Shunning its age-old practice of conducting PhD viva voce examination in physical mode, the 108-year-old Patna University (PU) has, of late, switched over to a virtual mode.

Thanks to the initiative taken by vice-chancellor Ajay Kumar Singh, all the work related to PhD examination is being conducted in online mode in the university these days. This newfound process not only lightens the financial burden on the university but also saves the time of both the candidate and examiners.

Providing details of the online process for PhD viva voce exams, PU examination controller Benoy Kumar Lal stated that a number of online PhD viva voce examinations for scholars in various subjects have been conducted in recent months, facilitating the smooth conduct of viva voce exams and the timely publication of results. “As soon as the university receives favourable evaluation reports from all three examiners (two external and one supervisor or internal examiners), the date and time of the viva voce exam is fixed by the university and the link of the designated online platform is provided to all the concerned people,” he said.He further pointed out that the UGC guidelines regarding the conduct of online viva voce examinations are strictly followed by the university and it is ensured that all relevant authorities, teachers and other interested parties attend the viva voce and the entire proceedings are recorded. “Then, the signed reports from examiners are also obtained from the examiners. A soft copy of the PhD thesis is also uploaded on ‘Shodh Ganga’ of the UGC,” Lal said.

PU internal quality assurance cell (IQAC) director Birendra Prasad said the university is striving to send the soft copies of PhD theses to the concerned examiners for evaluation, thereby saving candidates from unnecessary expenditure on typing and binding four or five copies of the thesis. “Some higher education institutions like Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) have already started sending the soft copies of PhD theses to the examiners for evaluation. PU is likely to follow suit,” he said.

PU vice-chancellor Ajay Kumar Singh said, besides the PhD exam, the university has also been striving to adopt the latest digital technology in all its office work. “PU will take a lead in adopting digital technology in office working among the state universities by becoming a paperless university soon,” he said.