IGNOU to give smart card to its students
Jan 29th, 2007 by shan
Students’ performance and achievements at Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) will be just a click away as the varsity is set to launch a smart card system, first of its kind in the country.
The smart card to be given to each student will carry information on parameters including admission, projects, assignments, attendance, practicals and semester results.
There are about 13 lakh students pursuing higher studies in the University who will be provided with the card.
“The card will help student to keep an authentic record of his study activity in the varsity and also aid him to present himself in a better way in the market,” IGNOU Vice Chancellor V N Rajasekharan Pillai said.
The e-initiative will also help us to better conduct the courses and monitor students’ performance on individual basis, he said.
Each student will be issued a smart card with a unique password which can be used on specified computers having the software to read the data.
The varsity has entrusted the project to a private agency for study and implementation, he said, adding that a provision would be made to update the card with any additional information.
To start with, the University will issue 100 cards on trial basis very soon, he said.
IGNOU has already provided detailed information about its 100 management students to the agency recently.
Pillai said the system will ensure accountability and help fix responsibility as the data of the students can throw light on the quality of education and warrant the authorities to improve.
The student will have liberty to modify certain data like bank account numbers at his level.
Besides personal data, the university has proposed to give some general information in the smart cards of each student.
Information like admission date and schedule of semester examination, which are conducted on fixed dates, will be fed in the cards to help the students remain updated.
“A similar system, introduced in some western universities, also carries the academic life history of the student,” Pillai said.
The move will be of immense help to the students in accelerating their career growth and helping them get rid of the stigma attached to distant mode of education, he said.