Enrollment management and its impact

With the pandemic changing the higher education landscape, students have several decisions to make. In this aspect, enrollment management comes to play a crucial role. How can the deans and leaders of educational institutions weave the element into their overarching strategy for students during these times?

The first session of Deans Summit ‘Connected’, an annual event by Deloitte India (Offices of the US) for leaders and deans of academic institutions, which kicked off on June 2020, addressed this question and dove deep into the various aspects of enrollment management.

With a focus on enrollment management and its importance in the academic world, the session had a panel of domain specialists representing both the ‘business’ and ‘academia’. The panel discussed actionable points and frameworks, elaborating how to weave in touchpoints across the student lifecycle.

The business side of the panel was represented by Peter Fritz and Brian Haugabrook from Deloitte, who specialize in Higher Education Strategy and Analytics. During the session, they shared tools and strategies with the cohort of academic leaders. Peter and Brian elaborated on a transformation framework, outlining six elements:

1. Rethinking and looking at all elements across enrollment management from a fresh perspective
2. Evaluating how to curate an improved experience for students
3. Investing in digitization for a better academic experience while keeping true to the essence of going to college
4. Revisiting the academic portfolio in terms of delivering content and structuring overall programs
5. Designing strategies around recruiting and retention for the longer-term
6. Leveraging analytics to drive enrollment

Here’s a brief summary of why this framework is important and how it can be used by educational institutes to thrive in these uncertain times.

The framework maps out an entire gamut of elements, encompassing end to end management of relations with students at the front end, all the way through management of relations and systems among faculty, and with administration at the back end. In these changing times especially, enrollment management is having to undergo a change—from being an option to becoming a “must-have”.

With a robust enrollment management system in place, universities and academic institutions would have the platform and means to reinforce confidence in students, both potential and regular, alike, while keeping them informed through regular updates.

As returning to on-ground activities seems uncertain in the near future, and virtual connects seem to be the norm, more out of necessity than choice, communication becomes key—a constant and transparent effort, when done consistently by leaders and deans, will help provide much needed clarity. This would not only help put the students’ worries to rest, but also highlight the core focus around which institutions are continuing to pivot their efforts, i.e. enhancing the overall experience for students.

With so many factors at play, the current situation is forcing on-the-go experimentation in enrollment. Our business area specialists understood the complexity of systems, processes and connectivity, and shared this framework with an aim to provide deans and leaders of academic institutions with the ability to respond, recover and thrive—as they manage the incoming changes into the educational landscape, albeit at a faster pace than imagined.

Industry has always relied on educational institutions to provide them with world class talent, and we at Deloitte extend our support to academic leaders to make the leap and power through with resilience during these unprecedented times.