, seminar halls, training rooms among other things.

BU and VTU signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to this effect on Friday. While both the universities will use the centre, BU will have to buy the evaluation software for Rs 25 lakh from VTU which pioneered the digital evaluation way back in 2012.

Venugopal described the deal as a win-win situation for both the universities. VTU is expected to use the centre to digitally evaluate its answer sheets, he added.

University Visvesvaraya College Of Engineering (UVCE), the lone engineering college under BU, had adopted digital evaluation in 2008 but the experiment failed due to technical snags. Asked how will BU, which offers few technical courses, adopt digital evaluation, the university’s registrar (evaluation) C Shivaraju said they would ensure the evaluators were properly trained. “Teachers of engineering and science courses can easily learn the process. Members of other faculties will need minimal training. We will not rush through the project but introduce it gradually to different streams so that the evaluation is not affected.”