With the introduction of clearing web forms, the roles are reversing. Universities are collecting enquiries via responsive online forms and generating responses based on input. Thus allowing the system to generate the appropriate next step for the enquirer.
If the enquirer is unsuccessful the system will send an automated rejection. If the enquirer is successful, the university may use their call management system to call the student back. In some instances universities are implementing dynamic scripts to aid the process.
Dynamic scripts allows the university caller to process enquirer’s details whilst on the call. There are several benefits of using this type of technology; the university is able to reduce reliance on phone lines, the university caller no longer has to be seen as ‘the bad guy’ for delivering the news and ultimately improving the speed of response which in turn improves student experience!
As you can imagine, students are now telling a very different story from 20 years ago – and so are universities. In the few days following results day last year, 30,000 students were already placed. The anecdotal evidence shows that students are no longer ‘disappointed’ with the clearing process and universities are now processing enquiries and applications a lot quicker than ever before.
This begs the question, what changes are in store for the next 20 years?