In a first, MICA Ahmedabad goes paperless for admissions

MICA Ahmedabad, located on the outskirts of the Gujarat city, has gone paperless for its admission process for the academic year 2022-23

The aim to take up this initiative comes from the institute's commitment to 'save thousands of papers'. It also focuses on encouraging the students to edit and re-edit their profiles.

Covid-19 paved the way for this new development, in the business school, which came about due to a PGP student reaching the admissions chair to share his observations about a large amount of papers/bundles and heaps of papers he had noticed in the office. "It is always a matter of pride when you can walk the talk. This move takes us closer to the vision of the MICAs Admissions office to be student-centric, accurate, accountable, and efficient. Leading the digitization process and turning paperless, I can confidently assert that we are a more conscientious unit of MICA today than we were earlier. We stand taller with the head held higher," said Ruchi Tewari, the chair of Admissions at MICA.

Starting in 2021, MICA embedded technology in the second - descriptive evaluation and third phase of the admission process - the Group Exercise and Personal Interview.

The descriptive section is evaluated for about 1300 students, and it carries 4 questions each on a page. Printouts of these equaled around 5200 pages post which the marks were then punched in manually. Now through the digital platform, the evaluators are provided with a user name and password, which gives them access to the answers, and they evaluate the question and punch the scores over the digital platform.

Dr.Shailendra Raj Mehta, President & Director, MICA, said, "Today, Digital transformation is more than just a buzzword as it delivers a much better user experience. Digitizing paper documents ensures all systems and technology platforms can communicate with each other and accelerates processes that are a win-win for all the stakeholders. This is a small step towards sustainability."

Students, who took their admissions in MICA, expressed their approval of this initiative. "While appearing for any test, students are already stressed. Carrying a bunch of papers like the admit card copy, etc., adds to that extra pressure. For MICAT, I just carried my phone, which made my entire experience memorable," said Tanmae Madan, a 23-year-old student of MICA.

Kuhu Kopal, another student, added that sustainable efforts that involve protecting the environment is commendable. "I like the commitment of building a more sustainable future and it is reflected in such steps," added Kuhu.