From Student Records to Procurement: ZAMREN Shows HEIs What Digital Operations Can Look Like
The Zambia Research and Education Network (ZAMREN) has demonstrated how digital systems can help Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) strengthen operations, improve efficiency and support quality assurance.
ZAMREN Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Stein Mkandawire, made a presentation during the opening day of the 2026 HEA Winter School Capacity Building Workshop for HEIs at Chrismar Hotel in Livingstone.
The workshop was held from 15th to 17th July, 2026, under the theme, “Strengthening higher education curriculum quality through quality assurance in the era of digital transformation and artificial intelligence.”
Presenting on “Digitalising Higher Education Institution’s Operations for Quality Assurance,” Mr. Mkandawire showed that digital transformation is not only about teaching and learning. It is also about admissions, student records, payments, reporting, payroll, procurement, audit trails and institutional decision-making.
ZAMREN, which serves universities, colleges, research institutes and schools, is a dedicated national research and education network providing affordable high-speed internet and related services to education and research institutions across Zambia.
The presentation highlighted UNICOSIS, a modern cloud-based platform developed by ZAMREN to digitise and unify student information management across higher education institutions. The system supports admissions, registration, grading, payments, reporting, Moodle integration, accommodation, scholarships and financial records.
According to the presentation, UNICOSIS responds to common institutional problems such as fragmented student records, manual administrative processes, limited access to real-time data and disjointed payment and billing systems.
Mr. Mkandawire also presented ZAMREN’s Procurement Management System, an end-to-end digital platform designed to manage the procurement lifecycle from requisition initiation to purchase order completion.
The system allows users to submit and track purchase requests, manage supplier databases, issue and evaluate quotations, support structured approvals and maintain full audit trails. In short, it turns procurement from a paper chase into a transparent workflow.
For HEIs, the ZAMREN presentation was a practical reminder that quality assurance does not only live in classrooms and lecture theatres. It also lives in the systems institutions use to manage students, finances, staff, records and resources.
Digital operations, when properly implemented, can strengthen institutional accountability, transparency and evidence-based decision-making, all of which sit at the heart of quality assurance.
Download ZAMREN CEO’s Presentation: https://hea.org.zm/download/hea-winter-school-2026-zamren-presentation/
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