With exams at Unisa due to begin at the end of the week, the institution says it is ready to administer them online for the first time.
Unisa principal and vice-chancellor Professor Mandla Makhanya said that after cancelling all venue-based exams, they had developed an app where students could write and upload their exams.
“We have developed an app that we’ve shared with students.
They will be able to get the papers on the app,” Makhanya said.
To access the question papers, students will be sent a unique user code.
Students will then be able to download the exam papers 15 minutes before the start of the assessment.
“Those who don’t have laptops can use the same system they use to submit assignments online. They will write on the paper we gave them after registration to use for their assignments.
“Once they have done that they will upload the stuff they have written on the app,” he said.
Marking will also be done online. In the past couple of years, Unisa has had incidents of exam fraud where question papers were leaked.
Makhanya acknowledged this was an issue the university had been worried about.
“We are spending sleepless nights over the leaking of exam papers and criminals are also working very hard. For the first time they won’t be able to get access to our systems because we will be communicating directly with students,” Makhanya said.
He also said that as an added security measure, the app could monitor the movement of students during the exam.