Question

should university go paperless

Examine in detail why you are not recommending at least two possible solutions •

Explain which solution you are recommending, and provide justifications • Conclude your document with a summary of your main points • Provide a list of references

Answer 1

This is regarding whether Universities should go paperless.

Reasons for not recommending two or more possible solutions are for the below reasons:

1 Paperless methods such as going online completely should not be made compulsory from the very beginning because, many students and staffs are not computer literate and are habituated to paper and pen. They would require some time and training to upgrade themselves to go paperless. Hence, initially, paperless methods should not be encouraged but made optional and time should be given to students and staffs to upgrade.

2. There are many universities where laptops and other connectivity cannot be provided to students. In this situation going paperless is not recommended. Students would need these kinds of minimum infrastucture to go online and avoid paperwork.

3. There are many subjects like Engineering Drawing ,Botany, Zoology,Arts and Painting, Biology etc., that require papers and pencils to draw and in such cases the Universities should not go completely paperless as its very diffucult to do such drawings through online tools.

The possible solutions I am recommending along with justifications are as follows:

Repetitive paper based manual administrative tasks can be computerized and made to go online and paperless.For example, admissions, assignments,attendance,time table, student records, academic calendar, holiday list,university staff payroll,file or document sharing, communication by mails and letters to the university etc. can be made online and go paperless. Student and University details can be stored and accessed online in university websites. Similarly, communications to the university can be done by emails and University Applications instead of writing paper based mails and letters and sending them through postal etc. Similarly exams can be attempted online and results can also be published online.Final degree certificates can also be published online that students can download and use.

Justification for such solutions are,

1. These paperless online methods help Universities go digital and upgrade to the latest industrial trends of going paperless or online or digital.

2. This will reduce repetitive manual and tedious paper work.

3. It will also protect our environments by reducing the use of papers.

4. Going online and digital will increase efficiency and will streamline the administrative and regular academic and student processes and eliminate human error which generally occurs when we carry out lots of administrative and academic tasks using pen and paper.

To summarize, Universities can go paperless or online where there is a need to avoid repetitive administrative and student work using paperwork. This can be beneficial to our environments as well and save time and modernize and digitalize our Universities. However, there are a few scenarios where there is a need to train staff and students who are not accustomed to use online methods and where there is an absence of laptops,connectivity and necessary infrastructure, and in such cases it's not advisable to completely go paperless.

List of references: 1. Arizona State University Foundation went paperless. You can go through their websites in internet. 2. Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University present in Lucknow,Uttar Pradesh, India is going paperless soon. Please check the same in their website.