Savitribai Phule Pune University might bring on-demand exam system for students' benefit

SPPU Vice-chancellor has said that the University has been contemplating to take a step further by making the examination system “need-based”.

To provide flexibility and allow students to appear for exams as per convenience, the  Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) is mulling over its decision to have an on-demand examination system.

The vice-chancellor of SPPU Nitin Karmalkar said that while the choice-based credit system and an open learning centre were introduced to bring flexibility, he had been contemplating to take a step further by making the examination system “need-based”. This is to enable the students, who participate in sports/other activities and are unable to appear for the examinations scheduled, to appear for them as per their convenience.

Nitin said that the choice-based credit system was introduced for flexibility in choosing the subjects. The idea was that a science student could take up humanities course or vice versa if he/she wanted. As that level of flexibility wasn’t achieved, there were problems with rigid timetables and a general mindset against the unconventional systems, he added.
Elaborating on the examination flexibility, he also said that if a sports student wanted to appear for the examinations at a later stage for any reason, it would be easier for him if there was a need-based examination system in place.

Controller of examinations at SPPU, Arvind Shaligram said, “As per the present system, we prepare a schedule and students appear for the exams. The problem is that the students who have not prepared for the exams also have to appear for it, which eventually defeats the purpose.” “Similarly, a fast learner can appear for the exam early so that the students can use the time to do something else or opt for more courses… At present, the examination dates are fixed, it is a disadvantage for both the groups,” he added.

Shaligram said that during the semester-ending examination of the MBA students in December last year, a small step was taken in this regard. He said that a computer-generated question paper for MBA students was generated using the question bank through the panel of paper-setters and fed into the system. “When the paper pattern was decided, the software randomly picked up the questions from this bank and generated a paper… This was approved by the panel and used for the examinations,” he added. He further said that this was just one step towards on-demand examination system and more needs to be done by SPPU regarding the same.

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