The Macau University of Science and Technology has developed its own enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, claiming it is a first for an academic institution in China.
The system, which took about eight months to build, was recently deployed to automate the university's handling of accounts, student applications, registrations and course enrolments.
'We needed to run these operations more effectively,' said Stephen Wong Wai-tak, head of the university's information technology service centre.
Additional software modules planned for the ERP system include human resources, procurement and administration of student quarters. These new functions are expected to broaden the number of university staff directly using the system from 40 to about 200.
Mr Wong declined to reveal the cost of building the platform but claimed the project set a precedent for other large Chinese academic institutions.
An advantage for the university is that it has invested heavily in a fibre-optic broadband communications network that helps speed up the implementation of new technologies campus-wide.