HRP Recruitment

Mandate:! ! •  enhance and ensure sustainability with University student recruitment; ! •  identify and implement strategies designed to enhance student retention;! •  ensure system level barriers to student success and engagement are removed.! Objectives:! ! •  increase learner success at UofL;! •  enhance the focus of support services for learners;! •  implement sustainable student enrolment strategies;! •  continue to improve the quality, reputation and perception of the UofL among students, alumni and the general community.!

RRP Team Members

Sponsors:

Andrew Hakin Nancy Walker

Vice-President (Academic) Vice-President (Finance and Administration) Associate Vice-President (Financial Planning) Director, Integrated Planning Campus Housing Information Technology Faculty of Management Recruitment Financial Planning Faculty of Arts and Science Admissions and Transfer Information Technology Counselling Services

Project Manager:

Karen Clearwater

Project Coordinator: Members:

Heather Mirau Steve Brodrick Trevor Flexhaug Dan Kazakoff Carma Leishman Nicole Leusink Heidi MacDonald Alice Miller Chris Roberts Barbara Williams

Current RRP Projects

•  Academic Support – Achievement and Learning Resources •  Academic Support
– Student Success •  Campus Housing Expansion •  Campus Services Web Pages •  Enhancing Community and School Spirit •  Online Graduate Studies Application and Review System •  Student Portal •  Traditions •  Degree Planning NOTE: there are now some 70 employees from across campus working on these various committees! Thanks to all!

RRP: Graduate Application/Admissions Process
Phase 1 – Investigation

Team Members Team Lead Sr. Business Analyst Faculty Operational Champions Cash Office Programmer Resource Web Team Alice Miller Jamie Chinn Drew Rendall Kathy Schrage Cindy Matheson Morgan Martin Larry Merkley Ted Erickson David Gregory Tammy Rogness Susan Pollock Joyce Ito

Phase 1: Investigation

Phase 1 Goals: 1. UofL process review of the current paper-based graduate level application and admission process. 2. External review of comprehensive universities across Canada – both Banner and non-Banner institutions. 3. Investigate possible electronic solutions: a.  Third party solutions to an electronic system, b.  Usability of Banner baseline self-service application, c.  Build. 4. Define scope of proposed project. 5. Recommend potential solutions including buy, build, baseline, and/or a combination to RRP for consideration which will move the current paper-based Graduate Admissions Process to an electronic model.

Background

Academic Year 2009/2010 2010/2011

# of Applicants 541 373

# of Supporting Documents 4370 3380

# of Offers 374 210

# of Offers that become Registered Students 302 176

•  Currently the number of applicants applying during an academic year is directly related to the number of cohorts offered by the Faculty of Education •  Documents required in support of an application are submitted in paper format. •  At present time, a Records Clerk manually scans the application and supporting documentation as they are received to a shared drive for use by the various graduate level administrative units. •  The administrative units must manually retrieve the application and supporting documents to create files for their respective applicant pool. •  NOTE: overall registration at the graduate level has been stable the past few years.

Need to Align to UofL Governance

•  The

UofL Mandate and Roles document speaks to several areas where our current paperdriven processes fall short: -  being student-centred -  practicing sound resource management -  using technology effectively -  being environmentally responsible •  The Setting Enrolment Directions document has a direction speaking directly to strengthening the graduate component of the UofL which complements our strategic priorities: -  achieving a growth goal of between 0% and 2% will require an increase in applications as there is a direct correlation between number of applications to number of offers to number of registered students o  all universities surveyed confirm that applications will increase dramatically with an online/electronic process – a proposed action item speaks to the implementation of the online graduate application project

Proposed Timeline

•  July, 2010 Charter Developed •  July, 2010 Steering Committee Team Created •  November / December, 2010 Current Institutional Process Review Completed
•  December, 2010 / May, 2011 Environmental Scan Completed •  April, 2011 Scope of Project going forth to RRP and project sponsors finalized •  April, 2011 Analysis of technologies complete •  May / June, 2011 Present proposed solution with cost estimates/timelines to RRP and project sponsors

Scope of Investigation to Include:

•  online application •  electronic submission/uploading of supporting documentation •  electronic receipt of test scores •  ability to scan documents for which electronic submission is not yet possible •  electronic reference letter process •  electronic review process for program committees – including some form of dashboard to provide summary level information by applicant with a desire to then be able to drill down •  electronic communication -  receipt of application acknowledgement -  periodic contact if outstanding documents are not received -  letter of offer -  confirmation of admission •  report generation

Benefits to the Institution and the Applicant

•  assist in the achievement of our Strategic Priority of graduate level growth -  an online solution leads to an increase in applications resulting in a much larger applicant pool from which to select your future students from •  manual processes go away -  faculty will have the ability to review current applications plus supporting documentation any time and any where §  no longer required to sit on the chairs in the Graduate Studies Office to review the information -  administrative support staff will no longer have to devote time to the creation of application files for the various faculty review processes freeing up much needed time to perform higher value added tasks -  online reference process -  applicants will be able to complete all processes online, including the ability to upload supporting documents -  new process will enable improved turnaround time and hence faster decisions

Institutional Scan Results

UofS # of Grad Students # of Grad Apps/Offers ERP Application used Submission of Supporting Documents References Applicant review Accepted paper app @ launch? Still accepting paper? Notes 3000 4100 Banner 8.3 Banner Baseline Paper based

Queens 3900 ~5000 PeopleSoft* Custom Built Paper based

Waterloo 4800 7500/2000 PeopleSoft Custom Built Online

UBC 9500 12,000/4775 Custom Custom Built Paper based

UofR 1450 1200/750 Banner 8.2 Banner Baseline Mixed

UofT 15,000 20,000/~7000 Custom Customer Built Online

UofVic 2800 3700 Banner 8.3 Pass BC Paper based

UofC 6000 6000/2100 PeopleSoft Custom Built Paper based

Paper based Paper based Yes

Custom built Mixed Yes

Custom built Online Yes

Custom built Paper based Yes

Email/pdf

Custom built Mixed

Email/pdf Mixed Yes

Paper based Mixed Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes *implementing PeopleSoft

No Moving to new online PeopleSoft app

Yes Redoing app process, system

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Next Steps

•  Finalize proposal with cost estimates/timelines for presentation to RRP and project sponsors for approval and funding! •  Finalize detailed requirements for the various graduate level administrative units! •  Finalize detailed requirements for committee review! •  Technical Project Team Creation! •  When approved, development is slated to begin:! -  if solution is purchased, will be dependent upon availability of vendor! -  if built in-house, following Banner upgrade in October! •  Estimated time to completion: varies dependent upon solution approved! •  Continued communication to university community through the RRP website:! http://www.uleth.ca/recruitment-retention/