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In the past, BAU faced serious scheduling conflicts at the beginning of each semester, which led to under-utilization of campus facilities. At any one time, only up to 60% of classroom and teaching laboratories were used.
In August, BAU integrated UniversiTools Classroom Scheduler and Alternative Scheduler (Common Time Locator) developed by White Mountain Technologies. The university, established in Beirut since 1960, has 15,000 students enrolled in over 300 academic programs across campuses in Lebanon and is affiliated with Alexandria University in Egypt.
According to Dr. Walid Shatila, BAU I.T. Director and Professor, “Assigning courses to classrooms used to be a two-week process that dragged into the first week of a semester. For the fall semester, we scheduled courses in a matter of hours.”
“We effectively freed 30% of our classrooms and laboratories, which had been frozen due to space allocation conflict,” explains Dr. Shatila. “We’re able to offer more courses, and the return on investment is here and now.”
With UniversiTools, BAU centralized scheduling for the first time, with the option that Faculties can allocate classrooms for their courses.
If changes to classroom schedules must be made after allocation, BAU simply selects a classroom and clicks to view all available classrooms with no conflict for professors, students or location. Previously, once a classroom had been scheduled, the decision to change course location required a hectic return to the design board.
For Ghassan Abboud, Managing Director of White Mountain Technologies, space is a campus resource that should be productively used to advance the strategic goals of a university.
Abboud explains, “The practical results that universities get with UniversiTools can be used to maximize schedule courses during non-peak times and to realize energy savings. Administrators can monitor the quality of their facilities, determine furnishing needs, and better coordinate between units responsible for maintaining and upgrading a campus.”
In addition to classroom and alternative scheduling, UniversiTools scheduling solution includes Course Scheduler and Exam Scheduler modules. The scheduling suite works alongside large scale campus solutions, such as Banner and CampusVue, as well as with UniversiTools process-based student information system (SIS).
UniversiTools software caters to multilingual universities. Members of the UniversiTools user community in the Middle East include such universities as American University of Beirut (AUB) in Lebanon, American University in Dubai (AUD) and American University of Ras Al Khaimah (AURAK) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
For a 15-minute presentation about UniversiTools university software, contact White Mountain Technologies (WhiteMountainTechnologies.com) or submit the online request form at UniversiTools.com/.
About UniversiTools
UniversiTools (or University Tools) software system is comprised of a comprehensive Student Information System (SIS), scheduling modules (course scheduling, classroom scheduling, exam scheduling, and common time locator), and management modules (career center and alumni center).
UniversiTools modules run as stand-alone or integrate seamlessly with existing Student Information Systems (SIS) used by many universities, such as Banner Unified Digital Campus and CampusVue.
UniversiTools (UniversiTools.com) complements other education administration software from White Mountain. Skoolee Tools school management software and student information system (SIS) is designed specifically for national and American curriculum schools in the Middle East and North Africa.
BaseCamp LMS (learning management system) helps medium to large companies and organizations manage their executive and professional education and training requirements.
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