Enrollment
Management Services (EMS) Today
A Proposal for the International University for
Development in West Africa
Revised July, 2002
Background
The
International University for Development in West Africa
(IUDWA) is a private, non-profit American style university
with instruction in English. It is located in Côte
d'Ivoire near Abidjan. IUDWA expects to open in fall
2003 with an undergraduate class of approximately 100
students. The University plans to add graduate programs
after it opens. IUDWA plans to grow 1500 students. The
curricula are career related with the first programs
in business and computer science. Admission criteria
to the university will be similar to admission criteria
to many universities in the United States. Its organizational
structure is similar to most colleges in the United
States. The Enrollment Management Services (EMS) unit
falls within the division of Student Affairs and is
led by an Associate Vice President. The EMS organization
is responsible for the recruitment, admission, enrollment,
and retention of students.
Enrollment Management Service Organizations
Overview
of the Enrollment Management Services Model
The
proposed Enrollment Management Services organizational
model has different names. The name Enrollment Management
Services seems appropriate because it reflects that
it is a management structure but one that emphasizes
services to its customers. The model stresses flexibility
in addressing the needs of customers. Adopting this
model, or some version of the model, should enable IUDWA
leaders and managers to meet the changing needs of the
university as it develops.
The EMS organization proposed for IUDWA is a cross-functional
team model. It is a model that put emphasis on services
to students that are meaningful to students. It emphasizes
the services students need and want, in a way they want
to receive them and when they want to receive them.
The
cross-functional team model eliminates many of the boundaries
and rigidities of separate enrollment management services
units, i.e., admissions/recruitment, registrar, financial
aid, student accounts/bursar, orientation and academic
and career advising. Student housing is not included
in this model, but student housing is very important
to recruitment, admissions, enrollment, and retention
of students. There must be close coordination and cooperation
with student housing as well as with other student affairs
units.
`The
EMS cross-functional team model includes all the usual
functions performed by the individual offices today,
but organizes them in a different way. The model de-emphasizes
vertical or silo structures and emphasizes horizontal
or cross-functional structures. There are many benefits
to the organization for adapting this model. For example,
from the customer service perspective the EMS model
provides better and more convenient services. From a
management perspective, staff members who are cross-trained
in many different tasks means that all tasks are covered
all the time even when some staff members are on vacations,
out sick, etc. It also means that when a staff members
leaves, history does not go with them.
One
of the main tenets of the enrollment management services
model is that its student services are located in one
place, a concept usually called one-stop shopping. This
could be a physical location, the one stop center staffed
by cross functional team members, or it could be web
address (URL). Usually it is a combination of both.
The needs of the customer drive which one he/she will
use to conduct business.
EMS Leadership/Management Structure
An
Associate Vice President for Enrollment Management Services
leads the EMS organization. Reporting to the Associate
VP is a Assistant Vice President for EMS/Registrar (AVP)
and a Director of Enrollment Management Services. Registrar
is the one functional title I have chosen to keep since
its history and its functions are deeply rooted in the
academic culture of the university. The Assistant Vice
President will serve as Vice President in the absence
of the Vice President.
General
Leader/Management Responsibilities
The
leadership/management roles in the EMS organization
have similar responsibilities. They are responsible
for managing the day-to-day operations of their units,
for short and long term planning, preparing and monitoring
budgets, developing position descriptions, assigning
work, evaluating work, rewarding good work, coaching
for improvement, and providing staff training and professional
development opportunities. The managers are responsible
for developing all necessary application, forms, and
letters, developing office policies and procedures,
and functional processes. They are responsible for conducting
research related to their areas.
Associate
Vice President for Enrollment Management Services (Associate
VP)
The
Associate Vice President is the visionary leader of
the EMS organization. He/she is the advocate for EMS
and is the voice of EMS inside and outside the university.
The Associate VP champions EMS teamwork and innovation,
particularly technological innovation. Working with
the EMS management team, the Associate VP leads strategic
planning activities including disaster recovery planning
and records management planning for paper and digital
records, develops organization-wide polices, develops
assessment plans, optimizes the use of available resources,
and establishes priorities. He/she is responsible for
the internal integration and coordination of all EMS
teams and services as well as integration and coordination
with other university units and outside agencies.
