Digital is the new era for KU

The University of Karachi (KU) is planning to replace its manual system with an online ERP and campus-wide administration system. In terms of infrastructure, academics and administrative functions, KU is one of the country's largest public institutions.

During the previous decade, the number of on-campus and off-campus students at the university have expanded dramatically. On-campus enrolment in 73 departments, research centres, and institutions under eight faculties reached 45,000 students in 2021, while off-campus enrolment at various degree colleges and allied institutes surpassed 150,000.

Since 2000, the significant increase in the number of admissions per year has presented numerous obstacles for faculty and administrative staff in performing their assigned jobs effectively.

To meet these problems, previous interim Vice-Chancellor Dr. Khalid Iraqi decided in April 2021 to move administrative operations to a computerised system capable of reducing red tape and automating and integrating all of the university's academic and administrative functions.

"The new system would replace the current legacy manual system, translating all legacy features and data processing processes onto the proposed system," said Prof Dr. Imran Ahmad Siddiqui, chair of the three-member committee tasked with finding a suitable ERP system and CMS for the university.

Professor Dr. Muhammad Taha of the History Department and Deputy Director Finance, Omer Zubari, are the other members of the committee.

The ERP system is expected to be operational within the next few months. Individual login portals would help the entire teaching community, researchers, staff, and students working in various departments and institutes. Faculty, non-teaching support personnel, and administrative employees would use their personalised administrative portals to manage all of their academic, research, and administrative operations.

Using a built-in and customised Learning Management System (LMS), the system would also be capable of organising online teaching and promoting communication among students and researchers, as well as grading examinations and submitting results to the examination department. The new approach would also control the University of Kansas' whole admissions process.