Quaid-i-Azam University, considered by some as Pakistan’s topmost institution of higher education, failed to make functional a management software that had been developed for the university by Oracle for 21 million rupees. The software, called Campus Management Solutions (CMS) was recently installed at the university and it is meant for computerized admissions and computer-based administration.

The university’s admin had already notified the departments to make registrations by using the new software but to the disappointment of staff and students, the software failed to work properly, creating a mess at the campus. The system didn’t work due to lack of human resources at the campus that could make the software fully functional after installation. This caused dozens of parents and students to wait in queues for hours to deposit dues manually at the concerned bank on the last date for admissions, i.e. September 15, 2009. The software also didn’t function properly in registration work.

Students and parents blamed the university’s administration for causing them all the trouble. Some students commented that the university should have maintained the paper format for registrations as a back up to the CMS software to avoid any inconvenience. One student was reported saying that such problems were not uncommon on campus on last dates of admissions.