How Universities can Improve Online Experience for Students?

Students have always traveled to other countries in pursuit of better education. While most of the information is available to students online regarding admission and fees structure, there are several questions which are not answered on university websites. Therefore, having strong online customer support is beneficial for students and universities alike. Here are few ways in which universities can better facilitate students.

Streamlined Communication

Streamlining information is ideal when it comes to university processes. It is also essential to make sure that any new development in the university should be updated on the website so that international and prospective students are kept in the loop.

Standard email response time should be fixed by the universities and all emails should be responded to accordingly. Students are often looking for important information and need answers right away in order to make a decision.

With the popularity of smartphones, students are relying more and more on their digital devices to complete school-related tasks. Keeping this in mind, developing a university mobile app will ensure that students will be able to access all the information with ease on their phones.

Consistency of Information

Availability of information across all channels is a must and more importantly, all of it has to be the same. It often happens that information is updated on one channel and not on others so when a student tries to access the relevant information, it creates confusion. Make sure all the information available across different channels is synced. Queries like how to apply, when to apply, how to choose courses and the eligibility criteria should all be structured in a clear and concise way.

Most of the students make decisions based on their budgets and therefore it would be ideal for them if detailed fee structures were available across all channels. This would help them make an educated and well-informed decision. These fee structures should be updated regularly.

Inter-departmental communication is essential to ensure students are guided in an efficient manner. Departments should have all the basic information at hand so that instead of sending students from department to department, they can help them on the spot. In case of unique situations, students should be directed towards an authority who can provide them with adequate information.

Use Live Chat for Online Assistance

By integrating live chat on their websites, universities have a better chance of convincing students to enroll and are more equipped to provide them with relevant information immediately. Most of the students are always looking for detailed information and human correspondence can be helpful in these cases. The chat representatives must have complete information regarding the admissions processes, scholarships, courses, and deadlines so that students can receive proper guidance. Representatives can also help students fill out forms.

The Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) published a report which revealed that almost 4.3 million students opt for universities outside their home country. Make sure that 24/7 live chat support with a multilingual option is available for international students so that they can interact with ease and clearly understand the terms, conditions, and instructions.