Celebrating its fiftieth birthday, Hasselt University is a young Belgian university with campuses in Hasselt and Diepenbeek. Known as an innovative university which has a pronounced international orientation, it stands for excellence in education, top research in spearhead fields, and active commitment to innovation and entrepreneurship.
As a civic university, Hasselt University wants its education to have an impact on its region. Offering programmes matching regional needs, in synergy with the institution’s top research, is an important starting point.
With a unique educational model, characterised by activated teaching in small groups and by direct mutual feedback between student and teacher, Hasselt University creates a safe framework in which they challenge all students with innovative teaching methods to actively participate in their learning process. Through guided self-study, students are supported in their growth towards autonomous and lifelong learning.
A New Approach
To enable the flexibility of specialisations and individual study options for their students, Hasselt University needed a new approach for their teaching and resource planning.
Manual processes and outdated applications were strained to cope with the flexibility and growth of the curriculum offered and the increased student numbers.
“Hasselt University knew that it must introduce new timetabling solutions to replace manual processes, to cope with growth, and provide greater support for staff and students,” said Saskia Bas, Director of Educational Office & Student Services at Hasselt University. “Our goal? The study career of our students and the optimal use of our resources to support student success.”
“With Semestry, we gained smart scheduling technology and in partnership with the consultants, we learned how to make the best use of the system. To support our team and our faculty, we worked through the planning and building phases of scheduling, including how to build, deliver, and publish the right timetables for our students and staff,” continued Saskia. “In addition, thanks to intensive cooperation, the Semestry team also gained more insight into day-to-day usage which can be used for further optimisation of the software.” concluded Saskia.
Benefits and Results
Hasselt University is realising the benefits of its new timetabling solution, including:
- Personalised timetables that reflect student pathway choices and individual programme combinations
- Increased transparency into resource usage across the institution
- Cloud-based scheduling tools and processes supporting Student Administration
“The result is a user-friendly and easily accessible environment for our students to access their individual timetables,” said Saskia. “However, we do not want to stop here. As next challenges, we see even better integration between the timetable and exam planning, so that they will function even more as a unified whole. We also want to further develop a user-friendly staff portal, equipped with the necessary functionalities.”
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