How can institutions be intentional in the way they recruit, engage, and retain students for the fall semester--and beyond? Emerging technologies can help.

3 ways emerging technologies support student recruitment and enrollment


How can institutions be intentional in the way they recruit, engage, and retain students for the fall semester--and beyond?

Last March, a wave of change rolled through universities across the world. Students were sent home for virtual coursework, and college campuses were shut down indefinitely. At a time where college enrollment rates were already on the decline, the pandemic only made things worse: in Spring 2021, the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center reported a 5.9 percent decline in undergraduate enrollment, with community college falling by almost twice as much at 11.3 percent. Low-income students, first-generation students, and international students were especially vulnerable to scrapping college plans entirely, opting for a gap year, or abandoning their applications in lieu of employment opportunities.

As we enter another uncertain academic year, how can institutions interact with students in an intentional way to recruit, engage, and retain them for the fall semester and beyond?

Institutions need to think strategically about how they move prospects through the learning journey–from recruitment to graduation and beyond. To attract and retain a student body–especially one that is diverse, equitable, and inclusive–institutions should take advantage of new tools like automation and artificial intelligence. Here are three ways they can do so.

Create a 360º view of the student

Gone are the days when mailing informational pamphlets was a compelling student recruitment strategy. Today’s students are digital natives, which means institutions need to ensure their recruiting and engagement practices align with their preferences. Each student has a unique digital identity consisting of data points such as demographic data, academic interests, and extracurricular interests. These data points can be leveraged and analyzed to create a comprehensive view of the student throughout the recruitment process and throughout their time at the institution.

By using artificial intelligence to build a picture of the student’s academic and non-academic interests, institutions will be able to assess the applicant’s preferences when considering schools, programs, and extracurriculars. In-depth analysis of student data through artificial intelligence will arm institutions with the tools to better target the right students for their programs.

Become accessible to everyone, all the time

Customer service is no longer limited to human interactions. Online chatbots equipped with sophisticated natural language processing (NLP) can help provide answers to prospective students through the eligibility assessment and application process. A digital assistant’s 24/7 availability provides greater convenience for students and families who are unable to call during business hours and reduces the time spent by staff answering admissions inquiries. These conversational interfaces adapt through machine learning to create a personalized and supportive environment to field students’ questions.

The University of Adelaide, for example, created a chatbot that enabled prospective students to quickly access their ATAR scores in just three minutes, rather than the usual 40-minute wait to obtain that information by phone. Implementing services like chatbots will be essential for making the college experience more accessible to students.

Reduce the headache of financial aid

For many students pursuing a degree, the first concern is finances. When applications flood the financial aid office, universities shouldn’t be caught unprepared. Schools that can quickly and clearly communicate what amount of aid students are eligible for help their likelihood of attracting new students and retaining existing ones. Instead of expecting institutional staff to manually process aid forms on an archaic IT system, institutions must modernize to a more transparent, efficient, and user-friendly experience. Cloud-first automated systems allow students to easily submit necessary documents, receive alerts for discrepancies, and test how changes in their application might affect their financial status. This increases operational efficiencies and gives valuable time back to staff, which can be spent interacting directly with students. Student-centric platforms like these will streamline the recruitment process and ease headaches both for students and financial aid staff.

Over the past year and a half, many institutions have realized the limits of their legacy systems as they look to improve their outreach with prospective students and their engagement with current students. By using artificial intelligence, automation, and other emerging technologies, colleges and universities will pave the way toward a more engaging and efficient start to the student journey.

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