An online application portal; case study: University of Saint Josephs - Mbarara (USJM)

Abstract

The current procedure followed at University of St. Joseph - Mbarara in application process, progress, scheduling and monitoring is completely paper based i.e a hard copy form which is issued to each applicant/student. This form is offered to the applicant after he has paid and brought the bank slip to the account’s office. The application form consisting of general information such as Bio data, Address, current academic qualifications, (O’ level and A’ level information and other qualifications. And after the student must attach the photocopies of Original academic documents and birth certificate. To solve the above problem the researcher developed an online application portal that enables students to apply for the course of their choice where ever they are and the AR can view the application form and verify the payment receipts where ever he is. The systems development methodology used was software prototyping methodology which helped to achieve the research objectives by using valid and reliable data collection techniques that is questionnaire, interview guide and personal observation. Quantitative data was analysed statistically that is using bar graphs whereas the qualitative data was analysed descriptively. System designing was achieved by employing various tools such as MySQL workbench, visual paradigm and MS word, the system was developed using various programming and scripting languages such as PHP, JavaScript, JQuery, HTML, CSS, bootstrap and sublime text as the text editor whereas system testing was done using various tools that is unit testing and acceptance testing as discussed.