University of Sharjah partners with SunGard SCT to bring new medical school online and enhance student services

As announced by SunGard SCT, an operating unit of SunGard (NYSE:SDS), the project will feature the implementation of SCT Banner and the SCT Luminis product family, allowing UoS to create a Unified Digital Campus, an environment that serves the academic, business, and technology needs of higher education institutions.

"The vision of the University of Sharjah is to become a leading academic institution in the Middle East, and a world-recognized university, by meeting our students' educational and cultural needs in a manner consistent with Islamic values and traditions," said Professor Ismail Al Bishri, chancellor, University of Sharjah. "To achieve this vision and to deliver a high quality learning environment, we must bring all our people, processes, and technologies together in a Unified Digital Campus. SunGard SCT is helping make our Unified Digital Campus a reality by seamlessly integrating our administrative and educational information and services, speeding up decision-making processes, and providing a resource gateway for all students and faculties."

The university is adopting the SCT Banner administrative suite to underpin its Unified Digital Campus. SCT Banner is an Internet-based technology solution used by more than 800 universities worldwide for a wide-range of university processes, including student services, human resources, advancement, and finance. The UoS also selected SCT Luminis Foundation, a companion technology for SCT Banner that provides portal, enterprise application, collaboration, data integration, and Web content management functionality.

Bringing administrative processes online with SCT Banner helps universities like UoS to give more focus and support to their students by increasing access to both learning opportunities and university resources, while bringing together university constituents through the formation of communities, study groups, and more. When used in tandem with the SCT Luminis Platform, the technologies interact seamlessly through a collaborative portal platform to provide universities with an online Unified Digital Campus accessible and customizable by all university constituents.

With its existing eight colleges, and the colleges of Medicine, Pharmacy and Dentistry established in 2004 upon instructions from His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Mohamed Al Qassemi, Member of the Supreme Council, Ruler of Sharjah and Supreme President of the University of Sharjah, the University is gearing up to become one of the largest campuses in the region. The establishment of these three colleges reflects his Highness's vision of the University of Sharjah as a credible institution of higher education offering high quality programs in all fields to meet the growing needs of the UAE community.

"University of Sharjah City is driving forward into Medical, Pharmacy, and Dentistry faculty areas, at the same time wishing to extend the scope and quality of existing student services. This is a very exciting time to be working with the university and this initiative is further proof of its commitment to excellence and student services," said Mathew Boice, general manager Middle East, SunGard SCT. "SCT Banner and SCT Luminis Foundation will help constituents to tailor their university experiences. Students can access university information, library resources, and class schedules, and organize their extra curricular activities, all while being able to communicate freely with their classmates and teachers. The University of Sharjah is taking great strides to provide a Unified Digital Campus environment that helps foster the achievement of full potential among its students, faculty, and staff."