Online exams in India - Future plans

The majority of exam authorities (68%) said they want to implement online
exams in the future. This calls for a lot of effort on the part of the entire structure
that will help in the transition. Going forward, Indian higher education needs to
be equipped with trained teachers, infrastructure, technology that can adapt to
Indian requirements, which in turn calls for a lot of experimentation, innovation
in assessment techniques, technology upgrades and readiness to adopt changes
and failures.
Exhibit 5: Are online exams a part of Indian higher education's plan? With almost
half the respondents believing that less than 10% exams will be online in the
next 2 years, and nearly 50% looking to go online in the next two years, the gap
or opportunity is tremendous. It establishes the need to share knowledge,
experience and beliefs about the entire process of going online. It also firmly
establishes that improvement is assessment using technology is the way to go.
The opportunity is huge
The Indian Higher education segment has nearly 14 million students. Taking into
consideration the average number of exams and the cost of exams we estimate
the university exam market to be in the range of Rs 4,100 6,500 million. We
believe this is a conservative estimate, as internal exams and other aspects are
not included in the estimate. Similarly, based on estimates of the number of
exams and the students who appear for these entrance exams, we believe the
value of the entrance exam market is in the range of Rs. 31,200- 45,900 million.
No doubt a conservative estimate, as even for the higher figure, we have not
considered certification exams such as CA, CS, and others.
Further, more and more applicants appear for Indian higher education entrance
exams every year. As an example, the CAT exam (taken by 250,000 students in
2009) witnesses an increase of nearly 40,000 candidates every year. Accordingly,
it can be expected that the market will grow by about 10% per year, as costs are
rising faster.
These figures certainly justify the need for a step up in efficiency in many areas
of exam management. Automation and the use of technology in exam
management could save universities and exam boards around 20-50% of their
overall costs, depending on the level of implementation.
Given the huge size of the market and the clear cost and efficiency benefits, we
believe penetration will increase dramatically over the next five years. However,
with rising expenditures on one side, and cost and efficiency gains from
technology on the other, it is safe to say that technology will play a major role in
the Indian higher education exam market in coming years.
Indian students ready for online exams
During our conversations with university decision makers, many mentioned that
one of the reasons behind the slow growth of online assessments in the country

is the hesitation on the part of students. However, the exercise of taking exams
online will yield many benefits to students. To bridge the perception gap between
university officials and students, ValueNotes conducted a nationwide survey of
400 students from across Tier I, Tier II and Tier III cities, studying mostly at
graduate and postgraduate levels. The aim was to capture the students'
awareness, readiness and experiences with online examinations.
High awareness and readiness but low experience with online exams
The survey revealed that an overwhelming majority of students (95%) are aware
of online assessments. Correlations were drawn between students who were
unaware of online exams; and most originated from Tier III cities, and did not
possess Internet connections at home.
Even though awareness of online exams is extremely high among respondents,
one of the most important considerations resides in the readiness towards trying
the format, and perception towards universities who are currently holding exams
online. ValueNotes found that the majority of students (69%) felt that these
universities are more technically advanced, though students originating from Tier
III cities are far more impressed with said universities.
The majority of students (46%) consider the online process to be more secure,
compared to traditional methods. There was also a general consensus that the
accuracy and authenticity of online exams is far higher (68% of students
agreed). There was a strong correlation drawn between these students, being
more likely to join a university which conducts online exams.
Awareness and readiness towards online exams aside, most students interviewed
had minimal experience in giving exams online, at the university or entrance
level. Further, the study found that the vast majority of students (71%) who have
given both entrance and university exams online are studying in Tier I cities,
along with the majority of students (60%) who have given university exams
online.
Perceived / expected benefits and issues
While most students are yet to experience the online exam format, they have
strong opinions about the benefits they can expect from the system, over and
above prevailing methods. These stated benefits were mostly consistent across
both, university and entrance exams.
Transparency of processes is seen as the major benefit, followed by greater
efficiency. The convenience in online application/registration is perceived to be
greater by 32% for competitive exams. However, students do not yet have a
greater level of confidence with the online exam process, compared to traditional
exams.
The study also found that students are concerned with many aspects of the
online exam processes, including security risks, the lack of infrastructure, the
difficulty of use, followed by the lack of support from exam authorities.

