Universidad del Caribe - Republica Dominicana lowers costs by 70% using Oracle Cloud
“We’re now able to offer our students a university experience that provides world-class technology and education at a very low price. This is possible because we’re backed up by the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure platform that we use.”
Business challenges
In its short 24-year history, Universidad del Caribe, or Unicaribe as it’s known, has become one of the Dominican Republic’s most popular universities, with more than 29,000 students enrolled. Part of the school’s success is due to its unique curriculum, with a calendar that runs not by semesters, but by intense one-month courses. Classes are offered seven days a week in person and online; students pay US$50 monthly per class as they work toward a degree.
Six years ago, Unicaribe moved from its own software to a set of higher-education applications hosted on another company’s cloud infrastructure. While administrators liked the applications, they didn’t like the huge cloud infrastructure cost: US$492,000 annually. In search of improved price performance, Unicaribe turned to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure and successfully cut costs by more than 70%.
Why Universidad del Caribe - Republica Dominicana Chose Oracle
In discussions with Oracle, Unicaribe administrators learned they could run all their education software suites on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure for US$68,000 a year, savings that amounted to more than US$420,000 annually. Unicaribe went live on Oracle Cloud in July 2019.
Results
With US$420,000 in annual savings on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, Unicaribe has been able to spend resources on additional technology initiatives. Realizing efficiencies and lower maintenance needs with Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, Unicaribe has also been able to reduce the number of people dedicated to IT maintenance from 63 to 27.
The university is reinvesting savings into efforts such as new contact center software to aid overwhelmed front office staff and new software to keep administrators informed of student progress. And after 24 years of offering the same eight bachelor’s degree options, Unicaribe has been approved by the Dominican Republic’s Ministry of Higher Education to offer 32 new degree options.