India is set to become one of the top educational hubs. The country’s higher education system happens to be the third-largest in the world. The sector witnessed a tremendous increase in the number of educational institutions since the last decade. However, these days, all is not well.
Colleges shutting down in various states
Problems faced by students in colleges make it in the headlines, and so do stories about how their parents struggle financially to keep their kids in the classroom. Of course, the debt load faced by parents needs debates and discussion. However, what lacks attention is the fact that even colleges are unable to manage the rising expenditure. Turning ageing campuses into next-generation ones with lavish amenities and attracting new students is not accessible anymore.
Part-time instructors replace experienced professors, and classes, as well as labs, are turning smaller. Growth and revenue remain limited due to regulations, extreme competition.
As per data released by India’s regulatory body for technical education, AICTE, total 223 educational institutions, including 83 engineering colleges, across the country have applied for closure. Plus, to make matters worse, the government regulator has also reduced the number of seats for some colleges. The institutions facing the heat were unable to even attract and fill 30 per cent of their seats during the last five years.
Penal action was initiated against institutions that failed to fulfil infrastructure, faculty, and other quality standards necessary to be maintained for running campuses in May this year. The surprising aspect is that in spite of this drastic reduction in seats, remaining colleges in the country have still registered a large number of vacant seats for students.
It appears; somehow, colleges are unable to manage operations and are failing in attracting new students.
Every college may not remain profitable each year
Indians are already spending considerably more on education compared to what they use to pay until the last decade. Private institutions are leading, and the government is not in a position to contribute more. Thus, the only option to improve the quality of education is the improvement in financing.
Constantly changing quotas introduced by the government also add a little bit more trouble quotient. There’s nothing that colleges can do due to political influence. Government’s compensation paid to schools, colleges for quota seats also often gets delayed by years in several cases.
It is common knowledge that educational institutions, especially schools, face a lot of inconvenience in getting reimbursement from the government for Right To Information quota seats. Various school associations claim there is corruption at multiple levels, and they end up paying bribes to officials. The story is not different when it comes to colleges.
Institutions not only need a flow of funds to pay salaries, but they have other financial commitments like loan repayments. As a solution to cut costs, institutions hire young graduates as professors. They are found to be unfit for the job assigned to them. Thus, the quality of education is continually degrading.
A transformational and innovative approach
Students and parents prefer getting admission to colleges that have a good infrastructure and implement the latest edu-tech. A transformational and innovative approach is essential for improving the reputation and quality of education in the institutes.
Students must get the best possible recruitment offers after completion of the course. Thus, it is necessary to make sure they gain more in-depth knowledge of the subjects with the best possible study materials and guidance from experienced faculties. Taking these steps would not be possible for any educational institution without bringing its financial position in place. Thus, every college needs capable financial management software to begin with.
Why do institutions need dedicated software for financial management in colleges?
Financial management solution is the ultimate tool that helps organizations in ensuring sustainability and maximizing profits by governing income as well as expenses. It assists in getting the best out of existing assets.
The software offers the following features-
- Generating all payments and receivables related data
- Managing accounting details like payments, refunds, fees recoverable, and adjustments for each student in the institution
- Storing financial data to comply with tax and accounting related regulations
- Streamlining fee collection and invoicing
- Helping finance department in monthly budget planning
- Issuing alerts to the finance department according to various debt payment schedules
- Detecting accounting errors
- Keeping track of the institution’s overall liabilities
- Offering the ability to manage and monitor budget activity at multiple levels
- Keeping data for grant-related expenditures and transactional activities associated with the same for multiple years
- Offer forecast for students’ enrollment and necessary funding levels to meet staffing expenditure
- Tracking multiple bank accounts, bank signatories, overall cash position, and payment commitments for numerous campuses using a centralized system
- Advanced features offered by some of the feature-rich financial management solutions can reconcile bank statements and use embedded analytics for forecasting cash flow
- Put simply; it acts like administrative support for accounts payable, procurement, budgeting, and accounting activities
Reliable data can help in making real-time decisions
With reliable financial software, the educational institution can generate reports on any data point within seconds. The flexible query options and powerful drill-down capabilities help in reviewing transaction details as well as financial statements with ease. Such tools help a lot while making real-time decisions.
The organization can also save a lot of funds allotted for data migration, data acquisition, and developing additional software for the same.
Financial management solutions are also considered as a crucial part of College ERP systems. ERP can effectively manage other aspects like daily attendance, students’ placement data, homework, and projects for each student, HR activities, etc. along with financial operations management. In some of the Indian states, as much as 83-93 per cent seats are reserved for various quotas. Thus, maintaining, managing admission related data has become even more complicated.
Do you wish to develop a college management system (ERP) that perfectly suits your unique needs? Are you looking for the most exceptional finance management software for colleges? If so, you should discuss your requirements with specialists at MyEduComm.
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