Welsh wizardry gives managers the edge

A management information system based on one devised in Wales has been adopted by eight technical colleges in Victoria under an Aus$8 million upgrade which promises to revolutionise many aspects of the college operations.

The modular integrated system, QL Students, has been customised from a program devised by Microcompass Systems in Swansea. The Victorian Office of Training and Further Education is negotiating sales via Microcompass of the modified system to other states.

The Gordon Institute of TAFE in Geelong was the first college to use the system to enrol students late last year. A spokesman, Colin Frisch, described it as "a class leader" in the field of information systems for education organisations.

"QL has 13 different levels of functionality but the one we are most enthusiastic about is the one dealing with student records or student database management," Mr Frisch said.

"But it also has programs covering course applications, curriculum and statistical management, marketing, events management and a very sophisticated finance package."

QL Students operates in a Microsoft Windows environment and has an interface that connects into Pandora - which is a data warehousing application that sits alongside the world wide web and allows users to access information "stockpiled" by colleges.