Online Final Year Project Selection System

MASITA @ MASILA ABDUL JALIL, NOOR AZLIZA CHE MAT, AMIR NGAH, NORAIDA HJ.
ALI AND DZUL FADLY ISMAIL
Department of Computer Science
Faculty of Science and Technology
University College of Science and Technology Malaysia (KUSTEM)
21030 Kuala Terengganu, Terengganu
MALAYSIA.

Abstract: - This paper describes the design and implementation of the Online Final Year Project Selection System
(OFYPSMS) that has been developed for the Department of Computer Science (JASKOM), University College of
Science and Technology Malaysia (KUSTEM). Through this web-based system, final year students can search for
project titles based on certain criteria and preferences. The system will then display all of the final year project
topics that match the specified categories. However, if none of the titles suit their interests, they can also propose
their own titles using this system and if these titles are accepted by any of the lecturers, it means that they got the
projects. This selection system also enables the project supervisors to view, insert and update the final year project
topics that will be offered. The Project coordinator on the other hand, could print various reports and obtain
statistics such as the number of titles offered for each semester and the number of students that have been
assigned to respective supervisors over a certain period of time. Since this is a web-based system, users can access
it from anywhere and at anytime as long as there is an Internet service available. This OFYPSMS has been
developed using PHP, HTML and SQL as its DBMS.
Keywords : - Project selection system, Final year project, Web-based system, Online selection processes.

1. Introduction
Most public and private higher academic institutions
in Malaysia require their students to undertake an
academic project in their final year of study [1].
Students can choose whether to take any titles i.
offered by the lecturers or might suggest their own
project. To date, manual project selection systems
are typically used to assign students to their final
year project topics and supervisors. The selection
process will become rather difficult if there were too
many students taking the course at a time.
One way to overcome this problem is to
develop a web-based system that could store all the
information about the projects. This will help
students where they can use the system without any
time and place constraints. A few institutions [3, 4,
5, 6] have actually adopted this so-called project
selection system. However, not much information on
how this system works has been made available or

documented in literatures. Some of the systems

have limited features in that they can only display
the project title listing and the rest of the processes
are still carried out manually [7, 8].
This paper therefore aims to describe one
such system that has been developed. The purposes
are to make the process of the academic project
selection easier to all lecturers in the Department of
Computer Science (JASKOM), KUSTEM and their
final year students as well as to replace the manual
system. In addition, the system enables students to
shortlist the titles that best fit their interest and skills.
Not just to the students, lecturers can also benefit
from the system. With the system, they can easily
list, view, update the titles or the required
information faster and do so from anywhere and at
anytime. It also offers a more systematic and
organizes way of managing the project selection
processes.

1.1 Scope of the System

This selection system will be used by all the final
year students and lecturers in the Department of
Computer Science (JASKOM), KUSTEM. This
selection system could display all the project titles
that are offered by the department in a particular
semester. Students can check whether the project
topics that they are interested in are still available or
not only through a click of a button. For this system
however, students are only allowed to pick three
project topics and rank them according to their
preferences; the first, second and third choice. If the
first choice has been taken by other student, the
system will automatically appoint the second or third
choice, provided that the project is still available.
This system also provides flexibility to students,
whereby they can suggest their own titles if there are
no other choices that meet their interest and skills.
Lecturers can use this selection system to key in
all the titles they want to offer with the details. If
more than one student chooses a topic, lecturers can
then based their selections for example on the
students academic performance or other criteria.
Lecturers are also free to accept or reject the
students that have chosen their project topics if they
are not confident with the students ability. If there
are proposed titles that a particular lecturer keens on,
he/she could take in the proposal and discuss further
with the students before accepting the titles.

2. Problem Descriptions
The Final Year Project Selection System that is
currently being used at JASKOM, KUSTEM is one
example of a manual selection system. Students are
given the project registration forms and are required
to complete and submit them to the project
coordinator within the given timeline. All project
titles offered by lecturers are posted on their
respective notice boards. Students are free to choose
from any of the topics proposed by the lecturers or
they may suggest their own titles to the lecturers. If
the students chose to pick the project topics under
the lecturers, they need to see the lecturers to get
detailed information about the project. The titles are
then given to the students on the first come first
serve basis. Students can also discuss with their
respective supervisors if they have additional ideas
to share.
This manual-based selection system however
suffers from some weaknesses especially in the

process of selecting the right students for the

projects and ensuring they get the project that they
wanted. Once the titles are posted, students need to
shortlist them and see the respective lecturers in
order to get more details information on the project
topic. If they are late, the project topic will go to the
other students. In addition, lecturers also have to
make themselves available or allocate certain days
for students to come and get their project topics. In
some cases, a student manages to sign up for more
than a title and a supervisor, without being noticed
by the supervisor himself or the project coordinator.
Another weakness is in the case where the
lecturers are out of campus and there is no other way
to contact them. On top of that, the information
regarding the start and dateline for the project
selection process is only posted on the notice board
and hence the students need to go to the campus
often to get the latest information.
To help overcome these weaknesses, a
computerized and an online system should be
developed to make the selection process smoother
and in order.

