TIRUCHY: A section of candidates who appeared for the online qualifier entrance examination for Bharathidasan University’s PhD programme on Sunday complained of technical issues ranging from inability to log in to the portal to it crashing midway through the test.
While the university administration has assured to offer affected candidates another chance to take up the exam, the latter, complaining of the technical issues not being a first, seek its conduct at the earliest. Dr S Srinivasa Ragavan, the university's controller of examinations (CoE), told TNIE that of the 1,192 candidates who took up the PhD Online Entrance Examination, 130 complained of suffering technical issues.
Upon qualifying the examination, one can either pursue PhD in the university itself or in the colleges under it. One of the candidates from Tiruchy, who took up the examination, on condition of anonymity said, "I could not log in even after trying for over an hour. Two of my friends also faced the same issue.
I'm upset and scared. I have for now shared my credentials with the BDU administration. I hope they solve the issue at the earliest and again conduct the exam soon." S Shanmuga Vadivel, who took up the exam at National College where he completed his Master’s in Chemistry, complained that he couldn’t complete the test owing to the technical issues. “I'm facing the issue for the second time.
When I took up the exam in August last year, I got logged out of the portal 20 minutes before the deadline. All my answers disappeared. Later I lodged a complaint with the university. As it promised action, I waited for a response. However, no action was taken. I have again shared my credentials with the BDU administration."
The affected candidates urged the university administration to not wait for six months but to conduct the exam again at the earliest. Meanwhile, mentioning online examination the “best mode” considering how people from across the globe appear for it, CoE Ragavan said,
“Of the 1,192 candidates who attended the entrance exam, 1,135 successfully completed it. Some 130 students said they couldn't log in and some complained that the they were logged out of the portal automatically while attempting the exam.
As some have raised complaints with us, we are in the process of rectifying the issue.” In a separate circular, the CoE admitting to “technical issues”, said “one more opportunity” would be given to affected candidates to take up the exam at “no extra cost”. The date and time of the examination would be intimated soon, he added.