Comparing the perceived/expected issues for university vs. entrance exams,

infrastructure is seen as more of a concern for competitive exams (62%),
compared to university exams (34%).
The majority of respondents (43%) who feel infrastructure is not a concern for
online university exams are studying in Tier I cities. Further, the majority of
students (39%) who claim infrastructure is a major concern for online university
exams are studying in Tier III cities.
There is little doubt that Indian higher education students are indeed aware of
online exams, and most are ready to try the system. Though they do have some
apprehensions about online tests, the predominant perception is definitely
positive. This can be expected to increase in coming years, with greater Internet
penetration, and further use of ICT in higher education. Hence, we believe that
the university officials' perceptions about students' resistance to online exams
are overblown. These may in fact be more likely used as a justification by those
resisting the inevitable change in current systems.
Conclusion
Our research and survey findings present strong evidence that there is a need for
online assessment exams in the Indian higher education sector. The respondents
reacted positively to the idea, and almost 50% said they would want to start
online exams in the next two years. Those who have already started would like to
extend usage. This is because benefits of greater efficiency and costs savings of
nearly 20- 50% are difficult to ignore. Students, the primary stakeholders are
definitely aware of and ready to appear for entrance and university exams
online. Their lack of experience in no way seems to adversely affect their
opinion. Considering there is still a lot of groundwork to be done, the penetration
of online exams will increase by 5 -10% in the next two years. However, given
the greater levels of experiments and innovation in assessment we believe that
there will be significant traction over the next three to five years.
Global Trends in Online Assessment
Today students seek to maximize learning from courses by extensively using
technology and adding to the information already available through the Internet.
This has also emerged as one of the top five trends in higher education.
Awareness levels are up and there is greater willingness to experiment. Teachers
and students share topical knowledge procured from the Internet. In fact
globally, real time sharing and learning has gained momentum, with even social
networking becoming a part of the learning process. According to a recent
Australian study quoted on the UNESCO website, Facebook was the fourth most
visited site. On an average, users spend 26.5 hours each week online, and a
quarter of that time 6.5 hours is dedicated to Facebook. According to
estimates, visits to another social networking site, Twitter, increased 1000%
compared to the year before. Online assessment has become easier with greater
computer and Internet penetration. Technology has improved further with faster
and more accurate computers and applications. The global Internet penetration

rate was pegged at 25.6% in 2009, according to Internet World Stats. With
students being one of the largest segments with Internet access, universities
across the world have a good reason to move to online assessment.
Online assessment: Increasing scope
As learning takes on myriad forms, so does assessment. In Chapter 3 we have
covered various assessment techniques (please refer to Exhibit 10) that are
widely used. The increase and variation in assessment techniques over the years
was driven by the need to rate and assess students on various aspects of
learning other than memory. These include the application of knowledge, thought
flow, ability to process information, innovation and other softer aspects such as
team work, creativity and ability to handle stress. Assessment is also treated as
an input to redefine and alter teaching methods. Students that are found lagging
are identified and provided extra attention. One key innovation has emerged in
the form of online assessment. As defined earlier online testing is delivered with
the use of computers on a network. The following exhibit explains how the
Macquarie University in Australia implements various assessment techniques
and their complete integration into the system. Instructions for the faculty
indicate that there is scope for them to use online assessment as and when they
require, with freedom to modify certain aspects. Similarly, it also allows them to
retain control of essay type questions.
Online assessment:
Increasing acceptance As assessment becomes more student centric with an
array of assessment formats, it is the faculty in institutes that will work to
innovate and test different assessment methodologies. They also fill the critical
role of subject matter experts (SMEs) and help to decide on the parameters
needed for assessment.
Almost all online assessments are a combination of at least some of the options
presented above. Over the years online testing became more pan-optic in its
offerings it has grown from MCQs to include drag and drop, rearrange
statements or pictures, fill in multiple gaps, diagrams, essays and others. It is
vital that the learning and assessment strategy is shared with students and
faculty to increase overall efficiency. Understanding the delivery mechanism and
expected outcomes will make online assessment more effective and easier to
adopt. Several studies and surveys have revealed the readiness of students to
appear for online tests. Surveys mapping experiences in controlled environments
revealed issues pertaining to difficulty in usage, but these are manageable
challenges.
Use of technology in assessment set to grow further
Tech-savvy teachers are increasingly using blogs, edublogs to be more
precise, for real-time assessment. As said earlier, it is important for the faculty to
adopt and encourage the use of technology, as it forms an important part of the
delivery mechanism. Web 2.0 is making its presence felt and will impact

classroom assessment
opportunities.

