I hope this message finds you well
in these difficult times when the entire world is battling a serious pandemic.
As you are aware, we conducted an unsupervised alternative paper-based assessment for the final year students since they only had a few subjects left to complete their degree programmes. This method of conducting examinations clearly has its own limitations, in that we cannot completely avoid impersonation and other malpractices by students. Therefore, to preserve the integrity of the examination results and the overall quality of the degree, the Faculty decided to only have supervised examinations. Unfortunately, it was not possible to have the examinations physically for the rest of the years within the university premises, during the pandemic period.
The Faculty then decided to explore the possibility of conducting supervised online examinations. We conducted a survey to evaluate the feasibility of this examination method. The survey yielded a poor response rate of 70% with only 2561 students participating in the survey from a total of 3652 students. The survey also revealed that around 10% of students responded did not possess the required IT infrastructure such as the availability of a personal computer, a stable internet connection, and a web camera to effectively take part in supervised online examinations. The poor response and the non-availability of required infrastructure for some of the students led to the conclusion that we cannot successfully conduct supervised online examinations. Thus, having exhausted all other viable options, we are left with no alternative but to conduct the examinations physically, within the university premises.
Currently, we are in a position where the second semester examinations for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd year students have not been held. First semester lectures are being conducted online for the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th year students and these lectures are scheduled to be completed by the 28th of March 2021. The first semester lectures for the freshmen will be conducted online starting from the 22nd of March 2021 and are scheduled to be completed by the 11th of July 2021. These freshmen are scheduled to sit for their first semester examinations starting from the 26th of July 2021. Our plan is to complete the 2nd semester examinations for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd year students before the end of June so that they may sit for their 1st semester examinations in July, together with the new students, without any inordinate delay. However, we are compelled to remind you that we are still in the midst of a pandemic and that these tentative dates may change due to unforeseen circumstances.
We wish to assure you that the Faculty will conduct the examinations at the earliest possible date, once we are given authorisation by the relevant officials to conduct exams physically within the university. The timetable of the exams will be informed at least two weeks in advance to ensure that the students sitting for the examinations will have adequate time to prepare.
We thank you for your understanding and hope that you will render your fullest cooperation in getting through these challenging times.
Dean, Faculty of Management Studies and Commerce