July 23, 2008
To Reduce Fraud, Students Taking GMAT Will Get Palm Scan
By May 2009 those entering testing centers to take the Graduate Management Admission Test, or GMAT, will have their palms scanned, according to David Wilson, president of the Graduate Management Admission Council. The biometric technology, described in an article this week in The Wall Street Journal is meant to catch students who hire others to take tests for them.
The palm-scanning device captures an image of the blood coursing through test-takers’ veins. Each person has a unique “palm-vein” image. A student whom a business school official suspects of acting fraudulently could be asked to have their palm scanned, and that image could be checked against the image the student provided for the GMAT, Mr. Wilson says.
He adds that business schools have expressed an interest in purchasing the palm-scanning technology, which is manufactured by Fujitsu. It costs less than $1,000.
The devices will first be used at 16 testing centers in India and Korea. Eventually the scanners will be used at more than 400 centers in 107 countries, according to a statement released today by Fujitsu.
Recently the Association of American Medical Colleges began requiring electronic fingerprints from all students taking the Medical College Admission Test. The fingerprints are used to verify that enrollees in medical schools are, in fact, the same students who took the test.—Andrea L. Foster
Posted on Wednesday July 23, 2008 | Permalink |Comments
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So is it fair to say that the enforcement of required identification will only be in the case of a “suspected” fraudulent behavior?
— Betty Stevens Jul 24, 11:45 AM #