Officials at Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS), Vile Parle, have found a new way to discourage trespassing inside the college premises. Borrowing from the corporate world, NMIMS has deployed ‘biometric access control’ system at entrance points, to ensure that only faculty members and students can enter. The entry gates could remind one of the entry at the Metro stations or perhaps a more sophisticated version of those.
These access control gates placed at the outer limits of the college require individuals to scan their identity card and fingerprints to enter the plush corridor of the ten-storied building. “A chip embedded in the identity card is linked to the biometrics of the individual, ensuring safety and efficient data collection. We can gauge the exact number of individuals in the college premises, at any given point and time, thanks to the cutting edge technology used by our IT professionals,” explains Dr Meena Chintamaneni, the registrar at the NMIMS University.
In a bid to ensure security, the first access control system was introduced in 2015 as a pilot experiment in Mukesh Patel College, the engineering counterpart of NMIMS. Owing to its success in the engineering section, the School of Business Management adopted this system in 2016. Plans have already been chalked out to incorporate this system in other sister colleges. The students, in addition to the ordinary admission process, undergo a biometric authentication procedure. After that they receive their bar coded identity card linked to their biometric data.
There is more to the barricades than what meets the eye. They have also been serving the purpose of instilling discipline in the students. “Apart from the obvious security benefits, these access control gates have inculcated the value of discipline in students. They are now more careful about their identity cards. Moreover, it trains them for the corporate world,” said Chintamaneni. “We are habituated to this process that we have to go through, every time we enter or exit. The futuristic approach taken by college officials has ensured that the gates are less chaotic,” said Anjana Nair, a student pursuing MBA in Pharmaceutical Management. While many students have welcomed the decision, to some it might be a cause of delay during the busy mornings. “I leave five minutes earlier than usual, otherwise I’ll be late,” said a student.