Assistant Vice President for Enrollment Management
Services/Registrar (AVP)
The
Assistant Vice President provides vision and leadership
to cross-functional teams having responsibilities that
cut across the traditional units of recruitment/ admissions,
registrar, financial aid, and student accounts/bursar
as well as for one-stop service center. The AVP provides
leadership for technology development, implementation
and training. He/she ensures that appropriate coordination
among teams occurs and that they perform at their optimum.
The
Assistant Vice President oversees all aspects of prospecting
and recruitment, admissions decisions and processing,
of registration and academics records, financial aid
awarding and processing and student accounts/bursar
functions and process, the interpretation and application
of academic rules and regulations as well rules and
regulations related to financial aid awarding and student
accounts billing and collection. Many of these rules
and regulations come from outside governing bodies.
He/she is responsible for setting admissions policy
in consultation with the faculty and other administrators.
The AVP is responsible for developing predictive statistical
models to yield the number and types of new students
(freshmen and transfer) the institution wants to enroll
and to assess the likelihood of persistence of different
students.
Cross-functional
teams perform the functions and tasks associated with
the activities in this unit. Identified as team lead
positions are Associate and/or Assistant Enrollment
Management Services Leader with support positions identified
as Enrollment Management Services Customer Associates
and Enrollment Management Services Support Associates.
The Customer Associates would provide overall services
to students, faculty and staff and staff the one-stop
center. The Support Associates would be responsible
for necessary behind the scenes processing.
Director of Enrollment Management Services
The
Director provides vision and leadership to the cross-functional
teams that have responsibilities that cut across the
traditional units of orientation and new student programs,
academic and career advising and services for international
scholars and students. The Director assures that coordination
among teams occurs and that they perform at their optimum.
Members of this unit will also be part of the one-stop
student services cross-functional work team. Due to
the nature of the functions of this unit, there may
be Counselor Associates rather than Customer Associates
titles.
Reporting to the Director are the Associate Director
of Orientation and New Student Programs, Associate Director
of Academic and Career Advising and the Associate Director
for Services for International Scholars and Students.
The Director is responsible for the interpretation and
application of academic rules and regulations as well
as regulations related to students and scholars from
other countries. Many of these rules and regulations
come from outside governing bodies. The Director works
closely with the faculty in developing academic policies
related to graduation, honors, good standing, probation,
dismissal, and application of transfer credit to degree
requirements, etc. He/she works closely with faculty
and other administrators in implementing academic polices
as well as other campus policies and procedures.
The
assignment of responsibilities between the Assistant
Vice President and the Director positions keeps related
and like tasks and responsibilities together. An additional
guide to assigning functions is the general configuration
and workflow of enterprise wide systems.
Initial Recruitment
At the beginning, the IUDWA will be a small university
and the number of staff for the EMS organization will
probably begin with ten to twelve people. This means
that a few people will have to cover many tasks. (The
size of the university does not make too much difference
in the number of tasks performed, just the volume.)
The first positions should be at a senior professional
level since the university will need experienced lead
staff in registrar, financial aid, admissions, advising,
career services, new student programs, technology, publications,
etc. It should be understood by these staff that their
responsibilities will include customer service support
and clerical support.
Resource
constraints are an issue for IUDWA. It may be difficult
to find people with the knowledge and skills to fill
the upper level and lead positions. By proposing fewer
but broader roles salaries might be set that would attract
competent professionals. As the university grows in
size and thus in volume of work, staff may be added
and these roles may have to be reconfigured. Reconfiguring
roles also occurs as change happens, particularly technological
change. Technological change usually does not mean fewer
staff but rather staff with a different skill set.
Enrollment
Management Services Model
The
enrollment management services models puts emphasis
on services to students that are meaningful to students.
It emphasizes the services students need and want, in
a way they want to receive them and when they want to
receive them. This means providing different types and
points of access to services. Most students want the
ability to access real-time services and complete many
tasks 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This type of
service environment is being called a virtual service
environment. Other times a student will need and want
to talk to a person.
