PEARSON VUE SEMINAR

Pearson VUE organized a seminar on “Improving India’s exam standards through Global best practices” in New Delhi on 23rd February, 2017.

The seminar was organized to let the stake holders deliberate upon the importance of improving exam standards and how computer - based testing is helping to achieve this in India. It was attended by representatives from Universities, Academia, Corporate and Mr. Ashwani Kumar, Academic Administratorrepresented Dronacharya Group of Institutions, Greater Noida at this event.

The seminar was inaugurated by Dr. Gary Gates, Senior Vice President - Global Growth, Pearson VUE and Prof. (Dr.) C. Raj Kumar, Founding Vice Chancellor; O.P. Jindal Global University with the lighting of lamp.

Speakers

1. Gary Gates , Senior Vice President , Global Business , Pearson VUE     

2. Divyalok Sharma, Senior Director , Client Development, Pearson VUE 

3. Dr. Sandhya Chintala, Vice President and Executive Director, Sector Skills Council, NASSCOM

4. Prof. (Dr.) C. Raj Kumar , Founding Vice Chancellor, OP Jindal Global University  

5. Dr. Sanjay Modi, Executive Dean, Faculty of Business and Arts , Lovely Professional University

Delivering the inaugural address, Dr. Gates said that India has experienced rapid economic growth for some time now, and competitive professionals are keen to gain qualifications across professions such as law, healthcare and accounting. But in order for them to succeed and for qualifications to be recognized on a global scale, exam standards must improve. He suggested that Professionals across India would benefit from an improvement in the fairness and validity of exams.

Replying to a question posed by an attendee, Dr. Gates said that since there have been media reports about issues involving the quality and validity of exams - along with prominent cases of exam fraud - the best way to combat this is by developing valid, fair and reliable exams according to global assessment best practices.

Divyalok Sharma, Senior Director - Client Development at Pearson VUE India, said that India is a success story in terms of professional assessment, but clearly much more can be done to raise standards. There are concerns about the effectiveness of a test in fulfilling the primary objective of being a legally defensible measure of a specific competence. It is crucial to address the challenges test owners in India face to meet the 21st century assessment needs of professionals, and through the application of measurement science and now computer - based testing, this can be achieved.

Prof. (Dr.) C. Raj Kumar made a presentation on Relevance of Measuring Educational Assessments. He was of the opinion that a secure testing framework requires the combination of sound practices, secure technology, actionable intelligence and above all vigilant, trained personnel. He believed that the ability to successfully leverage business intelligence and monitor compliance can make all the difference between just knowing about cheating and actually being able to do something about it before a test - taker obtains a credential.

During her presentation on Job readiness and relevance of specialist certifications for India’s youth, Dr. Sandhya Chintala, Executive Director NASSCOM and IT / ITeS Sector Skills Council, said that skill and industry linked certifications have played a large role in the hiring decisions made by HR managers and the career decisions of job applicants. There is good reason why the popularity of professional certifications has increased significantly over the years. Not only are certifications a good way for professionals to stay informed and remain at the top of their fields, but they also help to standardize practices in industries that boast millions of professionals in their ranks, but lack common benchmarks to judge their skills.

Dr. Sanjay Modi, Executive Dean, Lovely Professional University suggested that India’s Higher education scenario can be improved by adopting global best practices.

During the Q & Session, there was discussion on topics like how to develop a fair, valid and reliable exam, security, transitioning from pen and paper to computer - based testing and the New Age Examination platform.

The thought provoking session ended with the Vote of Thanks delivered by Mr. Divyalok Sharma.