HYDERABAD: Certificates of B. Ed. courses and nursing courses offered by different universities in the State will be added to the present Online Verification (OLIVE) project that helps the US Consulate in Chennai verify online the authenticity of the degree certificates submitted by visa-seekers.

The Consulate officials, who held a meeting with the APSCHE officials recently, made a request to this effect apparently due to the growing number of students from education and nursing category approaching for visas for possible jobs in the United States.

The OLIVE presently has information about professional degree holders in B.E., B.Tech, B.Pharmacy, MBA and MCA courses of all the universities.

According to officials of APSCHE, the US Consulate officials wanted the facility given the increasing number of students from B.Ed. and nursing courses applying for visas in the last few years.

"Qualified teachers and nurses are in good demand in the US and Indians are choosing this option as the dotcom industry is not so encouraging," says an official.

K.C. Reddy, Chairman, APSCHE, said the universities have been asked to develop the database of these two professional courses and put it on the OLIVE project.

The controllers of examination branches of all universities, who also attended the meeting, were made aware of the necessity and they promised to complete the job soon.

In fact, the Consulate had placed the same request earlier also.

Suggestions

The Consulate officials also wanted the certificates to be loaded with more security features to prevent misuse.

Inserting the candidates' photographs on the certificates was one of the suggestions made to make them tamper-proof.

Prof. K.C. Reddy said the issue was serious and it would be a part of the agenda in the next vice-chancellors' meeting.

The OLIVE project was initiated in the year 1999 after the Consulate noted that students submitted fake degrees, particularly of MCA and engineering when the dotcom industry was in boom and jobs were available in plenty.

Earlier, the Consulate used to send the doubtful certificates back to the universities concerned.

It is maintained by the Software Technology Park of India (STPI) in association with the APSCHE and the universities.

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