Current
EMS service models describe student access to services
as follows: 75-90% of student contact with university
offices is self-service, i.e., via web, Internet,
telephony; 15%-8% contact is with EMS generalist staff who are trained across units and 10%-2% contact
is with specialists or experts who are cross
trained but have expertise in particularly areas. Examples
of specialists would be establishing for residency for
fee purposes, financial aid, etc., foreign credential
evaluation; and financial aid needs analysis/packaging.
Cross-functional positions and cross-functional team
development are key components of successful EMS services.
Another key element is a one-stop student service center
and/or virtual student service center.
Success
of an EMS organization (by success I mean meeting the
students' definitions of success/needs within university
resources) is contingent upon sophisticated technological
support for students, staff and faculty. A basic resource
of today's university is an integrated enterprise-wide
computer system including course management software
for faculty. Web presence is critical to the EMS organization.
Customized web portals for students, staff and administrators
are necessary in today's higher education environment.
Adopting customer-relationship management theory and
instilling a customer service attitude on the part of
all members of the university is vital to the sustained
health of the university.
Strategic Enrollment Management (SEM)
Guiding
the actions of an EMS organization is the institution's
strategic enrollment management (SEM) plan. A strategic
enrollment management plan develops from the university's
strategic plan. Its development and success is the responsibility
of everyone connected to the campus. A SEM plan directs
the actions an institution must take to enhance its
institutional quality and to create a responsive, student-centered
campus. Institutional reality guides SEM planning, i.e.,
the SEM plan meets student needs and wants within institutional
resources.
It
is not the purpose of this document to discuss in full
strategic enrollment management planning. It is important
to highlight some of the basic elements of SEM thinking
in the United States because they reflect a cultural
difference from the perspectives and actions of many
universities in third world countries. The concepts
of SEM have direct impact on the final organizational
structure of the EMS unit and, therefore, should be
understood from the beginning of the IUDWA planning
process.
The faculty has primary responsibility for the design
and offering of curricula that meet the needs and wants
of students. Students' needs are generally related to
what employers want and expect. The design of curricula
to meet the business needs of Cote d'Ivoire is a primary
reason for the IUDWA. The faculty has responsibility
for delivering the curricula in different ways using
traditional and innovative techniques to address different
student learning styles and to enhance student learning.
Faculty interactions with students are critical to student
retention and success. Nothing discourages a student
from attending or remaining at an institution as a non-caring
or uninterested faculty.
Academic
policies should be responsive to students. I do not
mean to imply that faculty should weaken academic standards
but rather that academic policies should be based on
cogent reasoning, and be explainable and understandable
to students. Why an institution needs four levels of
academic probation is sometimes difficult to explain
or understand.
Administrative
organization, and policies and procedures also should
be responsive to students. Policies concerning student
privacy, access to student records, access for disabled
students, etc., should be developed. Similar to academic
policies, administrative policies and procedures should
be streamlined, based on cogent reasoning, understandable,
explainable, and accomplishable. Does the institution
really need three signatures for a student to add or
drop a course after a deadline!
Another
way in which an institution can be responsive to students
is by providing appropriate technology tools not only
to students, but to faculty, and staff. These are tools
that enhance students learning experiences and tools
that enable them to meet their "just in time, want
it now" way of thinking.
A
SEM plan must address the needs of staff. It should
create an environment that motivates staff to be student
centered. Staff roles in the EMS organization require
individuals with high intellectual capacity, who demonstrate
a customer service attitude and customer service skills
and who can function in a technological environment.
They are knowledge workers and should be considered
more than clerical employees because they are. This
means that they cannot be the lowest paid members of
the university. Staff provided on going training and
professional development activities and desktop tools
to enable them to provide high quality, accurate, and
satisfying service are satisfied staff. Satisfied staff
beget satisfied students.
Further
Planning
The
development of IUDWA is an evolving process. As such
the final organizational structure of the Enrollment
Management Services unit will evolve as more detailed
planning takes place. The most critical element to remember
is whatever the final "formal" organization,
it be a responsive, student-centered organization.
Once
the organizational structure is decided, detailed roles
and responsibilities can be developed. It is important
to role definition that we know what technology will
enrollment management services at IUDWA. The enterprise
resource planning (ERP) systems available today come
with much workflow processing. IUDWA is a new university
with no history. We should be able to develop effective
and efficient roles that integrate with the ERP system
without customization.
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