“Capacity” and “Need for Fair Assessment”, HEC Advises Universities to Conduct Exams online

“Capacity” and “Need for Fair Assessment”, HEC Advises Universities to Conduct Exams online

The Higher Education Commission (HEC) on Wednesday advised universities to conduct exams based on their Capacity and Need for Fair Assessment.

Taking to Twitter, HEC said that the commission has taken notice of the concerns raised by students of some universities regarding varsities demand for on-campus exams amid coronavirus. 

"The apprehensions of students were reviewed carefully in consultation with the vice-chancellors of all the provinces and regions, keeping in view the difficulties brought about by the pandemic and opening of universities from February 01, 2021," HEC said.

While reminding students, HEC said that in the HEC Guidance and Examinations policy, it had “already allowed universities to use their discretion to conduct exams, either on-campus or online as long as the chosen mode provides a fair assessment of students’ performance.”

HEC in the Twitter thread also suggested the varsities that exams could be taken if universities managed ‘open Book Exams’ or established an invigilation system in a supervised environment.

"In this mode, universities will also have to use Turnitin (a plagiarism software) to check the similarity index with web and the answers of other students," the body said, adding that the educational institutions should take viva or oral exams where necessary.

Furthermore, the HEC advised the universities that on-campus exams could only be conducted under strict compliance with all of the COVID-19 protocols. Universities possibly will also have to consolidate make-up classes for two weeks.

"Assessment of all courses requiring psychomotor skills, such as medicine and engineering, and subjects involving lab/studio work, must be held on-campus," it said.

“All students in a single course will be examined in the same mode—either on-line or on-campus,” it said.

HEC said that since March 2020, the commission has been monitoring the pandemic situation and was corresponding with universities to minimalize academic interruption and continue online education with quality safeguards.

"The HEC Guidance on Online Readiness (#5) and Assessments and Examinations (#6) are available on the HEC website and provide the requirements and minimum standards to be observed by universities," it added.