most

through

real-time,

collaborative

learning

Expensive authoring tools are proving to be a concern, especially for exams

that need to go beyond objective type questions. While this is a big challenge for
exam authorities, constant innovations and improvements in authoring
technologies that have been witnessed over the last few years will cater to these
requirements too. The growth of open source learning applications offer a cost
effective means for universities to experiment with online assessment.
Penetration of mobile phones has increased, with a rise in smartphone adoption.
This results in greater accessibility to learning and assessment tools, irrespective
of geographical differences
Customized as per regional needs
Universities in the developing world are still struggling with access to
knowledge, infrastructure and acceptance. The growth is slow. This is of course
not to say that efforts are lacking. The volumes are so large that it definitely
makes complete economic sense for universities to go online and this is reflected
in the number of universities that are running pilots.
The primary driver to adopt online assessment may vary depending upon the
requirements of a region. For instance rural areas where concentration of
population is low, have found that students prefer online assessments so that
they do not have to travel.
The Indian higher education segment has nearly 14 million students. Taking into
consideration the average number of exams and the cost of exams, we estimate
the university exam market to be in the range of Rs. 4,100 6,500 million. We
believe this to be a conservative estimate, since we have not considered:
in-course assessment
re-evaluations
re-tests
any form of informal assessment
different fee structures and costs for different categories of students
exam facilities in foreign locations
Entrance exams on the likes of IIT-JEE, GATE, MHCET are held for entrance to
professional courses by respective universities and national/state exam boards.
Again, based on estimates of number of exams and students who appear for
these entrance exams, we believe the value of this market is in the range of Rs.
31,200- 45,900 million. No doubt a conservative estimate, as even for the higher
figure, we have not considered certification exams such as CA, CS, and others.
We have also calculated the number of exams in the country to be over 200
million each year, including end-course and entrance exams. Needless to say,

the potential is huge. Given the above, the actual market opportunity is likely to
be close to the high-end of our estimate range. Further as we have seen, there is
considerable growth in higher education and enrollments are set to rise, at a
CAGR of 8.5%, according to National Institute of Science Communication and
Information Resources. Further, more and more applicants appear for Indian
higher education entrance exams every year. As an example, the CAT exam
(taken by 250,000 students in 2009) witnesses an increase of nearly 40,000
candidates every year. Accordingly, it can be expected that market will grow by
about 10% per year, as costs are rising faster. These figures certainly justify the
need for a step up in efficiency in many areas of exam management. Automation
and the use of technology in exam management could save universities and
exam boards around 20-50% of their overall costs, depending on the level of
implementation. This is an essential task in the cost-benefit analysis, which will
influence universities to go online. However, with rising expenditures on one
side, and cost and efficiency gains from technology on the other, it is safe to say
that technology will play a major role in the Indian higher education exam market
in coming years. Given the huge size of the market and the clear cost and
efficiency benefits, we believe penetration will increase dramatically over the
next five years.

According to the research consultancy IDC, the global information

technology (IT) market, encompassing hardware, software, services, and
telecommunications, is expected to reach $3.8 trillion in 2016, up from
$3.7 trillion the previous year. The U.S. market accounts for approximately
28% of the total, or slightly more than $1 trillion. Over the past decade,
the biggest shift in global industry allocations stems from growth of the
Asian region, fueled primarily by the rise of China. The IT channel plays an
integral role to facilitating the flow of technology goods and services from
producer to customer. The channel ecosystem, consisting of solution
providers, MSPs, VARs, vendors, distributors, cloud service providers, and
more, work in concert to supply and support customers technology
needs. Estimates suggest upwards of two-thirds of IT products and
services sold to U.S. businesses flow through or are influenced by indirect
channels in some way.
There are two distinct elements of the IT workforce: 1) Employment in the
IT sector, and 2) IT occupations spanning all industry sectors. In the
aggregate, the U.S. IT sector employs an estimated 5.9 million workers in
technical (e.g. software developers, network administrators, etc.) and
non-technical (e.g. HR, finance, marketing) positions. The second element
of the IT workforce, IT occupations, consists of an estimated 5.04 million
workers as of yearend 2015 found in IT departments across businesses in
every industry sector of the economy. Based on how 2015 data is tracking,
the year could record the highest IT job growth rate in over a decade.

Sizing the Information Technology (IT) Market

According to the research consultancy IDC, the global information
technology (IT) market surpassed $3.7 trillion in 2015 and is on track to
reach $3.8 trillion in 2016 (constant currency). This covers revenue
generated from hardware, software, IT services, and telecommunications.
The vast majority of spending stems from IT purchases made by business
or enterprises, with a small portion coming from consumer spending. With
the increasing blurring of work and personal life, especially in the SMB
space, along with the BYOD phenomenon, it is difficult to classify certain
types of technology purchases as being solely business or solely
consumer.
The U.S. market represents about 28% of the worldwide total, or slightly
over $1 trillion.
Over the years, market proportions have gradually shifted due to the
emergence of rapidly growing markets in Asia, Latin America, and Africa.
For 2016, CompTIAs consensus forecast projects 4.9% worldwide IT
industry growth and 4.7% growth in the U.S.