Ahmedabad: Photographs, signatures and exam details of Gujarat University’s external students were allegedly collected from publicly accessible hall tickets and circulated online, raising concerns about possible data misuse.University officials said the material was taken down soon after the administration was alerted, and work has begun on a more secure system for students to download the documents.GU follows separate hall-ticket distribution processes for regular and external candidates. Affiliated colleges download and print hall tickets for regular students through an authorised login before distributing them. External candidates, however, have been allowed to download their hall tickets directly from the university website.Officials said the open-access arrangement had been introduced for convenience because many external students are employed, run businesses or may otherwise find it difficult to visit the university to collect their hall tickets.The system came under scrutiny after it was reported that individuals had collected the uploaded files and circulated students’ photographs, signatures and other details on social media. The university has not yet disclosed how many students were affected, how long the information remained accessible or whether there is evidence of its misuse.Officials said the existing arrangement would be discontinued. From the next academic year, the university plans to introduce a secure mechanism that will allow external candidates to retrieve their hall tickets after authentication.The incident has highlighted the need for stronger cybersecurity measures covering exam-related information and student data across the university, which handles records of lakhs of students.
