Managing The Student Enrolment Season
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Some things in life are certain: Death, taxes and another academic school year.
Whilst for students this typically begins in September, for schools, colleges and universities the preparation begins months prior.
However, it is often the case that administration departments don’t have the most efficient processes when it comes to the busier times, despite knowing that they are just around the corner.
With application forms, acceptance letters and financial aid communications (to name a few) for often thousands of students at a time being sent back and forth, there is no doubt that it can be a logistical nightmare.
But in reality, a successful student onboarding process has been shown to increase student retention and boost the overall productivity and engagement of both students and staff. So surely it is worth investing in the efficiency of this annual process?
We take a look at the different ways electronic signatures could be the answer during these busy times, as well as the extra benefits it could bring.
Why e-signatures for student enrolment?
Save time
The process of sending documents by mail is an old and antiquated method, yet it is still widely used by administration teams in education.
The time it takes for said document to be printed, sealed, delivered, signed and then returned is long and arduous.
This time could definitely be better spent by admin staff on more important tasks. Digital signatures also save time for the signee (in this case, the students) as all you need to do is to type, draw or upload an image of your signature.
This adds to the student enrolment experience and eliminates any unnecessary stress for the students applying, which can only be a good thing!
Reduce waste
According to a recent study, education is the sector that’s having the most trouble reducing its paper use. So much so that 80% of staff working within the sector admit to this. A huge contributing factor to this is the masses of forms and documents used by staff.
Not only does cutting down on paper consumption in turn cut costs, it also means you are one step closer to becoming a greener institution.
Organisation
In the 2019/2020 academic year, over 2.5m students enrolled in the 271 higher education institutions across the UK, which equates to roughly 9,300 students per university.
As the enrollment window is the same for all, these students are applying at the same time, meaning there is a huge amount of organisation needed during the enrollment season. Automating processes with e-signatures ensures these necessary standards are met with ease.
What’s more, when students receive a document to digitally sign, it allows the administration team to have insight into whether it has been delivered, opened and if so how many times.
What student enrolment forms could e-signatures be used for?
Any document that needs signing can be sent digitally, but here are a few examples of how educational institutions can use e-signing:
Application and enrolment forms
During the busy seasons, administration offices need to send up to thousands of application and student enrolment forms out at a time. E-signatures allow for fast and easy sending with fully customisable fields, through uploading existing pdf documents and word documents, or by choosing from a range of different templates.
This means unlimited bulk sends are simple to achieve without compromising on the personalisation aspect.
Internal communication
Outside of the student enrolment season, digital signatures can be used to sign all kinds of documents within your organisation.
Whether it be for parental consent, emergency contact forms, maintenance requests or staff employment contracts. The list goes on! Using e-signatures throughout the academic year also often works out as cheaper than a pay-as-you-go payment plan.
How to send a document online with Signable
Signable is an electronic signature provider helping customers to send documents easily, securely and quickly.
To send an electronic document with Signable, all you need to do is:
- Upload your document (Word, Excel or PDF document)
- Add your signing parties (name and email address)
- Add your signature, text and date fields (plus any other fields you need filling)
- Click send
And your online document is ready for electronic signing for student enrolment!