1)Disjointed systems and processes:
Although some Clearing activity has remained the same over the years, for example, outbound calls, the engagement activity disjointed. Not only were they unable to log calls, but they also couldn’t track and manage all the engagements with students during Clearing. For example, seeing the call scripts alongside chat transcripts and emails that they would send. This meant they were not able to monitor the whole student journey.
2) Meeting students expectations in the 21st century:
Meeting the demands of digital natives across multiple platforms was also a challenge for Middlesex. Historically, communication during Clearing was predominantly through phone calls but with new trends and technology, Middlesex needed to adapt their approach to meet the demand of the students.
3) Unprecedented times:
Additionally, while last year Clearing was turbulent as a result of the government doing a u-turn late in the day on A-level results and grades because Middlesex had these sound digital processes in place, there was much less disruption. They pivoted to meet Clearing demands.
The University needed to centralize and standardize the Clearing process to give teams time back to focus on student engagement and experience.