UoB Completes the First Phase of Developing the New Student Information Management System Dr. Al-Mudhahka: Electronic Services Are Being Developed in Line with The Government’s Approach to Digitalization

Sakhir – University of Bahrain (Khadijah Abdusalem)

8 May 2023

The University of Bahrain (UoB) announced the launch of the updated version of the Student Information Management System (SIS), after the completion of the first phase of developing the system to include all electronic student services offered.

The UoB President, Dr. Jawaher bint Shaheen Al-Mudhahka, confirmed the National University’s keenness to continuously develop its electronic services being offered to students and professors, using the latest technologies, in line with the Kingdom of Bahrain’s approach to digital transformation and cloud computing.

She added that UoB has taken important steps in the past few years towards digital transformation, including dispensing with paper-based transactions to a very large extent, in addition to developing the electronic systems used, in order to keep pace with the large and rapid developments taking place in the international academic community, and to facilitate the interaction of students and professors with these systems and provides them with the most comprehensive information.

For her part, the Dean of Admission and Registration, Dr. Amal Zayed Al-Zayed, mentioned that the project to develop the SIS comes within the University’s strategic projects in developing student services, and all sub-systems of the system will be developed successively for faculty and staff members.

Moreover, Dr. Al-Zayed said the Deanship of Admission and Registration, with the support of the University Administration, began looking into all the possibilities that would develop the SIS as it is the center of the study period for each student, in cooperation with the Information Technology Center at the University, which made a great effort to reach this result, in the interest of facilitating all operations for students and teachers alike.

While the Director of the Information Technology Center at the University, Wael Mohammed Attia, stated that the SIS was designed using (serverless) technologies on cloud computing (Amazon Web Services – AWS), which allows the creation and operation of software applications without creating and managing servers or the infrastructure of electronic systems through traditional methods, as this design relies on cloud computing services to host and manage applications for electronic systems.

In addition, he added some of the benefits of such design include: reducing costs, because it is based on the principle of paying for the actual use of applications and services, and saving time, as it enables developers and system managers to focus on developing applications and services, rather than focusing on managing servers and infrastructure, as well as its great flexibility in accommodating user requests for these applications, while increasing the required resources automatically or as scheduled, according to the activities that require it. Moreover, the system has the ability to expand, as it can expand quickly according to the current demand and users’ usage, without the need for a lot of effort and time to expand the infrastructure. It is worth noting that UoB is the first institution in the education sector in the Kingdom and one of the first government agencies to use these technologies locally.

Furthermore, Attia added that in the context of student services, the method of entering the system using the student’s e-mail was introduced, as the new technology (Single sign-on) linked to logging into Office 365 was used, which is a centralized entry method that ensures the student’s entry to all of the University’s E-Systems through a single login, which contributes to saving time and effort while ensuring greater protection for the user.

Attia pointed to the features of the updated version, the most important of which are: improving the user interface of the system, which was done using the latest technologies in the field of software and cloud computing, enabling users to work on the system from all types of devices, such as a desktop computer, laptop, mobile phone, or tablet, with the same ease and flexibility in browsing the system, while providing high performance and better information security.

Students can inquire and request more information by contacting the Student Service Center on (00973) 16633366 or by e-mail studentcc@uob.edu.bh. during official working days from eight in the morning until four in the afternoon.