8 Best Student Information Systems Higher Education Teams Use

Your institution has formed a working group to replace its student records system, and you have been asked to sit on it, even though you work in admissions and have never bought enterprise software. This guide is written for exactly that seat at the table: it explains what these systems are and how to choose, then walks through eight platforms used by higher education teams, starting with Full Fabric.

What Is a Student Information System?

A student information system, usually called an SIS, is the database a college or university treats as the official source of truth about its students. When someone asks how many students are enrolled on a course, what a learner's grades are, or whether fees have been paid, the answer should come from the SIS.

Different teams use it in different ways. Admissions staff may create the first record when an offer is accepted. Registry staff manage enrolment, re-enrolment and graduation. Academic departments enter marks. Finance teams raise invoices. Planning offices pull reports, and many institutions use the SIS to send data to government bodies.

Modern platforms vary in how far they stretch. Some begin earlier, at the first enquiry, by including a CRM (customer relationship management) system for recruitment. Others stretch sideways into HR and payroll. Knowing which stretch your institution needs is the most useful thing you can bring to the working group.

1) Full Fabric

Best for: business schools, specialist universities and professional education providers that want recruitment, admissions and student records on one platform.

Support is one of the first things a working group asks about, and Full Fabric is specific: it runs phone lines in the UK, the EU and the US, a help centre, an email address for enquiries and a public status page where anyone can check whether the service is running normally. Support plans come in three levels, called Basic, Premium and Enterprise.

The platform itself joins four jobs that are often done by separate software: CRM for recruitment, admissions, commerce for applications and payments, and the SIS. Because all four share one data model, a learner's details are entered once and carried through to enrolment, grades, transcripts and diplomas. UK institutions get HESA reporting and a UCAS connector, and ready-made links to Salesforce, Dynamics and HubSpot help it sit alongside a CRM the institution already uses.

Pricing starts at €12,000 a year for the platform, with extra charges depending on how many applications, applicants and registered students you handle. It holds ISO/IEC 27001:2022, a recognised information security certification, and does not include HR or payroll software.

Verdict: the most complete single platform for institutions whose learners arrive through many routes.

2) Thesis SM

Best for: smaller universities and colleges in the UK and Canada.

Thesis SM was known as Unit4 Student Management until the student systems business became Thesis. It is designed for small and mid-sized institutions, and covers UK reporting such as HESA, HESES and ILR, visa sponsorship requirements for international students and Canadian T2202 tax slips.

Staff can create their own workflows with built-in rules and automatic emails, and reports can be standard, ad hoc or designed by users. Open APIs and complete CSV export give technical teams flexibility. A move to Thesis SM usually takes 12 to 24 months. US colleges are offered a different product, Thesis Elements.

Verdict: a sensible fit for smaller institutions with UK or Canadian reporting needs.

3) Oracle Student and PeopleSoft Campus Solutions

Best for: universities already using Oracle's finance and HR cloud.

Oracle has two student products. PeopleSoft Campus Solutions 9.2 is the long-established one, run on an institution's own servers or hosted. Oracle Student is the cloud product, made of Student Management and Student Financial Planning, which handles financial aid. Oracle describes a path from the first to the second.

Oracle Student is particularly strong for continuing education, where courses are sold and billed differently from degrees, and for consortia, where several institutions share programmes. Its materials are written for the US market, with references to FERPA, and prices are not published. Students use a self-service area called Student Central, and academic calendars track enrolment, drop and grade dates.

Verdict: the natural route for Oracle institutions moving their student records to the cloud.

4) Ellucian

Best for: large North American colleges and universities.

Ellucian makes software only for higher education. Its student products are Banner, Colleague and Anthology Student, all under the Ellucian Student brand, and it also sells HR and finance software that runs on the same platform.

US institutions often value its financial aid processing and AI scholarship matching. The company reports about 3,000 customers in 50 countries, but it has not published how its three student systems will be brought together. Other features include degree planning, early alerts for advisors and a virtual student advisor. Prices are not published; Ellucian offers a demo and an ROI calculator instead.

Verdict: a broad, established choice, with a product decision to make first.

5) Classe365

Best for: small colleges and training providers that want low costs and simple pricing.

Classe365 is a single product covering student records, attendance, report cards, a learning space, admissions, degree audit and fee payments. Parents and students get their own portals and mobile apps.

The price depends on two things: how many students use the core module, and which extra modules you switch on. Extra modules cost the same however many students use them, and renewing annually saves 10%. The product does not mention government reporting. Prices changed on 1 January 2025, the first change since 2013, and a public API lets technical teams connect other tools.

Verdict: a low-cost, all-in-one choice for providers without statutory returns.

6) Classter

Best for: organisations running schools, colleges and training together.

Classter is modular: you choose and pay for the parts you need, such as admissions, an online classroom, billing or HR, at a price per active student. It is used by schools, colleges, academies and corporate training teams.

The website is available in seven languages, and more than 40 integrations link it to tools such as Zoom, Google Workspace and Canvas. Universities should note that HESA and IPEDS are not mentioned. Classter publishes a worked pricing example for a 1,000-student institution, which helps a working group estimate costs early.

Verdict: flexible and international, better for mixed groups than regulated universities.

7) TechnologyOne OneEducation

Best for: universities in Australia, New Zealand and the UK replacing several systems at once.

OneEducation is an ERP, enterprise resource planning software, that covers finance, HR and payroll as well as student management, all on one data model. It also includes curriculum management, timetabling and exam management.

The SaaS+ subscription covers implementation, support and upgrades. TechnologyOne sells only in Australia, New Zealand and the UK, and says the suite serves over 6.5 million students. Students use a portal called DxP Student.

Verdict: a strong option when the whole back office is being replaced.

8) Workday Student

Best for: universities already using Workday for HR and finance.

Workday Student adds student records, advising and student financials to Workday's existing platform, so data about students, staff and budgets can be analysed together. Students use a mobile-first app, and advisors get AI tools that flag students who may need help.

Workday does not publish prices, and its overview pages do not mention UK or US government reporting. It also notes that unreleased features may change. Named users include Deakin and the University of Queensland in Australia.

Verdict: worth a look only if Workday is already your HR and finance system.

How to Choose the Right Platform

Bring three questions to the first working group meeting.

What problem are we solving? If the pain is in recruitment and admissions, look for a platform that includes them, such as Full Fabric. If the pain is in running separate finance, HR and student systems, an ERP-style suite may be better.

Who do we report to? UK institutions need HESA support; US institutions need financial aid handling. That alone removes several options.

What are we keeping? List the CRM, learning platform and payment providers you plan to keep, and check which platforms connect to them.

Then ask each shortlisted vendor for a complete price, including implementation, before you spend time on demos. A vendor that publishes some pricing, as Full Fabric, Classter and Classe365 do, makes that first comparison much quicker.

Final Verdict

Full Fabric is the overall pick for business schools, specialist universities and professional education providers, because it brings recruitment, admissions and student records together on one record, publishes its platform fee and offers support across the UK, the EU and the US. For large North American institutions that want one higher education vendor for most core systems, Ellucian is the alternative.