Business School Accreditation Management System

Tender description

The University of Southampton is seeking a Business School Accreditation Management System. Southampton Business School (SBS) are a full-service Business School that offers undergraduate, Masters, MBA, DBA and PhD programmes on campus to over 2,500 students from around the world. Our programmes are currently accredited by the AACSB and AMBA. A central part of the University's ambition for SBS is to achieve and maintain the 'Triple Crown of internationally recognised accreditations. The 'Triple Crown' is made up of three of the largest and most influential business school accreditation organisations: • AACSB - The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (United States) • AMBA - The Association of MBAs (United Kingdom) • EQUIS - EFMD Quality Improvement System (European Union) The University are currently accredited by AACSB and AMBA but achieving EQUIS accreditation would put The University of Southampton Business School into the top 1% of Business Schools worldwide. Management and reporting of accurate data is a key part of the process when working towards or maintaining accreditations. Throughout the academic year we are required to report to the accrediting bodies on several areas within the Business School relating to HR, student marks, student numbers and finance. We also keep records on 'Assurance of Learning' which is a key part of AACSB accreditation and require accurate records on pass rates and areas for improvement to 'close the loop'. This is currently a resource intensive process and SBS are seeking a system to help manage this process in order to achieve these outcomes. The University is seeking a system to meet the needs of SBS for both collecting and storing data for accreditation purposes. The required system should enable SBS to collate the data required for accreditation, removing the current use of an Access database and series of spreadsheets, and providing a single source of data to supply to the accrediting bodies. The system should also be able to provide outputs in the required format for the 3 Accrediting bodies which make up the Triple Crown. The system must be able to interface, either directly or through automated reports, with core corporate systems, such as the student record system, finance system, human resources and research system to help reduce the time taken to collect the required data and reduce the risk of error and inaccuracies. As well as the data required from the core corporate systems, the system must be able to handle a record of 'Assurance of Learning' which is key part of AACSB accreditation and requires records on pass rates and areas of improvement. Lot 1: The University of Southampton is seeking a Business School Accreditation Management System. Southampton Business School (SBS) are a full-service Business School that offers undergraduate, Masters, MBA, DBA and PhD programmes on campus to over 2,500 students from around the world. Our programmes are currently accredited by the AACSB and AMBA. A central part of the University's ambition for SBS is to achieve and maintain the 'Triple Crown of internationally recognised accreditations. The 'Triple Crown' is made up of three of the largest and most influential business school accreditation organisations: • AACSB - The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (United States) • AMBA - The Association of MBAs (United Kingdom) • EQUIS - EFMD Quality Improvement System (European Union) The University are currently accredited by AACSB and AMBA but achieving EQUIS accreditation would put The University of Southampton Business School into the top 1% of Business Schools worldwide. Management and reporting of accurate data is a key part of the process when working towards or maintaining accreditations. Throughout the academic year we are required to report to the accrediting bodies on several areas within the Business School relating to HR, student marks, student numbers and finance. We also keep records on 'Assurance of Learning' which is a key part of AACSB accreditation and require accurate records on pass rates and areas for improvement to 'close the loop'. This is currently a resource intensive process and SBS are seeking a system to help manage this process in order to achieve these outcomes. The University is seeking a system to meet the needs of SBS for both collecting and storing data for accreditation purposes. The required system should enable SBS to collate the data required for accreditation, removing the current use of an Access database and series of spreadsheets, and providing a single source of data to supply to the accrediting bodies. The system should also be able to provide outputs in the required format for the 3 Accrediting bodies which make up the Triple Crown. The system must be able to interface, either directly or through automated reports, with core corporate systems, such as the student record system, finance system, human resources and research system to help reduce the time taken to collect the required data and reduce the risk of error and inaccuracies. As well as the data required from the core corporate systems, the system must be able to handle a record of 'Assurance of Learning' which is key part of AACSB accreditation and requires records on pass rates and areas of improvement. Procurement Process: This procurement process is being conducted as an Open procedure. Contract Period: The University proposes to enter into a Contract for 9 years - this will be the maximum contract period, including any potential extensions with the successful tenderer. This will comprise of an initial contract of 5 years with an option to extend by further 2 x 2 year periods, subject to satisfactory performance and at the discretion of the University. Contract Value: The estimated value of the inital 5-year contract term is in the region of £118,000 and £150,700 GBP (excluding VAT). The estimated value of the 2 x 2-year extension periods is between £40,000 to £62,400 GBP (excluding VAT) each. It is estimated, therefore that the total value of this contract will be between £198,000 and £272,000 GBP (excluding VAT). Details of current expenditure or potential future uptake are given as a guide base on past purchasing and current planning to assist you in the preparation of your Tender. They should not be interpreted as an undertaking to purchase any particular value and do not form part of the Contract. Additional information: Lots: This contract is NOT suitable for splitting into lots. The risk of dividing the requirement into Lots would render the execution of the contract excessively technically difficult, not cost effective and would undermine proper execution of the contract.