MKZ has cut its administrative workload for internal professional development in half with daylight.
Switzerland’s largest music school faces a problem familiar to many educational institutions: a wide range of valuable professional development opportunities for its own teachers, but an administrative system that struggles to keep up with the workload. With daylight, MKZ has cut its administrative workload in half while simultaneously improving the experience for everyone involved.
Zurich Music School Conservatory
At a glance
With approximately 27,000 students, 650 teachers, and 180 locations, the Zurich Conservatory Music School (MKZ) is the largest music school in Switzerland. MKZ offers an internal continuing education program for its teachers comprising around 90 courses. Managing this program used to tie up (too) many administrative resources and was characterized by disjointed processes.
With daylight, MKZ has implemented a course management solution that combines online presentation, registration, and course administration in a single system. Administrative overhead has been cut in half, participants can navigate the portal independently, and instructors maintain attendance lists directly online. The daylight team supported the implementation in a pragmatic and solution-oriented manner.
MKZ – Switzerland’s Largest Music School
The Zurich Conservatory Music School (MKZ) is Switzerland’s largest music school and ranks among the most prominent in Europe. As a division of the City of Zurich’s Department of Education and Sports, it offers children, teenagers, and adults a diverse range of educational programs in music, dance, and theater.
Over 650 teachers instruct approximately 27,000 students at some 180 locations, offering both individual and group lessons. MKZ also provides its teachers with an extensive internal continuing education program featuring around 90 courses in areas such as music physiology, teaching methodology, and IT.
High manual effort and data silos were slowing down administrative processes
Before the introduction of daylight, managing the internal training program was labor-intensive. Administrative resources were tied up in tasks related to courses, registrations, and communication. Data silos between different systems made the work even more time-consuming.
The administrators wanted more automation and a system that consolidated all relevant information in one place.
At the same time, the registration experience for participants needed improvement. There was no intuitive, self-explanatory online portal, which led to unnecessary follow-up questions and additional effort on both sides.
Pragmatic implementation: Online registration, course management, and fewer media breaks
MKZ chose daylight as its course management solution and benefited from a key advantage: daylight covers a large portion of the required functions even in its basic configuration, enabling an efficient start without lengthy customization projects. Where specific requirements existed, they were implemented in a targeted manner.
The collaboration with the daylight team was experienced as goal-oriented and open. Customizations were implemented quickly, and clear points of contact were available to answer questions.
An overview of the modules and functions used:
Online presentation of the course offerings: clear and accessible to all target groups.
Online registration portal: self-explanatory and usable without any questions
Course management: central administration of all continuing education courses in one location
Attendance lists: Lecturers maintain these themselves online.
Transparency has been established and the foundation laid for targeted continuing education planning
With daylight, MKZ has achieved its goal: the administrative burden of managing continuing education has been significantly reduced. All user groups benefit in their own way. Participants can quickly find the right courses in the user-friendly online portal. Instructors can largely find the information they need on their own and fill out attendance sheets directly online. The administration has a seamless system in which all relevant information is centrally accessible.
A particularly telling indication of the portal’s quality: participants rarely have questions because they can navigate the system on their own.
EVEN IN ITS BASIC CONFIGURATION, THE TECHNICAL SOLUTION INCLUDES ALL THE FEATURES NEEDED FOR EFFICIENT COURSE MANAGEMENT. TARGETED CUSTOMIZATIONS THEN TURN IT INTO A TAILOR-MADE SOLUTION.
MKZ
Zurich Music School Conservatory
Further Improvements and Efficiency Gains
MKZ’s experience shows that when implementing daylight, it is not just the software that matters, but also organizational preparation. By clearly communicating to daylight what is particularly important—whether completion deadlines, specific wording, or concrete process requirements—you get a solution that fits right from the start. Specifically, MKZ now benefits from the following simplifications in its day-to-day operations:
The course offerings are presented online and are accessible to teachers at any time.
Registration processes are digital and largely without manual intervention.
Organizational improvements in the process bring just as much benefit as technical adjustments.
A Customized Solution for Your Course Management
Every educational institution has unique needs. daylight adapts to you, not the other way around. Let’s work together to find out how we can best support your processes.
