Anna University to hold semester exams offline; VC firm, private colleges unhappy: Report

NEW DELHI: Anna University’s decision to conduct offline semester examinations for undergraduate and postgraduate students of engineering has left several private engineering colleges unhappy, The New Indian Express reported.

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The Consortium of Self-Financing Professional Arts and Science Colleges in Tamil Nadu might request the university to reconsider its decision to conduct exams physically which are scheduled to be held in December, the report said.

“On Monday, a team of our representatives will submit a letter to the university vice-chancellor (V-C) urging him to drop the idea of conducting physical tests this semester as students are not prepared to write the tests offline,” TNIE quoted the Joint Secretary of the consortium TD Eswaramoorthy as saying.

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Several private colleges argued that students have been writing online exams for the last three semesters and they need time to practice writing long-form answers within a given amount of time, the report said.

Eswaramoorthy told TNIE the matter was discussed at the consortium meeting and the majority of the colleges agreed for online examinations.

The principal of a private engineering college in Namakkal, S Jagannathan told TNIE, “After the December semester, we would conduct sufficient mock physical examinations to ensure students are able to write their papers properly. This semester, we got no time.”

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According to the report, Secretary of Sengunthar Engineering College A Baladhandapani is of the opinion that the threat of third wave of COVID-19 and continuous rains will make it difficult for the colleges to conduct offline examinations.

However, R Velraj, Vice-Chancellor of Anna University looks to be adamant on his decision and told TNIE: “We cannot avoid physical tests for a long time as it will affect students’ performances. Colleges have reopened and it is the right time to get back to physical tests.”

Earlier, in a related development, the University of Madras also decided to conduct all semester exams for undergraduate and postgraduate students in offline mode from November.