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NTA Eyes Global Exam Network: What India Could Learn From BRICS and China’s Gaokao
New Delhi: India’s National Testing Agency (NTA) is looking at taking its examination expertise internationally and may partner with BRICS countries for knowledge-sharing and collaboration. The agency is examining the Gaokao, China’s large-scale, high-stakes final examination, to learn how large-scale examinations of this nature can be undertaken with security and efficiency.
At this stage, this is largely a planning exercise. The agency’s Director General Abhishek Singh has stated that the agency wishes to develop India’s examination systems and processes further before looking at international examinations.
Contemplating a Scalable Examination Framework
Speaking to ANI after the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi, Singh stated that the agency needed to strengthen its examination systems and processes to achieve fair, transparent examinations that contained a minimum of errors. After this has been achieved, the agency wishes to examine if its examination infrastructure and systems can be a ‘public good’ that can meet the examination needs of BRICS countries.
At this point, NTA is not offering an overseas examination service, and is instead announcing a longer-term staged planning approach for the international provision of examination systems.
Why China's Gaokao Is on NTA's Radar
NTA is particularly interested in the Gaokao because of the procedural complexities and large scale that come with organising a national college entrance examination. Singh highlighted the exam as an example of how countries can learn from one another. In the context of BRICS, cooperation can be observed in the domains of question-paper generation, exam security, and the use of technology and testing.
It can be said that NTA does not intend to copy the Gaokao model. Rather, NTA is interested in how different countries work around the problems of high-stakes examinations.
NEET-UG Could Move to Computer-Based Testing
There is a strong connection between NTA's international endeavours and its focus on domestic technology transformation. NTA is working towards shifting NEET-UG from pen-and-paper-based testing to Computer-Based Testing (CBT). According to Singh, the change will happen “really soon” although NTA has not announced an exact date for the shift.
This will entail a huge transformation of the examination system comprising secure computer labs, plenty of system capacity, and many preventive measures for cheating. In addition to this, the current tenders by NTA are for international CBT providers and for the security of NEET-UG, including CCTVs, frisking and face authenticators.
AI and Face Authentication to Enhance Exam Security
Another major focus of the agency's security proposal is AI. According to Singh, NTA is considering using AI for fraud prevention, log analytics, data analytics, and examiner engagement. The agency is also using Aadhaar-based and face authentication systems for candidate verification. As per NTA’s official notices, biometric verification and face authentication are part of its examination security measures for NEET-UG and other examinations.
The ultimate goal is simple: to reduce the number of ways candidates can be impersonated and the number of ways examinations can be manipulated and the integrity of the testing process can be violated.
What NTA’s International Aim Means
NTA’s planned international expansion is still more of a long-term aspiration than an immediate operation. The agency first wants to enhance its own domestic examination system when it has the capacity to provide its services to international organisations or other countries.
Once it does, the BRICS partnership should allow India to enhance its examination technology and security systems through cooperation with other BRICS countries and gain access to other large-scale systems such as the Gaokao in China. In the meantime, the most important assessment will be how NTA can enhance the security, reliability, and technology-based systems of India's high-stakes examinations.
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