Tech Journal Insight and Citrix quickly creates an online learning environment for University of Sydney
The University of Sydney deploys cloud-based courses in one week
By Insight Editor / 11 Aug 2021 / Topics: Modern workplace
Facts at a glance
Client industry:
Higher Education
Situation:
University of Sydney is the oldest University in Australia founded in 1850 with a vast student exchange program with over 300 universities around the world. As Covid-19 hit Australia and the rest of the world many students were unable to return to campus to continue their studies due to closed borders and "stay at home" orders.
Solution:
- Quickly develop and deploy an online learning environment for students who were unable to return to campus locations to study.
- Providing a set of highly responsive, flexible, robust, and scalable tools that are natural to use.
- Provide the user base with tools that encourage innovation, without being prescriptive in their use.
- Establishing and maintaining business partnerships that enable the exchange of innovative ideas.
Results:
- A solution for an online learning environment, designed, implemented, tested and deployed within 7 days.
- More than 100 course-specific applications and SaaS apps that students can access regardless of the type of device or location.
- Citrix solution makes it easier than ever before to onboard students and faculty.
- Enables students to work from anywhere, on any device, at any time and provides remote PC access.
- Computers can be configured from a single image in minutes, enabling virtual access to software.
- Data security is enhanced by keeping data only in the data center while embedded security means access is strongly controlled and user context is governed by policies set by the IT team.
Solution area:
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University of Sydney is the oldest University in Australia founded in 1850 with a student exchange program with over 300 universities around the world. Over 12,000 student from overseas. #2 Best Global Universities in ANZ.
Situation
As the Covid-19 pandemic hit Australia and the rest of the world many students from The University of Sydney were unable to return to campus to continue their studies due to closed international borders and "stay at home" orders. The University of Sydney worked closely with their IT partner of choice - Insight Enterprises Australia, to help provide a solution for an online learning environment, designed, implemented, tested and deployed within 7 days! Leveraging strategic partnerships Insight engaged Citrix to develop the solution.
“The great thing about platforms like Citrix is that they are feature-rich, flexible and scalable, so we can embrace leading-edge ways of educating students and researching complex global problems” Jordan Catling, Associate Director of Client Technology, The University of Sydney
Solution
The idea was to address the immediate challenge first: to build capabilities for students, followed by providing tools for staff and faculty. The team’s goal was to provide a range of agile tools, while avoiding being prescriptive as to how those tools should be used. This would ultimately enable greater innovation. “We wanted to provide a secure, high-quality student experience by supporting the diverse ways in which different individuals consume information,” Jordan says.
“It speaks to the depth and trust that exist between The University of Sydney and Insight that this was able to be achieved so quickly” Alex Nikolaidis, Account Manager - Education NSW & ACT, Insight Enterprises Australia
Results
The University of Sydney IT team has realised a number of benefits from the new solution:
- The collaboration of Insight and Citrix makes it easier than ever before to onboard students and faculty.
- Computers can be configured from a single image in minutes allowing the team to use its cloud-based tools so users can access other valuable digital tools.
- The Citrix platform enables virtual access to software that staff and students might occasionally need without installing hundreds of applications.
- Rest easy knowing that data and applications are secure in the new digital environment. Data does not reside on the students’ devices.
- Citrix technology has embedded security so access is strongly controlled and user context is governed by policies set by the IT team.
- An online learning environment, designed, implemented, tested and deployed within 7 days.
- More than 100 course-specific applications and SaaS apps that students can access regardless of the type of device or location.
