Mumbai university mess: Govt to appoint firm to implement digital management system

The Maharashtra government has initiated the process of appointing an agency that will function as a system integrator and design, customise, implement and maintain an Integrated University Management System (IUMS) across 14 universities in the state, after having approved the system’s detailed project report (DPR) in January.

The state government’s information technology (IT) department issued tenders for the project recently.

Following online assessment goof-ups by the University of Mumbai (MU), which led to unprecedented delays in declaring results and chaos last year, the government decided to put in place the IUMS, which is expected to do away with such issues. The joint board of vice-chancellors, headed by governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao, who is the chancellor of all state universities, has also given the nod to the project.

The system is expected to be implemented in phases starting this November, the second semester of the academic year.

The digital platform is expected to offer solutions to all issues faced by the 14 non-agricultural universities across the state, including MU. The IUMS will cover all university and college processes, right from admissions, conducting of examinations, online assessment of answer papers, issuing results in digital format and staff recruitment.

The system will also help the government monitor the functioning of these 14 universities, said a senior official from the IT department, who did not wish to be named.

To appoint a system integrator, the IT department has invited request for proposals (RPF) from companies that offer Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) solutions. The contract will be for five years, and the bidder will have to deposit Rs 25 lakh as bank guarantee, the official said.

It will be a complete automated digital system with different modules that cover issues related to students, faculty, administration and academics. Most importantly, every university will have its own exclusive system architecture, he added.

To achieve this, universities, and colleges affiliated to them, have been asked to form core implementation teams (CITs) that include students, lecturers and IT experts who will help the state’s IT department identify their requirements at the development stage. The IT department has already issued a government resolution (GR) directing them to form teams.

Last year, the results were delayed by more than five months after MU adopted an on-screen marking system (OSM) for online assessment of answer papers, as it was unable to trace answer booklets.