NU to provide digital degrees from next day of convocation

Nagpur: In a big relief for Nagpur University students, they would be getting access to their degrees in digital format right from the very next day of the 104th convocation to be held on November 4.

The convocation ceremony would be held at the newly-constructed Suresh Bhat auditorium at Reshimbagh. All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) chairman Anil Sahasrabudhe would be the chief guest.

"The students will be able to access their degrees right from next day of convocation on their laptops and mobiles. They would be provided with an ID and password. They can even take printouts and submit it with respective universities, here or abroad, for pursuing further education," vice-chancellor SP Kane told TOI.

"We've tied up with the National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL) which has prepared a database of all degrees to be conferred on November 4. We would be providing a link on NU's website. They would be prompted to give their ID and password after which their degree certificate, a copy of original one, would be flashed on the screen," the VC said.

It's a welcome change as until last year students, particularly those pursuing education abroad, had to face innumerable problems. Due to NU's failure to handover original degree certificates on time, many students had to lose their admissions as foreign universities demand only original documents.

Even those seeking jobs in the multinationals or big organizations have to submit original degrees. In one case, a US-based university had threatened to cancel postgraduate degree of one of the engineering students after she failed to deposit her original graduation degree as NU had not conducted convocation for close to two years.

NSDL would also help NU to upload the vital documents on National Academic Depository (NAD), a system set up by Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD) and University Grants Commission (UGC). Even Central Depository Services Limited (CDSL) had approached NU in this regard, but NSDL offered its services free of cost till September 30, 2019, and would later charge a nominal fee for uploading documents.

The VC stated that from now students would get their degrees online at the click of the mouse, just a day after the convocation. NU plans to conduct 105th convocation in February next year with a view to change the cycle from winter to summer. So far, NU used to take into account summer and winter exams while awarding degrees.

At the 104th convocation, the degrees of academic year 2015-16 would be awarded, while those of 2016-17 would be conferred in February.