DIGITAL transformation of India’s higher education sector is the need of the hour. The pandemic has made it clear that universities and colleges need to incorporate state-of-the-art digital technologies and newer business models to keep pace with technology shifts and improve future outcomes. Not just that, there needs to be a renewed emphasis on bridging the digital divide so that access to education is equitable and not just focused on urban areas.

A study conducted in 2021 by VMWare Education Research in association with The Guild Media indicated that 71% of the higher education institutions surveyed in India are looking to invest in digital transformation and integration of new technologies post-Covid19.

Samarth, a University Information Management System project designed and developed by IIC, Delhi University in collaboration with the Ministry of Education) is a step in the right direction. In fact Delhi University is using Amazon Web Services to enable the adoption of Samarth eGov in the higher education sector.

The Samarth eGov suite provides more than 40 software modules covering academics, administration, student services, human resources, governance, accounting, and finance as a cloud-based service to central and state universities, HEIs, and technical institutions in India.

The suite provides universities and HEIs with an automation engine to migrate from paper-based and traditional third-party enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems to a more secure, reliable, and scalable platform that standardizes and automates digital processes and workflows. Using AWS, Samarth eGov helps education institutions enhance the speed and quality of education services making them more agile in adapting to education policy changes and market segment demands. The suite has been adopted by more than 200 universities and HEIs in India, including more than 40 central and state universities, and more than 100 colleges.

“The education sector is undergoing a major transformation, and it became clear that we needed a purpose-built, policy-driven and adaptable platform to support the future needs of education institutions. Samarth eGov is developed as an open-source, highly flexible, interconnected, secure, and scalable platform, delivered on a software-as-a-service model with a cloud-first approach on AWS. It can address the diverse and evolving demands of universities and higher education institutions across India, irrespective of the state they belong to or the language they choose to interface with,” explained Prof. Sanjeev Singh, Joint Director, University of Delhi South Campus.

“The education sector in India is adapting to the post-pandemic era where student expectations are rising and changing, and the engagement between students, administration, and faculty are increasingly expected to be digitally-driven. We congratulate the University of Delhi for embarking on and implementing Samarth eGov, a pioneering initiative in India’s higher education sector, and addressing common challenges faced by education institutions,” said Rahul Sharma, Regional Head, Public Sector – AISPL, AWS India and South Asia. and administrators.”

At the University of Delhi, Samarth eGov has enabled more than 1 million regular and distance learning students to participate in online examinations, supported faculty with online evaluations and grading, and awarded digitally signed blockchain-based degree certificates to more than 360,000 students over the last 24 months during the pandemic, ensuring the continuity of education and career progression for students. From January through July 2022, the university processed more than 663,000 student applications, helping students begin their university journey seamlessly.

With Samarth eGov, students can access basic information on courses, selection criteria, registration, admission, and fee payments online. Education institutions can also enhance student outcomes by automating processes such as managing teaching schedules and freeing up educators’ time to focus on teaching activities, such as providing personalized lessons based on students’ performance. By automating the faculty hiring process and reducing the hiring period of new educators from months to a few days, Samarth eGov ensures that universities and HEIs have enough faculty staff to support student needs and deliver lessons.