SunGard Higher Education Systems has been purchased by Hellman and Friedman LLC, a private equity company that already owns Datatel Inc, and the two software companies will be merged into one company.
SunGard Higher Education Systems provide software and processing solutions for financial services, higher education and the public sector. One of its main products is Banner, one of the most heavily used student information systems.
Datatel Colleague supports admissions, financial aid, payroll, accounts payable, human resources, fundraising, and student services.Datatel’s Intelligent Learning platform integrates with Moodle course management, bringing together academic resources, administrative systems, and enterprise data.
Almost certainly the holding company will ensure that products from the two companies are merged and integrated. The result for most institutions is even less choice and probably higher licensing fees, given the reduced choice.
Maybe its time for most public higher education institutions to start looking at open source systems such as Kuali.
Declaration of interest: one of my sons works for Oracle Computing Inc. – and my brother-in-law used to work for Sungard! Hey, ho.
Dr. Tony Bates is the author of eleven books in the field of online learning and distance education. He has provided consulting services specializing in training in the planning and management of online learning and distance education, working with over 40 organizations in 25 countries. Tony is a Research Associate with Contact North | Contact Nord, Ontario’s Distance Education & Training Network.
The problem with opensource like Kuali is that at some institutions the process will never, never end – it’s like moving into a new house before it’s finished – it will never be finished.
Also, if the team is not well led who knows what you will come up with – if your going to do this, just build it from scratch