King Abdulaziz University Selects ITS and Solutions from SunGard Higher Education to Create Next-Generation Digital Campus
Strategic Alliance Formed to Help Build a Global Centre of Education Excellence in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia – 27June 2010: King Abdulaziz University (KAU) has selected solutions from SunGard Higher Education, a global provider of software solutions, strategic consulting and technology management, to help create a connected digital environment that will help transform the institution into a major centre of excellence in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. International Turnkey Systems (ITS), a leading provider of integrated information technology solutions and software services, will lead the implementation project in close consultation with SunGard Higher Education.
“As one of the largest universities in the Middle East, information technology is fundamental to our strategy at KAU and we are engaging leading technology solution providers such as SunGard Higher Education and ITS to help us achieve our vision,” said KAU’s Rector, Professor Osama S. Tayyeb. “This project is a testament to our long-term commitment to create a global centre of excellence in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and thus prepare graduates to cope with the changing needs of the knowledge economy in the region.”
Specifically, KAU will deploy solutions from the Banner Digital Campus including Banner Student, Banner Financial Aid, Banner Advancement, Banner Workflow, Banner Operational Data Store and the Luminis Platform from SunGard Higher Education. All of these solutions will help KAU create a digital campus with collaborative communities and virtual research portals for students, researchers and faculty. Furthermore, the digital campus will help administrators work more efficiently as they connect with other campus systems and resources. It will also support business processes needed for knowledge sharing, awarding financial aid and communication with alumni.
“As one of the largest universities in the Gulf region, KAU has taken on an important role in championing the region’s mission for improved quality of and access to higher education,” said Mathew Boice, vice president, EMEA and India, SunGard Higher Education. “This project is not only helping improve the educational experience for Saudi students, it is also the first step toward building a standardized version of the Banner Digital Campus administrative system for higher education in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”
To further its strategic commitment to education in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, KAU plans to play a central role in defining the Saudi Banner User Group, bringing the user community together and leading an initiative to create a standard Saudi version of Banner Student. This would allow all Saudi universities using SunGard Higher Education’s Banner Student solution to use the same localized version of the software and continue to enhance Banner to support emerging university needs.
“As a supporter of the rapidly growing higher education sector in the region, ITS is proud to be part of this project. It strengthens our resolve, based on our philosophy for an integrated digital campus environment that we call ‘one campus,’ to continue deploying our technical expertise to help build first rate learning environments in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and across the region,” said Khalid Al Amiri, Gulf Regional Director, ITS. “As a company we are committed to supporting the development of education. ITS is a major employer across the region and is proud to recruit talented graduates from the Universities that we serve.”
About King Abdulaziz University
King Abdulaziz University (KAU) carries the name of the establisher of Saudi Arabia- God bless him. This university was established in 1387 H / 1967 G as a national university with a vision to create more opportunities for higher education in the western area of Saudi Arabia.
KAU is not only the largest university in Saudi Arabia, but also one of the most distinguished in terms of some of the unique programs it offers. These include majors in Seas Sciences, Geology, Nuclear Engineering, Medical Engineering, Meteorology and Aviation as well as Mineralization. The university is also considered as one of the pioneers of women education in Saudi Arabia.
The adoption of the government to this young university and the continuous support was of great effect on changing King Abdulaziz University to a modern university with a number of students that now amounts to 140,000 male and female students. The university also occupies a distinguished place among higher education institutions in Saudi Arabia.
King Abdulaziz University includes two separate campuses according to Islamic regulations one for males and another for females. Each of these campuses is provided with all cultural, recreational and athletic facilities, in addition to a big library equipped the most up to date technology to serve students and the teaching staff. Within four decades, the university becomes one of the outstanding higher education institutions on the local and international level.
About ITS
International Turnkey Systems - ITS established in 1981, with more than 3,000 employees in 24 regional offices, is a leading integrated information technology solutions and software services provider, offers superior products and services that enable organizations to keep pace with the evolving changes in today's competitive business environment, and to meet future challenges and opportunities. www.its.ws
About SunGard Higher Education
SunGard Higher Education serves colleges, universities and foundations in 40 countries worldwide. Through its Open Digital Campus strategy, SunGard collaborates with the higher education community and provides software and services to help institutions find better ways to teach, learn, manage and connect. www.sungardhe.com
About SunGard
SunGard is one of the world’s leading software and technology services companies. SunGard has more than 20,000 employees and serves 25,000 customers in 70 countries. SunGard provides software and processing solutions for financial services, higher education and the public sector. SunGard also provides disaster recovery services, managed IT services, information availability consulting services and business continuity management software. With annual revenue exceeding $5 billion, SunGard is ranked 380 on the Fortune 500 and is the largest privately held business software and IT services company. For more information, please visit www.sungard.com.
Trademark information: SunGard, the SunGard logo, Banner, Luminis and Open Digital Campus are trademarks or registered trademarks of SunGard Data Systems Inc. or its subsidiaries in the U.S. and other countries. All other trade names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.