Swinburne taps education software leader TechnologyOne to help transform student experience

MELBOURNE, 23 May 2022 – Swinburne University of Technology will deliver an enhanced digital experience to its 30,000 students through a major upgrade of its student management system with a modern Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform from industry leader, TechnologyOne.

Swinburne already ranks highly for its student experience. The University was ranked equal first among Victorian universities in the latest 2020 Student Experience Survey administered by Federal government agency, Quality Indicators for Learning and Teaching.

In keeping with its vision for bringing people and technology together to build a better world, Swinburne’s new student system will provide a seamless transition to university life by moving its operations from a legacy on-premise application to an integrated cloud-based Student Portal.

Swinburne’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor Education, Experience and Employability, Professor Sarah Maddison said: “Starting your university life is such an important part of a student’s experience. The new Student Portal will ensure admission and enrolment is seamless, accessible and easy to use.”

“It will put the student at the centre, enabling them to self-manage their enrolment in a few simple steps, from anywhere at any time and from any device. This will allow them to focus on the important things, like learning and engaging in the wide range of experiences that uni life offers,” she said.

Nancy Collins, Swinburne’s Chief Operating Officer said the solution offered by TechnologyOne will ensure Swinburne continues to deliver on its brand promise by adopting leading edge technologies that are next ‘gen_now’, adding incremental value that will enhance the user experience.

“As a university of technology, we remain committed to technology solutions that leverage our expertise and deliver a superior user experience. The move of this key application to the cloud is another part of our continued adoption of an enhanced digital first operating model,” Ms Collins said.

Ms Collins says Swinburne selected TechnologyOne based on its deep experience in the higher education sector, its expertise in managing SaaS transitions in large organisations and its track record for ongoing innovation.

TechnologyOne Chief Executive Officer, Ed Chung, said Swinburne was not alone in seeing the benefits of SaaS.

“The last two years have highlighted the benefits of SaaS to organisations everywhere. In higher education, student management platforms have become a first point of contact between students and their institutions and universities are investing in SaaS platforms as a result,” he said.

“The ability to deliver new and enhanced services is one of the big attractions of SaaS. Behind the scenes it also allows institutions to transform their operations to become more efficient and effective; reducing manual processes and duplication and providing access to accurate, real-time information.”

“It’s also more cost effective. A landmark economic analysis last year by IBRS Research and Insight Economics found Australia’s higher education sector could unlock savings of $8.4 billion over 10 years by replacing ageing its on-premise technology with SaaS,” Mr Chung said.

“We’ve been a leader in this sector for more than 20 years, in part because we invest more than 20% of our revenue each year to drive innovation. Our platform is used by more than 60% of the vocational and higher education institutions in Australasia and more than 1.4 million students,” he said.