Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) will digitise evaluation of exam papers, following the success of a pilot project introduced last year.

The new system, similar to one implemented by Bangalore University for some undergraduate courses, will reduce the time spent on cataloguing results, apart from being transparent and foolproof.

The VTU move will benefit more than three lakh students studying in colleges affiliated to the university.

Each answer script is given a bar code and scanned by high-speed machines that can scan up to 800 scripts (44 pages each) in eight hours. The scanned copies are then uploaded onto the VTU server and each valuator will log into the username assigned to him and 10 answer scripts will be assigned to him/her at a time. “On the first day, valuators will correct 30 scripts; on second day 40, and 50 scripts from the third day onwards,” explained H Maheshappa, Vice-Chancellor of VTU.

Through this system, results can be declared within a week of the examination, he said. The university will save up to Rs 5 crore, as it will reduce TA/DA cost and manpower required for evaluation, he told reporters on Monday.

Explaining the problems involved in evaluation, Maheshappa said teachers earlier travelled from one city to the other for valuation. Many women employees would hesitate, particularly if they had to travel from Bangalore to a smaller town and stay there for a couple of days. Now, lecturers can go to the nearest centre for evaluating papers and return home the same day.

Evaluations will be done in Bangalore, Belgaum, Mysore and Mangalore, among eight cities chosen presently. In Bangalore, New Horizon College of Engineering, SJB Institute of Technology and K S School of Engineering are the three places where evaluations are being taken up. Teachers can choose a centre close to their homes, and the institutes will organise buses for their travel.

“In the next two years, we hope to have valuation in every college so that lecturers can finish the work in their free time and need not travel anywhere else for the purpose,” said Maheshappa.

Online submission of internal assessment marks and online generation of hall tickets based on attendance have also been introduced. Also, in the future, hall ticket generation will be introduced in every college.

Another advantage with the online evaluation is that, if a student wants to verify his answer script, it will be sent to his mail. “Earlier, applying for revaluation and obtaining the marks sheet was a tedious process. This work has been now reduced to a few minutes,” explained the vice-chancellor.

Among the projects in the pipeline are introduction of examination fee during admission.

Presently, the examination fee is Rs 600 per semester, and if a student is reappearing for a paper, he/she has to shell out Rs 150. Instead, an amount of Rs 1,500 will be collected towards examination annually, along with the general fee, so that students need not pay separately for every paper in which he or she has failed. Also, they need not have to worry about the deadline for examination fee and can concentrate on exam preparations. Another proposal being explored is that of online admissions. Change of branch and college will go online, the vice-chancellor said.

Meanwhile, asked about the controversy surrounding his engineering degree marks sheet, Maheshappa denied he had furnished fake certificates. “The court has dismissed the case and I do not want to comment on it. I will focus on doing my best in bringing about productive changes in the system,” he added.