Akari

Akari, our new Curriculum Management system, launched in September 2024 with new features and functionality coming online during 2025. These changes are an essential part of Educate for Global Impact, our strategic work on improving education and student experience at LSE.

Log on to Akari

We want staff to have a more collaborative, streamlined, straightforward and effective experience. Timely sharing of better data will also contribute to more informed decision making when it comes to curriculum planning.

We want our students to benefit from a more coordinated experience, giving them a better foundation on which to organise themselves more effectively and engage with their studies.

Technical reasons for moving to Akari:

The legacy systems (CAPIS and REG) were becoming obsolete, providing an opportunity to transition to a more advanced platform.
Akari allows for the integration of multiple processes within a single system, reducing reliance on email communication.
It offers enhanced reporting capabilities.
It serves as a central, authoritative source for all course and programme information.
Akari can store more complex data than CAPIS while maintaining a user-friendly interface.

The Akari support site provides guidance on all currently available features of the system.
Dedicated support is available for departments completing the Annual Course Guide Review.
View which fields from Akari will be published in course guides.
View which Akari fields are mandatory, required, strongly recommended and optional during the Annual Course Guide Review.
View a list of major and minor changes that can be made in Akari.
You can view frequently asked questions about the project in general.

You can view a visual of the project timeline.

Phase four (current): Integrations

LSE uses a few systems to manage courses and programmes:

Akari – where course and programme details are created and updated.
CMIS – where course selection and scheduling happens.
LSE Website – where course info is shown to students and the public.
SITS - for managing student records, course registrations, assessments, and academic progress.

They connect in the following ways:

1. Akari → LSE Website

So students, staff and website visitors can see the latest course information and programme regulations online. The website integration includes the Calendar and Course Finder.

2. Akari → CMIS

So course and programme updates appear in the system used for scheduling and course selection.

3. Akari → SITS (via Shared Drive)

So course data can be linked to student records.

Between June and August, the integrations between these systems will go live, in time for the publication of the calendar and course selection in 2025/26.

To the end user, the way these systems work together should not change significantly. The main difference is that we're now using a shared integration technology that supports consistency and efficiency across the School and will strengthen our overall integration capabilities. The Curriculum Management project team is working in collaboration with the Strategic Integration Service on this phase of the project.

Phase three (current): Reports

For the latest information about reports in Akari, please see the TQARO website.

Phase two: Annual Course Guide Review and Programme Updates

Phase two of delivery enabled departments to perform their Annual Course Guide Review and programme updates using Akari.

The changes to Akari went live on 10 February 2025.

Key actions for departmental staff to complete included:

Annual course guide review (deadline: 6 May 2025)
Add Programme Learning Outcomes (PLOs) (deadline: end of 25/26 academic year)

The Akari support site provided departments with guidance for the following processes:

Making changes to courses
Making changes to programmes

You can also contact TQARO if you have any questions at all or would like to reach out to the Curriculum Management Project team.

Phase one (complete): new course and programme proposals

Departments were able to submit new course and programme proposals on Akari from 26 September 2024.

Guidance materials and training were made available to all Departments and Centres, along with drop-in sessions hosted by the TQARO/Project team for additional support.

Akari Departmental Approver specific guidance can be found within each programme and course proposal section.

For further assistance with new proposals, please contact TQARO.

Until February 2025, the Curriculum Management project was part of the Course Selection and Timetabling Change Programme (CSTCP). However, following SMC’s decision to close CSTCP to focus more closely on the complexities of course selection, Curriculum Management now falls under EGI’s Programme and Course Design and Enhancement (PCDE) Programme. Despite this transition, the project continues as planned, with no changes to its original scope or timeline.

The project has formed an Experts Community, bringing together staff from across the School who represent the end-to-end curriculum management process.

This group plays a key role in supporting the people-focused changes associated with the project and will continue its work beyond the project's completion.

Members receive training and development opportunities to enhance their skills and expertise.

If you're interested in joining the Experts Community, please review our Experts Community Role Profile for full details and contact TQARO to get involved.