Madras varsity to make admissions through Net

By Ramya Kannan

CHENNAI, JUNE 2. Keeping abreast of the innovations in information technology, the Madras University will make use of the net in order to help students figure out the admission process.

The varsity, on its official website, www.universityofmadras.edu has hosted a unique subsite to cater specifically to the need of the moment - the admission procedure. Christened Madras University College Admission Systems (MUCAS), the site is jointly hosted by the Department of Adult and Continuing Education (DACE) and a software firm, Istartweb.

The site, www.universityofmadras.edu/dace, has an exhaustive database of information on the colleges coming under the gambit of the university. Details including location of the colleges, courses offered, Email addresses and admission qualifications are listed. The database is so structured that searches can be made with different permutations and combinations.

For instance, a surfer can search depending on the preference of college, course, stream or year of study. Other information including instructions to candidates, online courses offered and history of the university are provided.

BA, B.Sc, B.Com, MA, M.Sc, M.Com, M.Phil, Ph.D and BE and ME courses are listed, wherever available. ``We have just uploaded content that was already available for students who come to the university. The advantage, however, is that they have access to all this information on a single site and at no cost'', says Dr.V.Nagarajan, professor and head, DACE. He was instrumental in selecting the content and putting the site together.

There is also a provision for colleges to register themselves with the site on paying an application fee. Colleges have been invited to join the consortium by paying Rs. 3000 each. Once they are enrolled, they will get 10 pages on the web and technical support from DACE and the Istartweb team to put their material on the net.

Akilandeswari Women's College and Vellammal Engineering College have responded to the offer and the process has started on an experimental basis. ``Once more colleges come into the network, then we can even provide results of admissions and other announcements online'', Dr.Nagarajan said.

Plans are afoot to enable students to download application forms. This facility will be activated soon so that the students can benefit from this academic year itself. Colleges are advised to collect the application form charges when the forms are being submitted.

Students surfers say the site comes as a `blessing' for all those who are involved in college admission, especially at the undergraduate level.

``Searching for the right course and college is difficult for students who are just out of schools, so this is a site that will aid all of them primarily. It will save a lot of unfocused running around for both students and their parents. We only hope that the information will be updated regularly and the download facility activated soon to help us,'' a student says.

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