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Xavier
Institute of Management, Bhubaneshwar (XIMB) has developed a software
solution for academic institutions as a part of a project in collaboration
with the University of Antwerp, Belgium. The software package titled
‘Academic Inform-ation Systems’ covers areas like Academic
Administration, Academic Collaboration and Knowledge Management
within the academic environment. It has been operational in XIMB
for two years but will now be available to other institutes for
a price.
Fr
Abraham, director, XIMB, said, “At XIMB we have always believed
in technology for greater good. We believe in sharing knowledge
and would therefore like to offer our innovations to other institutes.
We hope that they will benefit from it as extensively as we have.”
The
first component is a database client server application that will
help the academic office of an institute to administer all aspects
of their system. The specific areas which come under its purview
are—maintenance of databases about students, faculty, courses,
academic sessions, grades; and generation of transactional and analytical
reports to make the academic system more efficient and effective.
The
second component can be integrated with the intranet facility of
an institute. It will provide Web-based interface to the faculty
and students to interact with the system. Students can register
for courses, view their grades, provide course feedback and participate
in course quizzes. Similar features for evaluation, discussion forums
for courses are available to the faculty.
The
third component is a collaboration and knowledge management system
based on Lotus Notes. This would help students and the faculty members
maintain course material, research work, project reports and assignments
in addition to the chat, bulletin board and white board.
Prof
Gopal Nayak of XIMB, the architect of this package, remarked, “This
software package, ideally suited for autonomous management institutes,
will facilitate dissemination and exchange of knowledge and smooth
academic administration. From updating the registration database
to conducting instant polls among students, this package caters
to a variety of needs providing a constant platform for interaction.”
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