| University Business presents Models of Efficiency, a national recognition program honoring institutions whose innovative solutions have solved higher education business and technology challenges. |
Hire Education
Marist College (N.Y.)
Human Resources
When Marist discovered that users of its third-party recruitment software were reporting frustrating application experiences, the school developed an in-house solution—a customizable, open-source online recruitment system that makes the application process easier. Along with saving $18,000 in licensing fees, the university's applicant pool has increased and more candidates are completing the application process. Read the full story. |
Nonstop Service
Pratt Institute of Technology (N.Y.)
Financial Aid
Pratt's financial departments were so siloed that students found themselves bouncing back and forth in an effort to determine the status of their bills, financial aid and other financial matters. Pratt's IT staff developed self-service tools for the current student portal students, so that information such as account status and loan processing documentation is now available at any time of day and from any location. As a result, student visits to the financial department dropped by 60 percent. Read the full story. |
Self-Service ID Cards
University of Alabama (Ala.)
Auxiliary Services
Used for everything from building access to dining halls, student Action Cards at the University of Alabama were time-consuming to produce during freshman orientation. With the help of the IT department, the university developed a program in-house to enable students to log in remotely, enter relevant personal data and upload a photo they liked. Now Action Card production takes one minute per card and the work can be spread out over the whole summer. Read the full story. |
Diligent Data
College of the Desert (Calif.)
Admissions and Enrollment
With the numerous flaws in the system used by the College of the Desert's admissions and records department, half a dozen faculty and staff at the California community college might end up handling a single document. After selecting a new paperless solution, which integrates with the college's ERP, the time spent processing applications and petitions has been cut by 40 percent. Because of the automatic notifications, email and phone inquiries are significantly down. Read the full story. |
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Unified Web Templates
University of Montana (Mont.)
Information Technology
Faced with increased competition for students and declining enrollment, the University of Montana centralized the oversight of its web presence to create a unified look and feel across all of its websites. The use of new templates reduced reliance on outside design firms, cut costs, helped meet accessibility compliance, and increased the pace at which new sites were created. Websites are being released at a rate of more than one a week. All sites should be converted by spring 2015. Read the full story. |
Creating a Printing Consortium
Wright State University (Ohio)
Auxiliary Services
When Wright State University invested significantly in printing equipment only to see demand decline, it lead administrators to overhaul the Ohio institution's entire printing system. By switching to a variable pay-per-print model based on volume and relying on one supplier to manage all its equipment, Wright State is saving $750,000 per year. Sharing assets with two other universities in a consortium has further cut costs. Read the full story. |
Foldemort: No More Paper and Folders
Portland State University (Ore.)
Admissions and Enrollment
Administrators at Portland State fully digitize student records and integrate them with a new third-party student information system. As a result, admin decisions are made far more quickly—at least two weeks more quickly—and 850 hours of student work time has been saved because physical folders and files are no longer used. Eliminating the need to print applications and file them with evaluations and reviews has saved almost 40,000 sheets of paper. Read the full story. |
Prospective-Student Microsite
Western Iowa Tech Community College (Iowa)
Admissions and Enrollment
In two short years, Western Iowa Tech Community College upgraded from generic paper-based admissions packets to personalized packets to online microsites tailored to each prospective student's needs and interests. Besides achieving higher application rates, the new program is saving approximately $7,200 a year in printing and mailing costs. Of those students who sign up for a page within the new program, 75 percent to 80 percent apply for admission. Read the full story. |
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