COVID-19 outbreak across the region has impacted all industries and sectors. Work from home is the norm for the day. Educational institutes and universities are highly affected due to this crucial yet mandatory decision of lockdown. Entire examination and admission time table may get collapsed due to continuous lockdown in various countries including Asia, Europe, US.
Educational institutes and universities had to change their admission strategy and exam time tables in this Covid-19 era. I have covered the majority aspects of managing remote exams in previous article.
In case of the admission process, there are many aspects related to the admission process including lead management, counselling for the prospective students, sharing course information and brochures to the students, accepting admission forms, merit list generation, accepting the first instalment of the fee for admission confirmation.
Due to the lockdown situation, it is essential for education institutes, schools and universities to adopt technology which can help to manage various aspects of the admission strategy and the whole process while continuing to do work from home. Following are some of the key things which can help you to continue your admission process in the era of social distancing.
In these scenarios it is essential for the institutes to use cost effective technology and collaborate with various stakeholders like admission counselors, admission committee members, students, parents.
Communication of institute value proposition, course details using innovative ways can be way forward. Here are 5 things which you should primarily focus on in order to form an efficient admission strategy.
Article Contents
#1. Live Chatbot
Yes, you heard it right Live chat or Chatbots is likely to come to your rescue while resolving student queries related through common admission process related FAQs.
The chatbot is a simple program which enables live chat on your website. It is programmed to handle and respond to frequently asked questions by the prospective students. It can help you in your lead generation strategy quite effectively.
Many education institutes were able to automate, simplify student query resolution processes with the help of live chatbots deployed on their website and app.
Chatbots are also serving effectively in the healthcare sector and have optimised the communication to an extent for the same.
Having a Live Chatbot on your website is advantageous for following reasons:
- It automates the student query resolution to an extent.
- Helps to collect qualified lead to support your admission process.
- Improvises student/visitor satisfactions with instant query resolution mechanism.
- It allows the counsellor to take control of the chat at any point of time.
- It allows the counsellor to initiate the chat with the prospective visitor.
#2. Student Counselling using Video Conferencing Tools
Counselling is an inseparable part of the admission process. You can not commit a great admission strategy unless and until you have the counselling process sorted.
We are all fighting against a severe outbreak, COVID-19, with social distancing and a complete lockdown. So, now the question is, how are you going to conduct the counselling sessions?
Traditionally, the aspiring students would visit the institute and see a counsellor who would then address them with all the ins and outs of the course they wish to join. The lockdown situation has become a pain in the neck!
Why not embrace the most essential invention by humans, the technology!
Graham Bell’s invention connected us with a voice transmission back then, and with the progressing technology we now can talk, see and feel connected with each other, through video conferencing.
Hosting online webinars or one on one counselling sessions using free tools like Google Hangout, Zoom, Skype can really be helpful and surely would add a boost to the admission strategy.
The counsellor may not be able to meet the student personally but he can schedule a virtual meeting to resolve admission related queries, in minutes. This would surely add a personalized touch to the process and make it better, to an extent.
In addition to that, Virtual webinars can also be useful to address the prospective students. The counsellors can opt out of any virtual platform like Google Hangouts or Zoom and conduct live interactive webinar sessions.
If live sessions are not feasible or helpful to match the expectations of the students then, we can also record these live sessions and post these videos on channels like YouTube. These posted videos can also be used for further promotional activities.
#3. Online Admission Process
Well, as we are discussing the admission strategy, an Online Admission Process is a kind of must-have-thing to accept student registrations. Admission process should be shifted to online mode so that students would be able to fill admission forms sitting at their home. Digital admission process provided by ePravesh® platform helps you automate following activities,
- Student Registration.
- Online Form Filling.
- Online Document Management for academic certificates, photographs etc.
- Online Form Fee Management.
- Merit List Generation.
- Online Student Counselling and Admission Confirmation.
Online admission would help to track the entire admission process for various courses through a central dashboard. This dashboard can provide useful information for managing admission strategies.
- Region-wise application count.
- Male Female Ratio of applicants.
- Pending or incomplete applications.
- Admission Status and confirmed admission count for each course.
- Source of admission based on your marketing channels.
#4. Online Assessments
The admission process of various schools, colleges and universities includes conducting the entrance exam as a qualification round of the admission process. Pen and paper-based tests or exam centre based tests may be out of the equation in the current context of social distancing. You can opt for the platforms like Eklavvya.
It provides a platform to conduct online exams where students can appear from their home. AI-based remote proctoring, secure browser ensures the end-to-end security of the online exam and keeps it cheating free. This solution has been used widely across the world by many educational institutes.
You can easily manage remote online exams with AI-based proctoring. It provides the following features
- Online exam cheating detection.
- Video and audio streaming of remote candidate activity during the online exam process.
- Secure browser to prevent users from opening another window during the online exam.
You can certainly simplify your admission entrance exam process with the help of technology adoption like online remote proctored exam process and empower you admission strategy.
Today many schools are conducting proctored admission test or entrance test to automate candidate selection process
You can also conduct online viva or oral exam during admission process. Technology can help you to record responses of the individuals for later reference.
#5. Digital Fee Acceptance
Accepting fee in the digital format is the way to manage the admission process in a truly paperless manner. Having a complimenting feature like digital payments can add a lot of value to your admission strategy.
A platform like ePravesh® provides an option to collect fee payment related to your admission in a digital manner.
After confirmation of admission, the institute can ask students or parents to make the online fee payment. You can get entire details associated with fee collection status on the digital dashboard panel.
#Bonus Tip : Social Media Marketing
The student community is on social media and accessing Whatsapp, Facebook, Instagram. Students spend a significant amount of time browsing social networks.
As an educational institute, you need to have a strong presence on social media. You can upload photos of past education events, testimonials of existing students, alumni on a social network.
You can also use video marketing strategy where your principal, dean, professors can share some useful information about career prospects after completing a course from your education institute. Videos can be an effective medium to attract students for your courses.
Conclusion
Technology adoption is essential for education institutes to tide over this COVID-19 challenge. Thankfully technology is readily available for you to adapt and continue your critical processes like academic exams and admissions.
ePravesh platform has been adopted by hundreds of universities and education institutes across the region. Millions of applications have been processed by ePravesh platform. You can get started with our demo of the online admission process right away.
