Knowledge Base

1. Student Administration System

The Student System is a major component of the total suite of ITS Integrator since it handles the
“core function”; of record keeping of all students and the lifecycle of a student from admission
through to graduation.

The functionality to manage quotas for applications and registrations are
also maintained here. This allows for managing the amount of students allowed for a qualification
and at the same time, reserving places for repeating students. It even makes provision for a Student
Education Plan that a student might need or want to aid during student counselling interventions.

1.1 Academic Structure Module

This module contains the type of information that is usually contained in the institution’s calendar.  Its major components are in respect of:

• Qualifications:
  • The diplomas and certificates offered by the institution, with provision for splitting a “formal qualification” into many “internal qualifications

• Subjects:
  • All subjects/papers offered by the institution, allowing for semesterisation and a flexible user-defined examination structure. Subjects/papers can be made up of any number of modules, with the structuring of module completion rules.

• Curriculum:
  • The structure of subjects/papers linked to the internal qualification towards which it may be taken.

Rules pertaining to admission criteria, enrolment/registration, test marks, progression, examination entry, completion and graduation, etc. are defined in the relevant system modules of the Student Administration System. All structures related to fees (tuition, registration, residence, excursion, materials, etc.) are defined in the Student Debtor system 

Details of Short Courses can be maintained in the system (with an abbreviated Academic Structure), supporting the application, registration and billing of short course students. 

1.2 Enquiries Module

Two fully integrated system modules manage the process of initial enquiry received from prospective students to offers being made, and the acceptance thereof by applicants.

Student’s enquiries as well as applications can be handled in a number of ways, which includes:

• Telephonic enquiries with the logging of all relevant detail
• Paper based applications received from applicants
• Enquiries received using the enquiry facility in the Student iEnabler (self-service) system module 

The system fully supports applications by international students using recruiting agents, the remuneration of these agents, etc.  Application for attendance of Short Courses can be handled in these system modules as well. 

1.3 Applications and Admissions Module

This system module allows comprehensive records to be kept in respect of applicants, which can assist in the selection process. Applicants can apply for any number of qualification choices and can be selected on the basis of scores calculated from school leaving results (Swedish Rating and Weighted Rating schemas can be set up for each Program/Qualification). 

This rating can be modified per qualification to weigh some subjects relative to the norm. Selection can be done by the system on the basis of these scores, or manually, or by a combination of these two means. A facility exists which allows the institution to upload the school leaving results electronically from the education department (depending of the availability of the information in the country of operation).

All information collected at the application stage is retained on the system for use when successful applicants eventually register/enrol.

1.4 Registration Module

Student registration (enrolment) can either be done by personnel of the institution or by students through the use of the Student self-service application. 

The registration process essentially consists of recording biographical detail (if this does not already exist), the programme/qualification and the subject for which the student wishes to register.  A unique Student Number is automatically generated on the entry of the first set of Biographical data of the student. 

This system allows for the registration of:

• New and continuing students (re-enrolment)  
• Pre- and Post Graduate students

for qualifications and subjects as defined in the Academic Structure for the relevant study period. The linking of students to subjects, in which exemption is given, e.g. Credit for Previous Studies or the recognition of prior studies, is provided. Linking of students to the relevant campus is automatically done during registration. 

Registration can be done either via the back office or self-service.  Self-Service allows the student to do a one-stop registration process off-campus. Students can generate total actual cost of study invoice before they register using the Self-Service.

Various validations are built in the system, which includes:

• qualifications offered on a campus
• subjects valid for a qualification
• subjects/programmes offered on specific campus
• checks on academic and residence admission 
• checks on against the structure of Pre- and Co-requisites for both qualifications and subjects
• checks for clashes in the lecturing and examination timetables
• checks if the student has been excluded from the subject, qualification or Faculty/School
• checks for defined registration limitations, e.g. insufficient (or owing) funds, disciplinary actions, etc. 

Residence applications and registration can be managed in the system via the back-office and self-service.

1.5 Student Biographical Administration

The system makes provision for the capturing of a large amount of personal information about the student. 

This includes:

• Biographical information (name, surname SA Id number, passport number, birthdate, etc.
• Contact persons (student, parents, account contact, siblings etc)
• Address information of each of the contacts
• Other contact details (telephone number, fax, mobile phone, email address etc) of each of the contacts
• Disabilities
• Schools attended
• School leaving subjects completed.

