Software development for national universities in Argentina

Author : María de Luján Gurmendi
Date added : 2000-08-15

Brief Project Background

Results

An experiences in software development for National Universities in Argentina

Objectives

The Secretariat of Superior Education (SSE) has organized the "University Information System -UIS" as part of the Higher Education Reform Program - HERP . The main goal of the UIS Program is to provide the higher education system, universities and the Secretariat of University Policies with the elements needed to access better quality information - quality here meaning reliability, completeness, availability and integrity. This is achieved through development of systems, offer of packaged software, purchase of hardware, etc.
The projects of the UIS Program encourage efficient and efficacious management and generation of information with a view to the adequate use of resources.

Philosophy

The system is based on cooperation in the creation of the culture of transparency, of rendering account. It is also based on participation by interchanging experiences, increasing efficiency in the distribution of resources, encouraging teamwork, and the development of the necessary agreements to make better use of the numerous possibilities available in the whole of the university system.

Initial Situation

This item includes geographical, politico-structural, social and psychological elements.
The new Law of Higher Education and the new Law of Financial Administration have brought about a fundamental change in the government of national universities. More autonomy has been given for decisions related to the administration of human and financial resources. There has been a need for internal and external evaluation. These guidelines are faced with a situation with the following main characteristics:
Diversity in the 37 national universities as far as:

• dimension, which may range between 150 and 180,000 students
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• organization - by schools or departments
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• geographical situation - they are located all over the country
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• socio-economic situation, which implies diverse access to information and training
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• Very few computerized systems, most of them not integrated
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• Insufficient knowledge of the usage of information in making decisions
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• Lack of uniform encoding of variables in the university system
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• Highly diversified criteria for the solution of problematic issues
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• Cultural resistance from national universities to centralized projects coordinated from Buenos Aires and the Ministry, and cultural resistance to projects financed by the Bank
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• Lack of institutional evaluation

What we do

We make a different actions that helped to get the goals

• development of management and information systems
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• training for users in clerical jobs, authorities in the related areas and computer science technicians
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• distribution of hardware and software
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• technical advice and setting of technological standards

The project with institutions has had to be flexible and dynamic enough to be slowly adapted to an unprecedented experience in the Argentine university system.

The first step was to provide information for the SSE, which created a system for collecting statistical data that would provide that information. In 1995, the first physical and logical models of the project were introduced. However, the productivity of these systems of statistics was questioned due to the lack of reliability on the information given by the universities. Thus, in 1996, management systems started to be developed for those universities which would guarantee the integrity of the data supplied.

This posed a challenge because of the diversity and insufficient human and economic resources of universities. A need to change work strategy arose, focusing attention on universities where managerial, operational and beneficiary users were located.

The CAS - UIS Managing Commission was set up, which is made up of three full members and seven advisers and SUP university representatives.

Due to the difficulties caused by the impact of the introduction of formal and automated systems, the system was divided into parts or subsystems called modules. This allowed work to be directed to specific areas that include the main university management areas such as: Financial Management, Personnel Management, Academic Management, Student Statistics, Academic Offer, etc. Consolidating modules of information for the SUP were created as well, building up a base for decision making and statistical information.

Given the autonomy of institutions, modules had to be accepted rather than imposed by a central organism. That defined the strategy to follow: universities should take an active role, feel part of the process. Besides, systems should improve management and be a useful tool for making decisions, as well as, presently, prove to be self-sustainable.

The starting point was to take a subsystem that had already been developed by one university and adapt it to all universities, with the SSE still keeping track of the global system. A development of the Universidad Nacional de Rio Cuarto was used for the financial and economic area, and another one belonging to the Universidad Nacional del Centro was used for personnel management. This meant getting to know the reality of each university while meeting the requirements of the SSE.

To determine needs and requirements, it is essential to rely on constant and correct communication, through direct contact with the universities, the SSE and the UIS Program. Since the system is divided into modules, a significant part of the structure of communication is carried out in the following way: universities and SSE have a representative for each module which acts as a link with the UIS Program. When the issue is of a generic nature, communication is established through the University rector.

