Click here to receive your FREE subscription to Campus Technology
Recruiting & Retention Technology
Gaining Acceptance
9/1/2007
The power of the web has changed the way
higher education institutions handle recruitment,
admissions, enrollment, and retention. Find
your next yield bump here.
Back in the 1990s, when Bill Clinton was president and the internet was still a novelty, college recruitment was remarkably low-tech. Most prospective students visited high school guidance offices, wrote away for information about schools, attended college fairs, and visited campuses they were considering. Most admissions and recruiting activities were paper-based; student requests came in on letterhead and colleges replied with printed catalogs that cost a bundle to produce and mail.
Not surprisingly, with the rise of the internet, many if not most colleges and universities have digitized the recruitment process, and also are employing a vast array of technologies (see “Going Mobile”) to manage processes such as admissions, enrollment, and retention. Administrators may still utilize spreadsheets, but they are no longer dependent upon them; they are now happily exploiting the era of web-based student information systems, custom direct marketing projects, online scheduling software, and data-mining and analytics initiatives. The change is perhaps the best news for trees—nowadays, just about the only thing missing from these processes is paper.
Webifying Operations
The most universally welcomed advances in the world of recruitment, admissions, enrollment, and retention technologies are web-based student information systems, although they are not necessarily the latest developments: Dozens of magazines (including this one) routinely report on software packages like Blackboard, Datatel, Campus Management, and more. At the University of Mississippi, for instance, officials have relied on SAP Student Lifecycle Management since 2003 to manage interactions from the moment a student is interested in Ole Miss, to the moment he or she graduates. The system enables students to complete almost every step of the student lifecycle through web-based interfaces. Specifically, they can apply for admission, register for classes, check grades, and make payments. Transfer students also can use the system to electronically switch records from their previous institutions to the new one. According to CIO Kathy Gates, the technology has streamlined processes so dramatically that student enrollment has increased in excess of 15 percent since ’03. The next phase for the university: degree audit, so students can see what classes they need to finish their degrees.
Recommended Reading
- CT Industry
- eProcurement Success!
Today, it's clear to almost every campus executive that moving an institution from the traditional purchasing model to a strategic eProcurement program can greatly increase staff efficiency and save the institution money. Because eProcurement automates so many purchasing processes, it eliminates reams of paperwork and allows procurement staff to refocus their efforts on cutting costs and improving strategic partnerships.
- How to Be a Super Tech Leader
Mary Jo Gorney-Moreno didn't start out in IT. She joined San Jose State University (CA) in 1981 as an assistant professor in the school of nursing. But somewhere along the way, she realized her energy was focused on academic technology, and how it could help a variety of learners gain knowledge.
- James Morris
- Products :: Data Security
- Products :: Physical Security
