Now that the fall HEUG regional season is winding down, I thought I’d put together some observations from the two most recent events in which we participated.

As always, it was excellent to reconnect with attendees from all of the different institutions that participate.  It was clear that the PeopleSoft ecosystem is alive and well – and most institutions were planning upgrades and were interested in learning how to leverage new features better.  Two features of significant interest to attendees were drop zones and event mapping.  Paul Taylor of Guideon Taylor gave an excellent presentation on both topics.

Admissions

Admissions was a topic of significant interest by attendees of both events.  We gave interactive presentations at both conferences -- highlighting admissions challenges and trends.  As talked with different organizations, we had a number of intriguing conversations.

• Many institutions have had to create custom solutions and internal processes for different types of degree programs, such as graduate degrees, certificate programs, and international candidates. These are often costly and difficult to use / maintain -- and often don't meet their needs.

• Many applicants / candidates need assistance as they register and apply. Institutions are addressing this via techniques such as guiding an applicant via educational goal Q&A in the online application, chatbots, and physically engaging an advisor with the applicant earlier in the process.

• Giving admissions counselors more information in context with the candidate’s application will help them become more productive and make better decisions. Too often, decisions are made by “feel” and counselors usually don’t have visibility into how a student performs several years after being admitted

Want to Learn More?

We will be hosting a webinar covering these topics on October 23, 2019.  You can register here to participate.