This year,a bar code on UoP degrees

The move,arguably the first in the country,has come in the wake of increasing instances of employees of various companies having submitted bogus UoP certificates. It was revealed that in the last four years,729 candidates had cheated various companies by providing bogus UoP certificates. The bar code will enable companies to verify the authenticity of the candidate immediately.

Elaborating on the system,Vice-Chancellor R K Shevgaonkar said the bar code could be scanned and credentials of the student verified by logging the code on the varsity’s website.

“The idea is,if a company wants to verify whether the certificate is valid,it will not have to request UoP to verify it. The website will provide all details such as marks,class and authenticity of the degree. Though one can manipulate names on the certificate,scanning the bar code will reveal any such manipulation,as it will match only with the original name on the certificate. On our part,the staff in the examination department will not have to check such requests manually,” said Shevgaonkar. The V-C added that they hope to introduce this feature on degree certificates for students getting their degree next month.

According to examination controller S M Ahire,the convocation will be held on February 9 at 4 pm and certificates distributed between 9 am to 4 pm the same day in the varsity. The students will have to produce the fee receipt and letter of invitation to get the degree certificate.

This year,as many as 69,967 degrees will be awarded in 13 courses; law,education,management,pharmacy,arts,engineering,commerce,science,mental moral and social science,medicine,ayurveda,homoeopathy and physical education. Plus 300 PhDs will be awarded during the convocation too. While most are from the commerce stream with 18,845 degrees to be awarded,only 6 will receive degrees in homoeopathy.

Certificates throughout year: controller
“In another initiative,the UoP will provide degree certificates throughout the year to students who have passed before the convocation date. The student will have to apply for it,” said examination controller S M Ahire. Students who had cleared the final examination of March/April 2010 but could not apply for degree certificates in time,will not have to wait for the certificate till next year. They can apply anytime throughout this year. The only condition is he/she should have passed before the convocation date,February 9,2011.