Project Curriculum Information System

Duration
2024 until 2029
Project type
ICT
Organisation
Academic Affairs, Innovation & Projects

Reason

When setting up a new program and (re)developing a curriculum, a lot of information is collected and exchanged. This includes learning outcomes, learning objectives and learning activities that must be recorded in Education and Examination Regulations, Osiris and Brightspace. Currently, this information is often stored in a fragmented or incomplete manner, which prevents a complete picture of a curriculum. Radboud University has started a tender for a Curriculum Information System (CIS), in which educational developers, teachers and timetablers work together on the (re)development of curricula. This tender was ultimately won by the company Your Next Concepts, which, using the system SQill, will provide us with greater insight into our learning paths, information for course catalogues and accreditation, finances and timetabling. 

A CIS helps to improve the balance and quality of our education and educational organisation. Furthermore, by storing curriculum information in a central location, fewer errors occur as there is less manual work involved. This enables us to improve the reliability of the information.  

Finally, through better insight into the curriculum, we can enable students to take control of their own learning path: they will then see the same terminology used across different degree study programmes and faculties, which makes broadening their horizons easier and more appealing. 

Benefits of a Curriculum Information System

When we facilitate the curriculum preparation process in a better way, we gain a better overview of our education. This also makes it easier for us to gain insight into the content, seek cooperation between programmes and faculties, and get better control on the costs of our education. The latter is essential, especially in times of financial cutbacks. 

In order to make study programmes more studyable and reduce study pressure, it is important to take a critical look at assessment policy. A curriculum information system gives us insight into all assessment moments and forms within a study programme. This allows lecturers and study programmes to tailor the assessment programme as a whole to studyability, learning objectives and final attainment levels. 
Laura Niftrik (Vice-dean of Education, Faculty of Science)

A curriculum information system as a building block for future proof education

Recently, Radboud University, like many other educational institutions, has been faced with budget cuts in education. Radboud University is also struggling with the consequences of these cutbacks: expiring contracts and higher workloads are immediately noticeable for staff. Facilitating education begins with facilitating the curriculum design process. To date, lecturers and educational developers have not been supported in this regard, resulting in manual tasks for both academic staff and professional services. 

Information manager Pien Walraven explains in a short video the advantages of a CIS and how it can help in creating a foundation in curriculum development. 

Support for curriculum teams

With the introduction of a curriculum information system, curriculum teams will gain easier insight into the coherence and structure of their subjects within the curriculum, receive support in educational development, and be able to carry out quality assurance processes more efficiently. Relevant information about the curricula will be made available to them in the system in a more complete and clearer manner. This offers opportunities to make education more manageable and easier to structure and organise.

When it comes to reaccreditations and curriculum revisions, our study programme directors and coordinators spend a considerable amount of time mapping out the curriculum. What exactly are the learning objectives for each course, how do courses relate to each other, where is there overlap in our education, and what does the assessment programme look like? 

It is no longer appropriate to create such overviews using post-it notes and Excel spreadsheets. We need to be able to improve the quality of education more quickly. A curriculum information system will ensure that we have a continuously updated overview of our curricula. This will greatly reduce the workload for lecturers and contribute to monitoring and improving the quality of education. 
Liesbeth Gulpers (Director of Education, Nijmegen School of Management)

Student experiences

In a video, students explain their current experiences with curriculum information. All student findings have been compiled in a report. The positive influence of the CIS on curriculum development will make it easier for students to gain more insight into the expected study load within their curriculum. This will give them more control over their own learning pathway and enable them to create a better balance between their studies and other activities (such as work, social life, etc.). As a result, we can reduce the study pressure on students and at the same time limit the length of their studies. 

Approach and planning 

The road to a new Curriculuminformationsystem (CIS): now in fase 3

Preliminary research (2024)

In the first half of 2024, a preliminary survey of the needs of lecturers, students and staff from the educational organisation within the university took place. This showed that within our education, from both the education practice and the supporting process, there is a great need for support for the process of curriculum preparation and clearer recording of the curriculum using a curriculum information system. These needs were also previously identified in the Optimal Educational Planning Programme (2022-2023) and again explicitly identified among all faculties and departments, students and staff in 2024 by the Smarter Academic Year / Curriculum Information System project. 

Planning preparations for faculties and divisions (2025)

In 2025, based on inventories at faculties and divisions, concrete descriptions of three different variants of curriculum preparation were delivered:  

  1. Developing a completely new curriculum.
  2. Revising a curriculum.
  3. Optimising a curriculum at course level.

In addition, a Lexicon has been developed that details the terms needed to properly support these processes and how those terms relate to each other. Through fit-gap analyses and Lexicon analyses at all faculties and departments, these descriptions and the Lexicon have been further refined as a basis for the continuation of the project.   

Continuation (2026 and beyond)

In the first few months of 2026, a market consultation took place to explore the capabilities of various CIS suppliers. Together with representatives from the faculties and divisions, requirements and preferences were identified, evaluation criteria were formulated and tender documentation was drawn up based on the process and role descriptions and the Lexicon delivered in 2025. At the same time, preparatory analyses were carried out by Academic Affairs and the faculties to clarify what is required for the integration of the CIS with Osiris and Termtime. 

The CIS tender process has now been completed, with Radboud University selecting a supplier, namely Your Next Concepts. Preparations will therefore be made over the summer of 2026 for the initial set-up of the curriculum information system SQill, so as to establish a solid foundation for a smooth implementation across all study programmes. 

Phase 3 (Implementation & Integration) will begin in September ’26, when a kick-off meeting will be held for all those involved in each faculty. In this phase, at least one study programme per faculty will first be entered into the system, with support and guidance from both the supplier and the project team. Other study programmes will follow in various implementation phases spread throughout the academic year. See the roadmap below for a clear overview of the faculty-level implementation of the CIS. 

The aim is to have all study programmes implemented into SQill by the summer of 2027. After that, working on integrating SQill with Osiris and TermTime can start (Phase 4). These links will then contribute to a more efficient process, less manual work and a higher quality of data exchange. 

CIS faculty implementation roadmap

Results

Reports with a summary of the results and background information are available in Dutch. Visit de Dutch webpage for more information.

Contact information

Please contact your contact person for each faculty (see above), the project team (curriculum@ru.nl), project leader Dianne Akkerhuis (Dianne.Akkerhuis@ru.nl) or process manager Evelien Westerbeek van Eerten (Evelien.Westerbeek@ru.nl).