3. System Design
This selection system has been developed to give an
advantage to the final year students that register for
the TMK4998 course to select a project topic that
matches their interest and expertise. The selection
process was very simple because students will
simply need to submit their preferences and wait for
the related project titles to be displayed.
The page containing the project descriptions will
include all the necessary information such as the
project summary, aims, requirements and activities.
This is particularly important to make sure that
students get a better understanding and a clearer
picture on the project requirements and expectations.
There will also be some spaces reserved for lecturers
to put down additional information such as their
proposed timeline, appointments and detailed
activities. Based on the information, students will
know exactly when their supervisors are available
should they need advises and when they are
expected to submit their works. These spaces also
function as a medium for the supervisors to
communicate with their students.
The project topic will normally be given to the
selected student that have chosen the topic and meet
certain criteria as outlined by the supervisors. In the

normal practice, supervisors choose to give the

project topics to students that they confident can
finish off the project on time. In other words, the
student will be assigned a project that he/she is able
to take up without much problems or difficulties.
This is because some of the projects might be
difficult than others and hence require particular
skills and good understanding. This mechanism will
still be used in the system since it enables lecturers
to determine that the offered projects would be
completed successfully.
All data used in this system such as students
information, project listing, project details will be
stored in a database. This database is divided into
two categories, one for storing users information
and the other is for the project information. There
are thirteen tables in the database including tables
for students, supervisors, project information and
accepted list.
The system is also protected with password, in
that all registered students and lecturers need to key
in their password before accessing this selection
system. This is important for security purposes.

4. System Implementation
The system comprises of three modules: for
administrator or project coordinator, lecturers/
supervisors and for students. Each module has
different menus that are set for the respective users.
In the coordinators module, there are eight
menus. Apart from the four common menus, the
coordinator also has access to menu for registering,
deleting and updating students records, viewing
several lists including project listing, the proposed
titles and students-supervisors allocation list. In
addition, the coordinator can also print the list if
needed and monitor students that have successfully
obtained project titles and those that are still looking
for one. Registration can only be done by the
administrator to avoid the data from being accessed
or modified by unauthorized persons.
Once registered, students will be able to
view all the project titles, do selection, forward
proposal as well as check their results. In selecting
the project titles, students are required to list out
their interests, skills, and performance for example,
they are good in C programming and Visual Basic.
They can then choose any lecturers that they wish to
work with and the type of projects; basically either a

research type or system development before

submitting the query. Based on the query, the
system will then get the best projects that match the
criteria and preferences.
For lecturers or supervisors, they can use the
module to post, update or delete any of the project
information, list out the students that have selected
their titles, do selection or view the proposed titles
submitted by students.
The menu hierarchy in Fig. 1 below
summarizes all the activities that can be performed
by the three types of users, while Fig. 2 to 5 show
some of the menus that feature simple and easy to
understand interfaces.

Main System

Menu for Students

Menu for the Project

Coordinator

Menu for Supervisor

Main Menu

Main Menu

Result

Add

Update

Update

Exit

Exit

Project Title Listing

Students' List

Student's Selected Project

Listing

Supervisors' List

Search

Project Title Listing

Select

Students' Proposed Title

Listing

Propose Project Title

Students to Supervisors
Listing

Fig.1 Menu hierarchy

Fig.5 Search result

Fig.2 Students main menu

Fig.3 Search menu

Fig.4 Project title listing

CONCLUSION

In this paper, we describe the design and

implementation of the Online Final Year Project
Selection System which has been developed for use
by the students and lecturers at JASKOM,
KUSTEM. The system offers several advantages
over the manual system that is currently being used.
Being a web-based system, up-to-date
project information can be made more accessible to
students and supervisors and processes such as
updating and selection can be done outside office
hours and from anywhere. To students and
supervisors, the online system could save them a lot
of time. Students on the other hand might be more
satisfied with the results as it has taken into
considerations several aspects and not purely based
on the first come first serve basis. They can also
submit a proposal which can be viewed by all
lecturers. This greatly saves efforts and time.
To the administrator, the system provides a
more organized and manageable selection processes.
All data are well kept, which offers faster access to
future references. Besides, results can be issued
faster and the selection processes themselves can be
made more transparent to both students and
supervisors. As with reports, several reports on the
projects that have been selected and studentsupervisor project allocation, for example, can be
readily produced.

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