The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : JNTU-Kakinada to become paperless varsity

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Wednesday, Aug 05, 2009
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

JNTU-Kakinada to become paperless varsity

Institution doesn’t encourage postal letters

HYDERABAD: Files in the offices are getting slimmer and folders on the computer thicker.

It is perhaps the biggest achievement of one-year old JNTU-Kakinada, which is on its way to become a paper-less university for its mundane administrative work.

Big hit

A reflection of that effort is the 1.4 million hits the university got in its very first year of going online, perhaps a record of sorts in India. Now every message sent by its 186 affiliated colleges is being done through the web as the University refuses to accept or send postal letters.

All the communication with colleges and students is done through the web and the response is also expected using the same model.

“The rapid growth of usage and acceptance of web communication model is an indication of the success of JNTUK to fully utilise technological tools for achieving excellence,” says the Vice Chancellor, Allam Appa Rao. “It is also about doing things differently.”

Saving resourses

The Vice Chancellor has put in a special team that works almost 24 hours communicating with affiliated colleges, students to take their feedback. Prof. Rao himself spends two hours a day on the system for the work.

“Communication is so quick that it saves financial resources in several ways apart from utilising human resources effectively,” he says.

Prof. Rao argues that Internet and website usage is an important measure of success of the drawing power of the university as well as the value provided by the site.

JNTUK utilises various methods to translate site usage into relevant information regarding the success of its communication campaigns and the utility of the web services available.

Futuristic

“Adapting technology in education is an indication of the institution’s futuristic view. This capability provides it with the lynchpin to operate as a fully coordinated institution.

The benefits of this will be seen in both world-class education and world-class research,” feels Raghu Korrapati, Commissioner for Higher Education, South Carolina, USA and an alumnus of the university.

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