ASU goes paperless to manage curriculum; promote sustainability

Governet, innovators of technology solutions for higher education institutions, announced today that Arizona State University, renowned for its academic leadership and achievements in sustainability, will adopt CurricUNET Meta, the award-winning online curriculum management system as part of its ongoing effort to reduce paper consumption and save resources.

Currently serving and connecting more than 550 colleges and universities via the Worldwide Curriculum Network, CurricUNET Meta will enable ASU to modernize, automate and streamline its curricular management while improving connectivity and integrating sustainable, paperless practices in all major curriculum processing functions throughout its six-campus system.

"Arizona State University is famous for its prolific leadership in technology, innovation and sustainability, and is setting a new 'Gold Standard' for American universities," said George Tamas, Governet's CEO. In recognition of its sustainability achievements, ASU has received a "STARS Gold" rating from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Education.

"Having demonstrated cutting-edge innovations in green technology, renewable energy, environmental conservation and climate science, ASU is among the most highly regarded research universities in the country," he added. "It is gratifying that CurricUNET Meta has been selected as the technology that will move the institution toward more sustainable curriculum practices."

Since 2001, Governet has been setting standards for best practices in curriculum management. Higher education institutions subscribing to CurricUNET's suite of automation services have reported significant savings in terms of financial, human and natural resources, an advantage that is aligned with ASU's Sustainability Plan.

Over the course of the next several months, Governet's technology team will be configuring ASU's CurricUNET Meta system, which will automate curriculum processes that streamline development, management, workflow, approvals and dissemination of course and program data across all ASU campuses. By adopting CurricUNET Meta, ASU expects to significantly reduce its use of natural, human and financial resources across the board.

"The opportunity to redesign and build our academic processes, from new curricular developments through course and catalog approvals, around a single system is very exciting," said Maria T. Allison, ASU executive vice provost for Academic Affairs and graduate dean. "To date so much of the work requires a huge amount of human resource to handle electronic routing and archiving of word documents and PDF curricular documents. CurricUNET will not only allow ASU to work more efficiently with transparent and timely communication with the academic units, but it will also allow for historical archiving of all actions relevant to curricular and course approvals. Additionally, its benefits align perfectly with ASU's long-term sustainability goals."

As of 2013, ASU's student enrollment reached more than 73,000 students, making it the largest student body in the United States. ASU students can choose from over 12,000 courses scheduled yearly in more than 850 academic programs offered at four campus locations in the Phoenix area as well as through ASU Online.

Each year, ASU develops an average of 475 new courses to support new and existing programs. By adopting CurricUNET, ASU will gain access to the rapidly growing Worldwide Curriculum Network. Currently, CurricUNET's member institutions have access to more than 600,000 courses and 47,000 degree path programs stored in CurricUNET's global database.

"ASU's academic achievement and credibility can be measured by the quality of educational offerings it provides," noted Tamas. "In that regard, its presence in CurricUNET's Worldwide Curriculum Network will benefit other member institutions as much as ASU will benefit by gaining access to our growing database."