02 June,2011 06:46 AM IST | | Alifiya Khan
UoP still to kick-start scheme to make degrees available online; process already in place in MUHS
The ambitious plan of the University of Pune (UoP) to make available online the degrees of its students from this year onwards is yet to materialise. The UoP has not found a compatible server to host their data. Vice Chancellor R K Shevgaonkar had announced a few months ago that post- convocation -- which took place on February 4 -- degrees of all students passing out of the UoP would be made available online, and foreign varsities and recruiters would be able to check its authenticity.
The move was in response to a Central Bureau of Investigation probe in 2010 in which 729 fake degrees certificates were detected across universities. The maximum belonged to the UoP.
"All the degrees, right from 1948 to this year, have been digitally scanned. Only a small part of the data is yet to be digitalised after which this entire data has to be uploaded online. The only problem is that the server has to be powerful enough," said a varsity official. He said currently applications forms for degrees were available online.
"Students can download the application form, affix cheques and related data and submit the form to us. The rest of the process will also take place online soon," he said. Vasudev Gade, director of Board of College and University Development (BCUD), didn't respond to queries stating that only the vice-chancellor was authorised to comment. Shevgaonkar too did not respond, as he was busy.
MUHS faster
Even as the UoP is struggling with the process of online degree verification, another varsity has already done so. The Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS) has introduced an online feature on its website for verification of degrees. "We have an online process where anyone wishing to check the authenticity of the degrees can do so. They have to enter the code and they will get the name and details of the candidate. This feature is mainly used by prospective employers or HR companies that do background checks, hospitals that verify degrees of applying doctors and foreign varsities to whom pass-outs of our university apply for higher studies," said Dr Udaysinh Raorane, MUHS, controller of examinations.
He said the MUHS would soon move to 100 per cent online degrees. "So far, people can verify degrees online but they can't get their degrees online. That's because the data is vast and we need to find a way to compress it or get that much server capacity. The process is on and we should get the work done within six months," said Raorane.
