The University of Karachi (KU) is set to replace its manual system with an online enterprise resource planning (ERP) and campus-wide management system.
KU is one of the largest public sector universities in the country in terms of infrastructure, and academic as well as administrative functions.
The number of on-campus and off-campus students at the institution has increased significantly during the last decade. As of 2021, on-campus enrollment in 73 departments, research centers, and institutions operating under eight faculties climbed to 45,000, while off-campus enrollment at different degree colleges and allied institutes exceeded 150,000.
The rapid increase in the number of admissions per year since 2000 led to many challenges for faculty members and administrative staff alike in fulfilling their assigned duties efficiently.
To cope with these challenges, former acting Vice-Chancellor, Dr. Khalid Iraqi, in April 2021, decided to shift the administrative work to a computerized system capable of countering red tape that could automate and integrate all the academic and administrative functions of the university.
“The new system would replace the current legacy manual system, mapping all the legacy functionalities and data processing techniques onto the proposed system,” said Physics Department Chairperson, Prof Dr. Imran Ahmad Siddiqui, who leads the three-member committee tasked with searching for a suitable ERP system and CMS for the varsity.
The other members of the committee are Prof Dr. Muhammad Taha of the History Department and Deputy Director Finance, Omer Zubari.
The ERP system is likely to go live in the next few months. It would facilitate the entire teaching community, researchers, staff, and students working in various departments and institutes by providing individual login portals. The faculty members, non-teaching supporting staff, and administrative staff would manage all their academic, research, and administrative activities using their personalized administrative portals.
The system would also be capable of managing online teaching and facilitating communication among students and researchers by using a built-in and tailored Learning Management System (LMS) that would also be used for grading examinations and submissions of results to the examination department.
The new system would also govern the entire admissions process at the KU.
