Can I track course/delegate iPads and wirelessly install apps?

Question

Hello all,
I work in an institution where we deploy 80 iPads a day to delegates for the duration of their stay with us.
At the moment, we are unable to find a suitable location tracking solution, for when the iPads go wandering. As you can guess, we have had a couple over the years go missing, but have been fortunate it has only been a couple.
For our staff devices(not limited to iPads) we use Systems Manager/Meraki. But there are serveral reasons why we cannot use this for our delegate. I will detail some of them below:
We deploy the iPads day to day, using Configurator to wipe and load them, ready for the next person, this clears the enrollment settings, meaning we would spend hours each morning getting the devices enrolled as we would have to repeat this for each person
The location tracking is inadequate, as it tracks by IP, not giving us a realistic picture of where the iPads are when trying to find them
The beta location tracking feature is only a beta and we would need something reliable long term and short term
As all of the devices are 'supervised' we would preferably like a solution which could be used with Configurator.
Finally, we would like to be able to push out apps wirelessly to the devices on our network, this would be useful for last minute requests. We currently don't have anything in place for this and wondered if others are having the same issue, or have a good solution.
Thank you in advance for your help.
iPad info and software
80x iPad 4's
iOS 8.1
Apple Configurator 1.7
Meraki Systems Manager (Free)
Kind regards,
Darren

Answer 1

Maybe you should check with AirWatch
If you want additional features that the application provides such as GPS tracking, telecom collection, and compromised detection, it is recommended that you push the AirWatch MDM Agent as a public application through the console. You will be prompted to install this application, as usual behavior after enrollment, once completing the Setup Assistant.
Here is what Apple says is possible.  It lets you display the location of the ipad if it is network connected.  If you secure you ipad, the mdm acts as a replacement for the activation lock.
If your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch is lost or stolen - Apple Support