WHU is one of Europe’s leading business schools, holding the AACSB and EQUIS accreditations. For a school with that reputation, exam integrity is part of what makes the degree credible. Digital exams and their security are overseen by Vincent Meertens, Program Director BSc/MSc, and Thorsten Leich, Associate Director IT Solutions. Their teams were responsible for building a setup that allows the institution to run secure digital exams on campus.
The challenge: securing BYOD exams on campus
When campuses closed during the COVID-19 pandemic, WHU was one of the first institutions to switch to remote online exams. When campus reopened, they didn't want to go back to pen and paper. Faster grading, larger and reusable question banks, less manual work: the advantages of online examination were too good to give up.
AI was making the case even stronger. "You can’t just assign a take-home paper with a two-week deadline anymore, because students can use AI to complete it. At our school, they are even allowed to," Vincent says. "In some cases, you want to have a controlled environment where AI isn’t accessible, and we see the number of exams in that setting going up."
"You can’t just assign a take-home paper with a two-week deadline anymore, because students can use AI to complete it.”
Vincent Meertens — Program Director BSc/MSc
WHU already used Ans as their assessment platform. The question was how to lock it down on student-owned devices. Their first attempt was with a remote proctoring tool that they had used during COVID-19. Back on campus, it fell apart. "We had massive problems with the network when students were all logging in at the start of the exam," Thorsten recalls. "That tool needs a lot of bandwidth."
Beyond the network issues, the proctoring tool created a different kind of problem. The tool uses AI to flag suspicious behavior during an exam, after which someone has to manually review all the footage. "The workload came after the exam, and even then, it was often unclear whether someone was actually cheating,” says Thorsten.
WHU didn't want to surveil students like suspects either. "It's about ensuring that students can’t access outside sources, without overdoing it,” explains Vincent.
The solution: preventing cheating, not chasing it
Thorsten found Schoolyear’s Safe Exam Workspace through the Ans integration marketplace. He had also asked colleagues from other institutions about other lockdown solutions. But the verdict about those solutions was consistent: too complex, require institution-managed devices, not suited for BYOD.
Schoolyear fits the ideal exam setup that WHU had in mind. Students bring their own laptops, start their exam in Ans as usual, and Schoolyear locks the exam environment down. "With Schoolyear, we block everything we don't want on the participant's computer during the exam," Thorsten says. That means the device goes into full-screen mode, other applications are closed, and students can only access pre-approved websites and files. For faculty, nothing changes. For students, it's a one-time setup.
"With Schoolyear, we block everything we don't want on the participant's computer during the exam.”
Thorsten Leich, Associate Director IT Solutions
WHU ran a small pilot in spring 2023, which was successful. That summer, they rolled Schoolyear out across all programs.
The result: less post-exam work, fewer technical disruptions
With Schoolyear, WHU aims to prevent cheating instead of figuring out if it happened after the exam is over. "We had cases with the proctoring setup where we needed to look into whether we were dealing with a cheating case or not," Vincent says. "The moment that you're conducting exams in a controlled environment, that is reduced heavily. This is saving us a lot of time."
Students also report fewer technical issues during exams compared to the previous setup. "In general, the usability of Schoolyear with Ans is seen as easier by students," Vincent says.
"In general, the usability of Schoolyear with Ans is seen as easier by students.”
Vincent Meertens — Program Director BSc/MSc
As written take-home assessments become harder to trust outside a controlled setting, on-campus digital exams become the default alternative. For WHU, the direction is clear, and they're not looking back.
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