PESHAWAR: Khyber Medical University has held the first-ever computer-based examination for medical students in public and private medical and dental colleges in the province to save time, prevent waste of papers, ensure transparency, and announce quick results.

The public research university conducted the computer-based examination for 2nd year MBBS students on Saturday as part of its plan to start the full-fledged examination through computers in public and private sector medical and dental colleges in the province.

KMU Vice Chancellor Prof Ziaul Haq told Dawn that the university had already launched an intranet-based exam for candidates of BS courses in various medical disciplines on its campuses, the results of which were extremely satisfactory.

“Now, we have asked our affiliated colleges to develop the system for their respective students, so they can take the exam using a new and innovative mechanism,” he said.

VC says move will help transform medical education

The VC said 1,201 students of second year MBBS sat the first exam.

“In the near future, we intend to conduct the examinations for all students from first to final years through intranet,” he said.

Prof Haq said the university was providing connectivity to its medical and dental schools through Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLA), a new technology that couldn’t be accessed by unauthorised people.

“We are the first medical university to introduce this system and save the students’ time in addition to ensuring transparency,” he said.

The VC said in the next step, the university was introducing biometric verification for the candidates to prevent impersonation.

He said that students and faculty members of the colleges had been appreciating the step and wanted to further refine it for the conduct of error-free tests and discouraging cheating.

According to Prof Zia, 726 of the total students sat the exam on the main KMU campus.

They included students of Khyber

Medical College, Khyber Girls Medical College, Pak International Medical College, Jinnah Medical College and Muhammad College of Medicine, which are in the process of developing the system in their respective examination halls.

Also, 98 students of the Rehman Medical College, 148 North West School of Medicine, 108 Gomal Medical College Dera Ismail Khan and 121 of the Kohat Institute of Medical Sciences Kohat appeared in the exam in their own colleges through the MPLA system.

“The focus will be on the development of an e-exam with one multiple choice question at a time and timely results. This ensures accessibility as students can sit the exams from any centre in an environmentally-friendly and transparent manner,” he said.

Prof Zia said there was a seating capacity for 400 candidates on the main KMU campus at the Hayatabad Township where 400 students in two batches could sit the exam.

He said as the affiliated colleges were in the process of getting facilities to enable their students to take the test from their respective centres, the KMU would continue to offer its examination halls for them for intranet-based exams.

The VC said that staff members, deans and CEOs of the affiliated colleges deserved appreciation for helping introduce the technology-driven examination system that significantly reduced paper usage.

“It’s a step towards transforming medical education through technology,” he said.

Published in Dawn, November 25th, 2024