Supporting tens of thousands of students across hundreds of faculties requires a learning platform that can scale, perform and evolve over time.
That was the challenge facing Universitas Indonesia (UI) — one of Southeast Asia’s largest and most respected public universities. With more than 55,900 students, 2,450 lecturers and 2,490 staff, UI had long relied on Moodle to power its EMAS platform. But as usage grew and expectations changed, the need for a major upgrade became clear.
To take the platform forward, UI partnered with Moodle Certified Partner PCMan to modernise and strengthen its learning environment.
Scaling a critical platform
Universitas Indonesia first introduced Moodle within its Faculty of Computer Science, but over time — and especially during the COVID-19 pandemic — it evolved into a university-wide platform known as EMAS.
Today, the scale is significant. Each semester, more than 13,800 courses are created automatically, with students enrolled in bulk across faculties. As EMAS became central to teaching, learning and assessment, new challenges began to surface.
Performance issues during peak periods, particularly exams, started to affect reliability. The university also needed stronger tools to support academic integrity in online assessments, along with infrastructure that could keep pace with more than 55,000 active learners. At the same time, limited reporting capabilities made it harder to track student progress effectively.
To move forward, UI needed a solution that could not only resolve these challenges, but continue to scale sustainably as demand grew.
Building a stronger solution
Rather than moving to a proprietary system, Universitas Indonesia chose to build on Moodle’s flexibility and open-source foundation.
Working with Moodle Certified Partner PCMan, the university modernised its LMS to better support growing demand and evolving expectations. The project focused on improving performance, strengthening assessment integrity, and expanding insight into learning.
Key enhancements included optimising infrastructure to handle peak usage — especially during exams — and introducing secure online assessment tools such as Safe Exam Browser (SEB) and camera-based proctoring. Anti-plagiarism services were integrated to support academic integrity, while peer-review features enabled more collaborative assessment approaches.
To better understand learner progress, the university also introduced advanced analytics through LearnerScript Reporting & Analytics, giving teams the data they need to make more informed academic decisions.
“Working with PCMan allowed us to redesign EMAS based on best practices and real user needs,” said Dimas Septian Saputra, Head of E-Learning Systems & Facilities.
Delivering future-ready learning
The impact of the upgrade is already evident across the university. Performance has improved during high-traffic periods such as exams, while faculty now have greater confidence in delivering secure, high-stakes assessments online.
At the same time, enhanced reporting provides clearer visibility into student engagement and progress, and the strengthened architecture offers the flexibility needed to support ongoing innovation.
“Upgrading Moodle allows us to deliver better services through EMAS, with a modern interface and advanced features,” said T. Ahmad Danial, Head of the Learning Resources Sub-Directorate.
With this foundation in place, Universitas Indonesia continues to expand its digital learning initiatives — including new approaches to online programmes and emerging technologies — all supported by Moodle’s open, adaptable platform.
“Moodle supports our mission of equitable, high-quality education — at scale,” said Dr. Gatot F. Hertono, Director of Academic Development and Learning Resources.
