Higher education is a service.
Defining quality in a service can be more difficult than defining quality for a
product. Quality in service has to do with accomplishing objectives while at
the same time satisfying the customers' perceptions of the service. Delivering
quality can be difficult as objectives and perceptions change as the needs for
customers change.
Many colleges have departments
dedicated to quality assessment and improvement, focused on the institution as
a whole. Quality in college admissions is required to make sure the student and
school are a good fit for each other. Ensuring the best fit between school and
student improves retention and ensures that the student is prepared for the
area of study. Students who become part of a degree program is a good fit helps
in leading people into a good fit for future profession in the area that the
student is pursuing their studies.
Institutional Effectiveness
There is an increased emphasis on
institutional effectiveness for higher education. Institutional effectiveness
measures the percentage of graduates that receive jobs within their field of
study from each institution. The growing concern over institutional
effectiveness comes from the combination of high unemployment rates, concerns
with student loans, and the national level of student loans.
The use of intuitional effectiveness
gives students and schools a qualitative measure of quality among colleges.
Colleges can benchmark their institutional effectiveness as compared to similar
colleges. When superior results for a similar college are identified; other
colleges can study that college as a model of how to improve their own
institution. Higher education institutions can become aware of what programs
are performing best in placing students into jobs after graduation; the results
may indicate an area that the school can give more emphasis.
Quality in Advertising
Institutions can promote quality
through advertising. Informing potential students how the college and degree
programs attempt to achieve the potential students desires can achieve quality.
For example if a student would like to become a mechanic, the school can
illustrate how they are qualified to help a student become a mechanic. The
advertisement could discuss the background of the college and the instructors.
The advertisement could give examples of past students results after finishing
the program. The ad could include information about the programs institutional
effectiveness.
Colleges can proactively pursue
students that are a good fit for the institution through accurate
advertisements and promotions. The promotional material can take a bigger
emphasis on what career the programs prepare the student for instead of
promising career possibilities. Advertisements can be targeted the segment of
students that would be ideal candidates for the program with information in
promotional material that discusses the type of student the program was
designed for.
The content of advertisements are of
extreme importance to convey accurate information and set expectations for students
and parents; however, where colleges advertise is of extreme importance also.
It would be better for Seminaries (graduate school for pastors) should target
people that are involved in a specific church or denomination. For the colleges
that work with traditional students should advertise among young adults aged
16-20, where as schools geared towards non-traditional students would target an
older demographic.
Admission Requirements
Admission requirements can assist in
ensuring proper alignment between the college and potential student. Admission
requirements that help ensure proper alignment can include grade point average
(GPA), assessment results, essays, reference letters, or experience. The
college needs to understand their typical student and their challenges. Some
colleges specialize in helping underprepared students excel through specialized
programs to prepare those students for further academic programs and vocational
aptitude. The college needs to define whom the school fits in demographic and
academic terms.
An essay that requires the student
to explain their motivation for applying to the school and why they are a good
candidate allows the admissions counselor to make a judgment about
institutional fit and at the same time allows the applicant to internalize and
express how their goals align with the colleges. Essays can indicate the
potential students ability to follow instructions for writing papers and
indicate their grammatical ability. The entrance essay can indicate the
student's level of motivation, if the application process becomes delayed by
the essay requirement that indicates that the student either needs
encouragement, further educational support, or lacks the motivation to the
complete the essay in a timely manner.
The GPA requirement can vary among
schools depending on the degree and type of school. The requirement varies from
a minimum GPA to be able to perform college level work to more specific
transcript and grade requirements. The minimal purpose would be to not admit
student who appear to be incapable of performing college level work an school
policy that closely relates to entrance GPA. Other programs may need to see an
overall good GPA in addition to specific grades and types of classes taken, in
the case of engineering degrees.
Reference letters help colleges see
if anyone will vouch for you and who vouches for you. To ensure proper good
institutional effectiveness the school would like to see that the student has
already begun to network in the right places or that they are least networked.
What a school many times does not want to deal with someone who creates
problems everywhere they go and has no one willing to refer them.
Assessment results typically come
from SAT or ACT achievement test. Schools that work with older non-traditional
students will many times find other assessments because of the time lapse from
when the student was in school and when they were last assessed. Although
assessment results are important, they are a piece of the whole picture of the
student's ability and fit for an institution.
The experience admission requirement
helps ensure that the student has the ability to perform the profession that
the school will be teaching. Many degree programs do not have specific
experience requirements, however, the experience aspect can be imperative for
some degree programs. Several programs that require experience are MBA (Masters
of Business Administration), MFA (Masters of Fine Arts), and other specialty
programs for both undergraduate and graduate levels.
The admission requirements help the
school identify ideal students for the their program. Many times schools find
their specific niche appeals to a specific type of student looking for a
specific program. Once the student and the programs for the school are identified,
the school can create programs to increase the effectiveness of the pairing of
the school and the student. For instance if a school specializes in educating
underprepared students the college can create methods to help the student
through programs, remedial classes, tutoring, and vocational preparation. The
schools can also build sections of the needed training into the curriculum of
the classes.
Continuous Improvement
The need for continuous improvement
in the quality of higher education admissions will help universities to adapt
to the changing needs of the school and students. The expectations for higher
education have changed over the years to have a vocational emphasis, which
merits different assessment of effectiveness than how education was assessed in
the past. Quality in admissions will help align the goals for the school and
student to accomplish the shared goals. For example the current trend of
measuring education institutions by the percentage of graduates acquiring jobs
in that should lead Universities to cultivate relationships with employers in
the areas that the school specializes in.
Conclusion
Quality in admissions for higher
education comes from proper alignment between the student and the school. This
alignment should be cultivated in an enrollment and marketing plan that clearly
articulates the unique programs the school offers and excels. The plan should
also include the detailed segmentation of ideal students. The increased
attention on higher education's effectiveness comes from marketing schools as
one sized fits all for one-sized fits all students. The needs for the alignment
will change as the students needs change while at the same time different
industries will change.
The difficult part would be to focus
on unique programs instead of popular programs. For schools to stand out from
other schools they must provide something in a way that another college does
not offer. Many schools will want to offer the popular and general education
courses to not loose potential students while at the same time they will need
to place emphasis on their unique programs.
One of the challenges would be the impression
of higher educations view of the admissions office. The admissions office needs
to be able to advise schools on issues further than sales and marketing.
Specifically, with higher education admissions, academics, institutional
effectiveness, and educational rigor are all interconnected. The more emphasis
that colleges place on their unique programs coupled with admission
requirements that admit the best students for the programs will increase the
colleges retention and institution effectiveness numbers. With better retention
and institution effectiveness, the school will attract more ideal students,
which will create a stronger program. Implementing quality seems difficult in
the beginning and requires support from senior leaders. However, the difficulties
are worth the results.
Jason Crowther is currently the Dean
of Enrollment for Grace College of Divinity. He has a background of starting
businesses and operational roles at other companies. He is currently pursuing
his MBA in entrepreneurship from Regent University.
Article Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?Creating-Quality-in-Higher-Education-Admissions:-Increasing-Institutional-Effectiveness&id=8879537
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