Editorial

University of Sussex to digitally transform student and academic services

Aim to better support the entire student lifecycle from admission to graduation, transforming ways of working, says the Uni – all to help enrich interactions with alumni and empowering staff, partners and students

Posted 21 June 2017 by Gary Flood


The University of Sussex says it’s going to transform its student and academic services in what’s being described by a multi-million-pound deal with enterprise software vendor TechnologyOne,

The latter’s Student Management Software as a Service (SaaS) solution will replace the University’s in-house student record system, all part of an on-going major programme to transform the experience for its students before, during and after their studies.

The programme will begin by modernising its administration services with a significant investment over a three-year period. TechnologyOne will begin working with the University this month, with the first phase of the solution set to be deployed in mid-2018.

The software supports the entire student lifecycle from admission to graduation, transforming ways of working, enriching interactions with alumni and empowering staff, partners and students.

“Prior to selecting TechnologyOne’s Student Management solution, we ran our own in-house student record system,” said Sharon Jones, Academic Registrar, University of Sussex. “But it was proving to be complex, costly to manage and challenging to keep up to date with changing legislation and regulations in higher education.”

Student Management is also “very much in sync with our own approach to delivering excellent services for students and staff that deliver value for money”, Jones added.

She also says that the software was only chosen after an in-depth consultation period and structured procurement process in order to ensure that the right technology partner was selected to meet the University’s objectives. TechnologyOne was shortlisted to a final three before being selected as the University’s preferred technology supplier.

For Roger Phare, Operating Officer for TechnologyOne in the UK, the contract shows how, “By harnessing true cloud technology, we are able to deliver a Student Management solution that is highly scalable, offers automatic updates, is accessible via any Internet enabled device and offers continuous innovation and improvements.

“By taking responsibility for everything from building to supporting and running the software we will free up the University to focus on its core expertise of delivering first class higher education.”

The vendor also says the Sussex deal is evidence of its commitment to the UK Higher Education market, complementing its University of Lincoln 2016 Student Management deployment.

TechnologyOne is Australia’s largest enterprise software company, with offices in six countries. It claims over 1000 “leading corporations, government departments and statutory authorities” are powered by its software.