India's first cloud-based system to drive 8 mn varsity students' admission

US-based Campus Management Corp has partnered Maharashtra government to roll out a single-window system for students' end-to-end solutions during the admission process.

In a move that will see creation of a single-window system for university students in Maharashtra, US-based edtech company Campus Management Corporation has partnered with the state government to roll out a cloud-based centralised structure to manage and track admission process.

The project, reportedly the first of its kind initiative in India, will digitalise the administrative and academic processes of all the 14 non-technical universities in the state. 

The University Management System (UMS), which will be kicked off next week, will drive the admission process of about 8 million students for non-technical courses in Maharashtra from next year. US-based IT services provider UST Global is also a part of the project.

“We will track the students for the entire college cycle beginning from allotment of college to career services," said Raj Mruthyunjayappa, managing director, Campus Management Corporation.

UMS will look at all the criteria, including academic scores and reservation category of the candidates, before assigning them colleges. It will then track the academic performance, grades and attendance of the students through its cloud-based software. As the academic cycle gets over, UMS will connect the industry with the students' base for employment opportunities.

The whole system has been built by the Bengaluru team of the company on the Microsoft Azure cloud platform, which is one of the oldest partners of the US-based edtech firm.

Campus Management Corporation has started the process of hiring for the new Mumbai office, which will have about 100 engineers by the end of the year to track the system. 

At 440, the company has the highest employee base in India around the globe. The Indian team also manages its sales and services outside America.

Among its major clients in India, the National Skill Development Corporation is already using Campus Management Corporation's platform. Last year, Maharashtra's Directorate of Vocational Education and Training project came on the Campus Management Corporation platform.

The company also provides software across the full student life cycle to 30 colleges in India, including IIM Udaipur.

Even though India is the second biggest market for the firm, the company does not see it surpassing the mature US market in the foreseeable future, the company's chief executive officer, Jim Milton, said.

With clients in over 35 countries, Milton said the company will be expanding its footprint to newer geographies in Latin America.

Campus Management Corporation has already set up operations in five new countries in the past two months, including South Africa, Nigeria, Spain, Portugal, and Denmark.