News / Education
Panic among NUST students
16 Jul 2013 at 13:31hrs | Views
THERE was panic among National University of Science and Technology (Nust) students over the weekend, following reports that the institution's website had been hacked and examination results altered. Students said they were able to access their results, and the money they owed as fees on the website on Thursday, allegedly before the academic board had sat to verify them.
A number of students said they were surprised to find that, according to the website, they had failed some courses in previous years, which they never registered for. However, on Friday, the results suddenly went offline.
Although students said they heard the university's website had been hacked, authorities at Nust yesterday said technicians had made a mistake and loaded figures and statistics that had not been verified.
"We heard the website had been hacked. We are told the university purchased new software called Navision, for $80 000 and technicians were failing to use it. We are told this has created a loophole for hackers," said a student.
"I saw my results on Thursday. I am doing my third year in one of the courses. When results are published, they cover all the courses that you did from the first year. I was shocked to see that I had failed three optional courses that I had not registered for in the first two academic years," said a student.
The student said he went to complain at the university yesterday morning and was shown that there were no results posted on the website.
A number of students said the website showed that they owed money that they had paid.
"The website showed that I owed $863 but I know I do not owe anything because I always pay my fees in full at the beginning of each semester. A friend of mine who was worried that she would not get results because she owes the university close to $1 000, was pleasantly surprised to find that she did not owe anything. She was also able to see her results and she had passed all her courses," said the student.
Contacted for comment, Nust director of information and public relations Mr Felix Moyo said wrong results had been inadvertently posted on the website.
"Our website was not hacked. Old results were put there by mistake and as soon as technicians realised the error, they were withdrawn. The academic board had not even sat to verify and approve them. We go through a painstaking process of scrutinising them individually for each of the more than 6 000 students," said Mr Moyo.
He said the issue had been rectified and students from the faculty of medicine were now able to access their correct results online.
"Those in the faculties of the Built Environment and Communication and Information Science should be able to get theirs by Thursday. The faculties of Applied Science, Commerce and Industrial Technology will soon follow," said Mr Moyo.
He said students should not panic as the university prided itself on excellence and first class services to its students and society.
"As Nust, we will always uphold the high standards that we have set for ourselves. We always keep our lines of communication open to avoid confusion that may arise from unofficial stories," said Mr Moyo.
A number of students said they were surprised to find that, according to the website, they had failed some courses in previous years, which they never registered for. However, on Friday, the results suddenly went offline.
Although students said they heard the university's website had been hacked, authorities at Nust yesterday said technicians had made a mistake and loaded figures and statistics that had not been verified.
"We heard the website had been hacked. We are told the university purchased new software called Navision, for $80 000 and technicians were failing to use it. We are told this has created a loophole for hackers," said a student.
"I saw my results on Thursday. I am doing my third year in one of the courses. When results are published, they cover all the courses that you did from the first year. I was shocked to see that I had failed three optional courses that I had not registered for in the first two academic years," said a student.
The student said he went to complain at the university yesterday morning and was shown that there were no results posted on the website.
A number of students said the website showed that they owed money that they had paid.
"The website showed that I owed $863 but I know I do not owe anything because I always pay my fees in full at the beginning of each semester. A friend of mine who was worried that she would not get results because she owes the university close to $1 000, was pleasantly surprised to find that she did not owe anything. She was also able to see her results and she had passed all her courses," said the student.
Contacted for comment, Nust director of information and public relations Mr Felix Moyo said wrong results had been inadvertently posted on the website.
"Our website was not hacked. Old results were put there by mistake and as soon as technicians realised the error, they were withdrawn. The academic board had not even sat to verify and approve them. We go through a painstaking process of scrutinising them individually for each of the more than 6 000 students," said Mr Moyo.
He said the issue had been rectified and students from the faculty of medicine were now able to access their correct results online.
"Those in the faculties of the Built Environment and Communication and Information Science should be able to get theirs by Thursday. The faculties of Applied Science, Commerce and Industrial Technology will soon follow," said Mr Moyo.
He said students should not panic as the university prided itself on excellence and first class services to its students and society.
"As Nust, we will always uphold the high standards that we have set for ourselves. We always keep our lines of communication open to avoid confusion that may arise from unofficial stories," said Mr Moyo.
Source - chronicle
