The University of Ulster has signed an ITO contract with IBM to improve reporting, analysis and forward planning. The planned IT platform will help to provide staff with an overview of how the university is performing across most key areas, including dropout rates, the percentage of students getting a good degree result, student retention by course and university expenditure.

In a statement the company said “Universities are facing more pressures today than ever before. There are more quality higher education institutions for prospective students to choose from, leading to increased competition for student applications. At the same time, there are new financial pressures as the Government cuts higher education funding.”

Patrick McLaughlin, database development manager at the University of Ulster commented: “We have always been committed to ensuring that our students have the best education experience possible, while attracting a high numbers of applications. But it is impossible for a university of our size to do this if it doesn’t have an accurate overview of what does and doesn’t work, and understand the best path to take for the future.”