The system has special logic that will create student numbers

• Unique to the TVET college environment (this is set up during installation)
• A user defined starting number within the college numbers.

The Certificates required from prospective students can be defined & maintained on the system.  

1.6 Link Students to Lectures that offers the subject

The system makes provision for the: 

• Definition of different group types i.e.  Class, Practical and Tutorial groups. 
• User defined group values for the different group types are linked to subject / offering type (Campus) combinations
• These group types and value are linked to lecturers.
• Student registers for a subject and is then linked to 
• Separate class lists are produced for each of the group types and groups, as defined in this section.

The ITS Integrator Lecturer iEnabler system provides online real-time access to the ITS Integrator system, enabling academic personnel of the institution to gain access through secure logons to the data of student groups assigned to them. The system provides for the entering of test and examination marks in various formats directly into the ITS Integrator system. Navigation throughout the Lecturer iEnabler system is user-friendly with drill-down facilities and the availability of summarized or detailed information where applicable.

Personal timetable information, as entered in the ITS Integrator system, can be viewed by individual academic personnel. 

Lecturing personnel can view academic programme and course/subject/module information of students assigned to them, using the Lecturer iEnabler system. 

The ITS Integrator Lecturer iEnabler system provides for the entering of test/assignment and examination marks directly into the standard ITS Integrator system. 

1.7 Study Records 

This system module allows for the measurement of progress of a student and to ensure that the necessary administrative quality controls are adhered to.

All mark entry can be done by lecturing personnel through the Lecturer iEnabler (self-service) system.   

It must be noted that the Study Record System fully provides for the up-loading and down-loading of marks to the Department of Higher Education and Training and the Examinations authority. 

Subsequent to registration there is provision for:

• Structuring Grading Schemas (can be down to the level of different schemas for each subject/paper)
• Final mark to pass the subject/paper and the allocation of symbols (evaluation can be either Mark Based, Competency Based, or based on Professional Judgment)
• Whether an examination forms part of the evaluation process or not. If so, the ratio between the full period mark (assessments done during the study period) and the examination mark is user defined
• If a subject/paper has an examination component, the number and duration of examination papers, the weighting between papers, exam paper sub-minimums, etc. 
• The structuring of assessments per subject/paper or module. This includes:

• • Types of Assessment for the subject/paper (i.e. written assessments, oral assessments, practical work, etc.)
  • Number of assessments per assessment type
  • Weighting of assessment types (called Mark types) to calculate a full period subject/paper mark
  • Minimum mark to pass each assessment
  • Whether an assessment is compulsory or not
  • Assessment due dates
  • Number of re-submissions allowed per assessment, etc.   
• A facility exists to aggregate marks in all combinations.
• The entering of marks for tests, assignments, etc., which can be done on the level of question (if required), either academically of numerically, based on student number. 
• Facilities to programmatically adjust marks and results based on user-defined parameters
• Identification of students who qualify for merit awards and the linking of such awards to students
• Identification of possible graduates, recording of graduation detail and printing of graduation lists
• Managing the whole process of graduation
• Recording of In-Service training in cases where such training is required
• Sending user-defined letters to groups of students selected on the basis of user-defined criteria
• Numerous options for the printing of academic records, transcripts, results, class lists, examination schedules, etc.
• Handling of Unit Standards
• Structured examination mark release, and the withholding of results for outstanding fees, disciplinary action, etc.

1.8 Student Absentees

Student attendance can be recorded on the system by either using the back office “Attendance Register” or the same program on the Lecturer iEnabler.  This program is dependent on the setups on the Lecturing Timetable.  The calculation of the attendance is done programmatically and displays on the student’s progress report as a percentage value.

1.9 Graduation Management

The Graduation systems consists of two areas:

• Academic management 

• Event management

When planning graduation, each ceremony is managed as an event.  Venues are allocated to graduation events and planning can be done per venue and ceremony.  Checklists of items are created with due dates, dependencies and costs attached. Student seating allocations are done and seating cards are printed.  

Identifying and managing academic progression to graduation, students are auto selected against validations mandatory for graduation qualification

Certificate numbers are allocated and certificates can either be printed via the system or a systems generated electronic file can be supplied to a third party for the printing of the certificates.

To make provision for the executing of ceremonies at remote campuses an offline system is available for the managing of the student placing, printing of seating tickets, attendance indication, etc.  This can be updated and data can be uploaded to the back-office system.