The Center for the Development of Imaging Technology (C-DIT) will develop the software needed to conduct the KEAM entrance exam for admission to engineering and pharmacy majors.
Computer Based Mode of Testing (CBT) will be implemented for the annual examination from this year onwards.
The Commissioner for Entrance Examinations (CEE) used software designed by the state agency for some of its smaller scale entrance examinations for courses such as LLM and MBA.
The government accepted the CEE’s proposal to directly conduct entrance exams for engineering and pharmacy and to install an upgraded version of the existing C-DIT software for this purpose.
CEE has received expressions of interest from a number of agencies, including private companies with previous experience in conducting CBT. However, the government has decided to adopt the C-DIT software which will be upgraded to handle registrations and applications from more than 1.2 million students who apply for the entrance exam on an average. The examination is likely to be conducted over multiple days after considering the availability of centers with computer labs and such facilities.
The government also established an expert committee for transparent and efficient conduct of exams in CBT mode. Joint Commissioners of Entrance Examinations Shabu SJ, Baby Syla, CUSAT Director of Admissions James Varghese, Head of Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram College of Technology (CET) Sumesh Divakaran and Kerala State IT Mission Coordinator Aparna S. are the members of the committee.
Meanwhile, the Department of Higher Education re-established a committee of statisticians to frame the standardization process and oversee the standardization process in the country.
The final marks of the qualifying examinations conducted by the various boards are standardized before finalizing the rank list for admission.
The committee comprises Associate Professor, Department of Statistics, University of Kerala C. Satheesh Kumar, Head, Department of Statistics, Thiruvananthapuram Post Graduate College NV Sreekumar, former Joint Commissioner (Academic) S. Santhosh and Assistant Professor Angel Mathew, Department of Statistics, Post Graduate Maharaja’s College.