THE UNIVERSITY is all set to go high-tech as digital identification cards will be issued to Thomasians next school year.
In line with the full computerization of the University, Secretary General Fr. Winston Cabading, O.P. said the University is negotiating with the company Unlimited Solutions to provide UST with the apparatus needed for the new digital identification card system’s full implementation.
The digital IDs will serve not only as an identification card and library card but also as a locator. It will have a microchip that can store information about the bearer in the ID, which can be read by ID monitors installed in the different buildings in the University.
Instead of pinning the ID for the guard to check, the student only needs to show the ID on top of the monitor before entering the building.
Thus, in emergencies or for record purposes, students can easily be tracked through the entry and exit records of a certain building.
Fr. Cabading said the new ID system could also help maintain security in the University. Since a TV monitor connected to the ID apparatus would show the basic information about the ID owner, impostors with stolen or fake IDs would be prevented from entering any building.
“Everything written (on the ID) will still be included in the chip. (If) you enter a restricted area, ma-re-register ‘yon o kaya hindi ka makapasok sa lugar na ‘yon ‘pag ‘di mo ginamit ang ID mo,” Fr. Cabading explained.
Eventually, when the University’s database is upgraded, the UST ID will have advanced features enabling the bearer to access academic records, determine tuition and other University billings, determine class schedules, and even purchase things in the University.
Soon administrative processes such as payment of fees and enrollment would be easier and faster in the University since all the student’s records could easily accessed through the ID.
However, Fr. Cabading assured that the student’s privacy would be maintained. He added that only top administrators can access all these information.
Fr. Cabading said each type of information about the would be protected with passwords.
Only incoming freshmen, sophomores, and juniors would receive the new IDs. However, he said the University is looking into the possibility of providing new IDs for the whole student body.
The University would be using the Oracle System, the database used in the computerized enrollment of this schoolyear’s freshmen and sophomore students. The system, which could store data on three-year levels, would be the database for the new ID scheme.
With the Oracle System in place and the negotiations with Unlimited Solutions underway, the new ID scheme might be implemented next semester. Marie Carisa U. Ordinario