A committee of users is formed for each module, made up of 8 or 12 universities and SSE, and their objective is to discuss the evolution of the systems and determine priority of needs expressed by the rest of the university system. Those universities which do not take part in the committees submit their requirements through different ways of communication, by filling in grids so as to standarize requests. Initially, these were faxed or mailed in, but e-mail or ICQ have been used since the RIU project was put into practice.

Users committees soon became environments for the interchanging of experiences, which showed that, regardless of university magnitude or geographical location, problems are similar. The UIS Program, constantly supervising and managing tasks, encourages the interchange of material (partial developments certain universities had already created). Thus, it creates a culture of economy of effort and appropriate exploitation of resources.

In the implementation of modules, the lack of training of different users was evidenced - that led to implementing a series of courses, seminars and workshops, both regional and national, adapted to the various geographical, structural and organization circumstances in order to achieve equity.

Trainers belonging to the universities were formed. This personnel is characterized by being skilled in clerical tasks and by their ability to communicate. They are especially trained by the UIS Program in computer systems and since there is a need for a system to be installed, these are the people who will prepare agents from other universities in the subjects they specialize in. These trainers take an active part in the conduction of courses.

The UIS Program having reached a significant level of credibility, work began on developments which did not use other university systems as a starting point. New tools and methodologies, which are virtually unknown to most of the university system, are applied in these new developments.

Development committees were set up, with representatives from 6 or 8 universities. Members, in this case, are computer experts with multiple levels of knowledge. Full commitment is required from the parts involved, keeping in constant touch via documents which, in their final drafts, are signed by all participating members.

In modules where specific work is required, universities were invited to set up a pilot group. According to the needs, these groups work on testing, as in the case of the academic module or in the creation of the single database for libraries.

In order to complement these activities, we offer technical advice for universities through visits of computer experts, accompanied by SUP personnel or from other institutions, so as to provide assistance on a specific or global issue.

Workshops and seminars are offered to the university community in order to keep up with the latest technology. Workshops deal with issues such as: The Year 2000, Safety on Internet, Systems Auditing, training in the usage of development tools, Informix and Power Builder. Most universities do not offer courses of study on computer science, nor appropriate equipment - these projects are designed to form groups highly skilled in new technologies and to keep universities up to date, regardless of distance and socio-economic circumstances.

Universities are provided with software tools, such as relational database and programming language, as well as appropriate documentation to be used as data models for any further institutional developments to be compatible with the systems offered by the Program.

Interchange of projects is encouraged, projects which should meet the technological standards set by the Program to achieve a real economy of effort.

All these activities are complemented by others such as user assistance, coordination and development of the Web site and coordination of networks.

As far as internal methodology of system development is concerned, the UIS Program has adopted a structure that foresees the documentation of the different stages of development of the system and its later transfer to the computer science personnel at the universities. This aspect has made it easier for experts to take part in the different committees, and it has simplified the implementation of the systems in their respective universities. Moreover, further work is being done on quality control of individual developments and their corresponding publication, so that the same principles can be progressively adopted by all institutions.

Actual situation

Most of the universities are using the systems and also they changed the process to be able to have better information.

Other results are available which are nearly impossible to measure or too costly to do so, but which, however, should be taken into special consideration. There is a cultural change that this process is causing, which, although difficult to measure, is clear when selecting strategies or policies in an institution. For instance, until not long ago, training aimed to clerical or secretarial personnel was considered an expenditure rather than an investment. Universities have come to see the importance of training and have submitted projects to the SSE.

The usage of integrated systems has given authorities access to readily available and reliable information that would allow the making of decisions. It has also changed the everyday chores of agents by turning a merely formal task into one of quality control of information.

Keys

The keys to this task are:
1. Clear objectives
2. Dynamic methodology, based on full participation and information feedback
3. Availability of training, encouragement of equity, fomenting personal and institutional growth
4. Encouragement of interrelation between institutions in subject areas
5. Encouragement of interrelation between different areas in the same institution
6. Autonomy of universities
7. Management that allows real participation of all parts involved
8. True commitment form the UIS Program, producing with responsibility and reliability

Project Information

Total budget in US$ : -

Contact Information

María de Luján Gurmendi

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