Software package and information systems

Description

The University of Northampton is seeking to acquire a new student record system for an initial period of 5 years from October 2019 with the possibility of 5 additional 1 year extensions. The University has been using its current system since 2006. It has been the key product supporting application and admissions processing, student records, assessment, awards and student communications during this time. With its move to the brand new ‘Waterside’ campus in September 2018, the University is now looking for a system that covers the full student management and administration lifecycle from application to graduation and beyond; that provides an efficient processing tool for staff and a high quality interface to enhance the student and staff experience, can provide flexibility to support the University’s range of Higher Education provision, supports changes and compliance requirements of the UK Higher Education sector. The University of Northampton is seeking to acquire a new student record system for an initial period of 5 years from October 2019 with the possibility of 5 additional 1 year extensions. The University has been using its current system since 2006. It has been the key product supporting application and admissions processing, student records, assessment, awards and student communications during this time. The University is looking for a system that covers the full student management and administration lifecycle from application to graduation and beyond that: provides an efficient processing tool for staff and a high quality interface to enhance the student experience, can provide flexibility to support the University’s range of higher education provision, supports changes and compliance requirements of the UK Higher Education sector. The new system will need to integrate seamlessly with a large number of applications such as the University’s Virtual Learning Environment, Customer Relationship Management Dynamics, Business Intelligence Suite, Unit4 Business World applications for Human Resources and Finance, Scientia Syllabus Plus, Kinetic’s Room Service, Haplo PhD Manager as the student records system is the pivotal link to University systems. The system will need to integrate with UCAS systems and enable the University to undertake its statutory reporting duties. The University is seeking a student record system that will also include the ability to manage automatic workflow, support self-service, deliver a range of external and statutory reporting requirements and directly support tuition fee processing which is undertaken outside of the current system. In 2017/18 there were approximately 13 400 undergraduate students studying in full time or part time mode on single honours or joint honours programmes. An additional 3 400 students were also studying full time, part time or distance learning postgraduate taught programmes and 200 students were taking research programmes on a full time or part time basis. The University also works with a number of partner institutions and has recently begun increasing its number of apprenticeship programmes. Approximately 6 500 students apply through the current self-service application tool and most students (approximately 15 000) use the current self-service portal to pre-enrol each year. There are over 1 300 staff with a variety of management, academic and administrative roles across the University involving student recruitment, admissions, teaching, assessment, quality assurance and personal tutor and student support who need to access different levels of student data. The University recognises that the student records system is a key and critical system in enabling it to support its future growth, to adapt to changing environments and markets and therefore ensure its financial sustainability.