UGC-NET launches e-certificate

Candidates appearing for the UGC-NET will get the qualifying certificate within six days now with the University Grants Commission launching the e-certificate. The Minister for Human Resource Development (HRD) Kapil Sibal launched the service recently.

The process of issuing the UGC-NET qualification certificate to successful candidates normally takes around six to eight months, a cause of concern both to UGC and to the students. However, these E-certificates will cut down the time lag for issuing the certificate to just six days. Similarly, whenever an institution writes to UGC for verification of authenticity of the NET certificate presented by the candidates, the authenticity of the certificate can now be done within a span of 24 hours as against the earlier four months.

The UGC has already initiated steps for online registration of the NET examination so that all the necessary information with regard to the candidates is captured, including their photographs, at the time of registration itself. The information thus captured is proposed to be used for the award of these e-certificates once the results are announced.

The UGC has also released a compendium of UGC schemes where the 63 schemes of the UGC have been synoptically profiled, covering the objectives of each scheme, the criteria for becoming eligible to receive financial assistance from the UGC, the operational tenure of the scheme, process of selection followed in approving the proposals, and finally the quantum of financial assistance that can be provided to execute the scheme.

source:http://www.hindu.com/edu/2011/03/08/stories/2011030850040100.htm

Mobile phone exam cheat shocks Japanese meritocracy

If found guilty, student who used phone in university entrance exams will be first in Japan to earn criminal record for cheating.

The 19-year-old student is driven away from a police station in Sendai, where he was arrested on suspicion of cheating on an entrance exam at Kyoto University by posting test questions online with his mobile phone. 

For a few brief days he was the most wanted person in Japan.

Police launched a manhunt, while newspaper editorials decried an age of lost innocence. Warnings were issued that the perpetrator might not have acted alone.

The crime: using mobile technology to cheat during entrance examinations to some of Japan's most prestigious seats of learning.

On Thursday night police arrested a 19-year-old preparatory school student after tracing the mobile phone he used to its subscriber, his mother. The student, whose name is being withheld because he is a minor, has admitted soliciting help online during entrance exams for four universities.

Using the name "aicezuki", he posted mathematics and English questions on Yahoo! Japan's chiebukuro (pearls of wisdom) bulletin board during exams at Kyoto and three other universities last month, reports said.

Answers appeared within minutes from more than 20 of the estimated 27 million people who use the site in Japan every month. Police found several answers on the site that closely matched those written on the student's exam papers.

Given the speed with which he posted a complex maths problem, investigators believe he photographed the questions using a model of mobile phone that enables users to disable the shutter sound.

Yahoo! Japan, an affiliate of the US internet company, said it would co-operate fully with the police investigation.

Police closed in on the suspect days after tracing the user to Sendai in northern Japan. He was arrested near the city's main railway station after his parents told police he had failed to return home the previous evening.

As well as being disqualified from the exam process, he now faces charges of fraudulent obstruction of business, a crime punishable by up to three years in prison or a maximum fine of 500,000 yen (£3,700).

If found guilty the teenager would be the first person in Japan to earn a criminal record for cheating.

Japanese media quoted him as saying he had acted alone. "I just wanted to pass the exam," he said.

While some said the case highlighted the pressures of the "exam hell" Japanese students must endure to enter higher education, the student, for all his resourcefulness and reported contrition, is unlikely to gain much sympathy.

The education minister, Yoshiaki Takaki, said his behaviour was unforgivable. "This deed has greatly damaged the credibility of university entrance exams, which should be fair and just. It is truly regrettable," he said.

The episode has dominated TV news since the allegations came to light last weekend. Newspaper editorials bristled at the thought that the meritocratic values – whether real or imagined – on which Japan's top universities pride themselves had been compromised.

"This is a heinous act that undermines the fairness that should be the basis of the university entrance exam system," the Yomiuri Shimbun said.

With another round of university entrance exams later this month, education authorities are considering a ban on mobile phones at exam sites, a measure South Korea introduced in 2004 in response to widespread cheating.

source:http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/04/japan-mobile-phone-exam-cheat

Sibal inaugurates E-certificate for UGC-NET qualifying candidates

New Delhi: Union Minister for Human ResourceDevelopment Kapil Sibal on Thursday inaugurated the 'e-certificate' for the University Grants Commission - National Eligibility Test (UGC-NET) qualified candidates.

The minister also released a compendium of UGC schemes. The UGC has initiated steps for online registration of the NET examination so that all the necessary information with regard to the candidates is captured, including their photographs, at the time of registration itself.

The information thus captured is proposed to be used for the award of these e-certificates once the results are announced.

These e-certificates will cut down the time lag for issuing the certificate from 6-8 months to 6 days. Similarly, whenever an institution writes to UGC for verification of authenticity of the NET Certificatepresented by the candidates, the authenticity of thecertificate will now be done within a span of 24 hours as against the earlier 4 months.

The process of issuing the UGC-NET qualificationcertificate to successful candidates normally takes around 6-8 months, a cause of concern both to UGC and to the students.

Also, institutions wrote to UGC for verifying the authenticity of the NET Certificates being presented by the candidates at the time of admission to Ph.D. or at the time ofappointment in a College/University for the teaching assignment. This verification currently takes around 4 months another matter of great concern for all stakeholders.

In the compendium, 63 schemes of the UGC have been synoptically profiled, covering the objectives of each scheme, the criteria for becoming eligible to receive financial assistance from the UGC, the operational tenure of the scheme and the process of selection followed in approving the proposals, and finally the quantum of financial assistance that can be provided to execute the scheme.

The University Grants Commission conducts the national level test, viz-a-viz the National Eligibility Test (NET) twice in a year; in June and December to determine the eligibility for the recruitment of teachers as Assistant Professors in Institutions of Higher Learning and for the award of Junior Research Fellowships (JRFs).

The Test is conducted in 77 subjects at 74 Centres spread across the country. While the examination for the award of JRF is being conducted since 1984, the examination for determining the eligibility for Assistant Professorship is being conducted since 1989.

The number of Fellowships under the NET scheme has been increased from 2,000 to 6,400 per annum since 2010. In June, 2010, 10,433 candidates successfully qualified the NET for Assistant Professorship, including JRF.

source:http://indiaedunews.net/Today/Sibal_inaugurates_E-certificate_for_UGC-NET_qualifying_candidates_13636/