The Cochin University of Science and Technology has finally awarded the computerisation of the examination wing of the varsity to a Hyderabad-based private firm and the letter in this regard will be issued soon, it is learnt.
The Rs 40 lakh-contract, part of the Rs1 crore project, has been awarded to Nama-pur Infosoft Private Limit-ed, ignoring public sector firms like Keltron. Because of the sensitive nature of the work, many eyebrows have been raised about the decision.
Months ago, when a move in this direction was initiated, the then Syndicate member and IT expert Anwar Sadath, had objected saying that the examination wing handled critical data related to students and awarding such a contract to a private firm amounted to compromising the security of the data.
However, a 10-member committee that was formed for this purpose, headed by the Pro-Vice-Chancellor Dr Godfrey Louis and comprising among others the Controller of Examination, four Syndicate members and MCA and Computer Science department heads, considered the bids of 16 firms for the project.
After the technical evaluation, eight firms including Keltron were shortlisted for the project and later four firms including Keltron were eliminated.
Finally the project was awarded to Namapur Infosoft Private Limited by the committee, and recently approved by the varsity Syndicate.
A senior official told Deccan Chronicle on Sunday that awarding the project to a private firm will not compromise the security of the data.
“The project is aimed at digitising the complete data related to exams of students who have appeared so far. The current and future data entering process will also be computerised, but the private firm will train the university staff in undertaking these processes and the university staff alone will be uploading the marks and hence there was no compromising on the safety of the data,” he explained.
The data of students in the university and 24 engineering colleges will be digitised, he said.