A DMINISTRATION OF DISTANCE LEARNING STUDY PROGRAMS IN THE INFORMATION SYSTEM OF H IGHER E DUCATION I NSTITUTIONS Risto Malcheski, Slavcho Chungurski, FON University – Skopje, Macedonia TEMPUS RS-TEMPUS-SMGR

I NTRODUCTION Evolution from traditional to distance learning studies Whole study programs or only parts of study programs can be served as distance learning programs Administration of these study programs can be challenging It should be integrated with the existing information systems Example of functional requirements and business rules

U SERS OF THE INFORMATION SYSTEM External Students Personal profile Exam registration Various inquiries E-learning Alumni Personal profile CV update

U SERS OF THE INFORMATION SYSTEM Internal Management Vice Dean Full Access, not dependent of teaching staff Chief of Student Affairs Full Access, not dependent of teaching staff Mobility Coordinator Defines the compatibility issues Professors Updating the exam results E-learning content Administration Student Affairs Administration of certain segment of student records Administrator Administration of e-learning system and user roles

F UNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS OF THE SYSTEM General requirements Rigid (time and rules must be obeyed) Specific nomenclature of the resources Search, reports and alerts on various data Mail merge and correspondence, envelope printing etc. Student exchange evidence in both directions Academic year and semesters According to the laws, the system provide evidence of various forms of studying Marks Update of the marks, visible for the students Unified lists of registered exams

F UNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS OF THE SYSTEM Study programs and subjects definitions Unified subject coding Basic and elective subjects Study programs, scientific area, subjects, credits Subject dependencies Automatic or manual distribution for study groups per study programs, streams, modules, branches or language Enrolment of students, based on rules for prerequisites according to the study program Level completion and title awards, depending on credits achieved

F UNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS OF THE SYSTEM IDs and student records Each student has separate ID for each study program enrolled Finance Definition of services at the faculty (university) Alert on payments Definition of various types of scholarships Definition of various types of payments and packages Subjects and programs compatibility Mapping of compatible subjects for different study programs, according to decision of mobility coordinator During transfer, all recognized subjects are entered into the student’s record Definition of equivalent subjects between actual and past study programs

F UNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS OF THE SYSTEM Exam registration Electronic registration, automatically filled with background data from the student profile Registration inquiries and lists are completely generated from the system Enrolment Electronic registration Mail delivery confirmation Rankings are generated automatically, based on pre- defined rules

F UNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS OF THE SYSTEM Automatic reports and documents Candidate lists by schools, cities, countries, age, status, average mark, etc… Exam reports Attended, registered, (not)passed etc… Average marks per subject, professor, stream, study group etc… Confirmation reports and documents Passed exams, diploma, diploma supplement, student status etc… Graduation report with scientific areas with their participation in the program (including all subjects) Books of records, filled by student affairs Possibility for electronic export (DOC, DOCX, XLS, PDF, XML)

B USINESS RULES Diploma – three types Plain, issued by the faculty (university) Double, issued by two faculties, separately Common, issued by two faculties, for common study program Marks Each mark has automatic addition of description mark Mark can be integral, with several components (marks from colloquiums, exam, additional activities, note etc.)

B USINESS RULES Academic year and semesters Alerts for students without status, after the final term for enrolment in a proper semester The system rejects exam registration for a subject from semester which is not verified Enrolment of a semester depends on number of credits earned, which is defined by the study program Resources and schedules The composition of study groups can be defined by professor, assistant or demonstrator

B USINESS RULES Study programs and subjects Students can change their study program until their graduation. This is a must, if they repeat an academic year and there is a change of the study programs One faculty has separate study program for each stream and academic year Subjects should be grouped by semester and/or branches Subjects can be defined with parental faculty. Subjects can be mandatory or elective, relational or non-relational Student can not register for exam for relational subject without passing its prerequisites

B USINESS RULES Study programs and subjects (…continued) Subjects are defined in the scope of the faculty (university) with their unified codes for all study programs A subject has only one scientific area, unique code, same class funds and credits for all study programs, professors, language etc… The system should provide information about representations of the scientific area in a study program (%, number of credits, number of subjects) Each student can belong to multiple study groups, defined by the system administrator, according to professor’s recommendation. This distribution can be achieved automatically, also.

B USINESS RULES IDs and student records Student records: personal data, study records and financial records Only chief of student affairs (and predefined officers) can access IDs and marks of the students Main student status: active, conditionally active, stand and unresolved Study modes: regular, work & study (depending of the Law), self-financing and exchange student Student profile status: candidate, student, senior, alumnus, graduated and unsubscribed Additional student status: transferred from external study program, transferred from internal study program, initially enrolled

B USINESS RULES IDs and student records Active student has fulfilled all prerequisites of the study program and has not financial debt Conditionally active student must fulfill his condition to enroll next academic year Stand student is the one who sign written inquiry for his status. If there is a change of study program, during his stand, he must transfer to the new study program. If student has financial debt or violate the final term for semester enrollment, he get unresolved status. All activities are frozen for stand and unresolved students Student can not unsubscribe if he has financial debts.

B USINESS RULES Finance and insurance Financial services are defined in a scope of university, faculty, study program or subject. Students can use scholarships if they fulfill predefined conditions, or by decision of the management. In the system, scholarships are special type of payment model Each student has single payment model. Changes of the model are possible only if the fees by the old model are covered At the time of enrolment of new academic year, student must choose appropriate payment model for that academic year Insurance lists are updated annually.

B USINESS RULES Subjects and programs compatibility Each subject belongs to single scientific area, but multiple study programs and multiple professors In case of transfer, total number of passed exams and earned credits are processed by destination study program. All transferred subjects are automatically inserted as part of destination study program Dean signs a decision note for subject recognition for transfers. Electronic copy of the note is attached in the file of transferred student

B USINESS RULES Exam registration Exam registration is rejected in any case of financial debts Violation of defined terms for certain events are not allowed Student can cancel exam registration until the final term for registration Student status for exam: passed, not passed, not attended, on additional task

B USINESS RULES Enrolment Candidates have unique application ID, related to their profiles Student affairs officers can change faculty, stream or language. After enrolment, application ID is erased and replaced with student ID In case of multiple study programs enrolment, candidates get separate application ID for each study program

B USINESS RULES Automatic reports and documents Partial certificate contain current situation of the student. Full certificate contain information about completed cycle of studies Some reports are confidential and hidden for public There are alerts before printing of documents if the student has some problematic issues. It doesn’t mean that the officer can not issue the document Certificates are printed with templates accepted by the management. They can not contain sudden line and page breaks. Student profile should contain message box. It is used for messages from the officers and professors, but not other students