The University of Pécs, the oldest university in Hungary, was founded in 1367. Today, the university consists of 10 faculties and nearly 20,000 students making it one of the largest Institutions of Higher Education in Hungary. Among the student population, there are over 4500 international students from over 100 countries. Students choose to study at the University of Pécs because of the teaching, learning, and research quality.
We asked a few questions of the university’s Deputy Director Centre of Internationalization and Connections, Péter Árvai, who provided insightful answers about their experience in relation to student recruitment with DreamApply.
How were things done before DreamApply?
Before DreamApply, the faculties were using separate systems. Most commonly, the application files were collected via e-mails, through which the communication continued. Alternatively, some of the faculties developed IT solutions on their own.
It is a common practice for separate departments to devise their own procedures either for simplicity or based on prior experience. While these solutions may suffice for smaller workloads initially, they often prove to be temporary. With a rise in the number of applications, the workload escalates, rendering individual processes unmanageable. Establishing a unified process that is user-centric, mutually accepted by all users, and tailored to applicants’ requirements is essential for long-term sustainability.
Why did you decide to use DreamApply as your application management system?
After we realized the need for a professional IT solution for handling the inquiries, we researched, contacted other institutions, and made benchmarks to compare the available services. In the end, it was without a doubt. DreamApply is far more developed and ready to use than any other competitor. The implementation was huge work from both sides, and as always, there were some twists and turns, but we could handle everything. The guys at DreamApply were super helpful, and after one year of experience, we can say that DreamApply is fulfilling all our expectations.
How have the results been with DreamApply?
DreamApply can help to revolutionize the whole process of student recruitment. It provides a logical, straightforward path for the applicant and the institution. As the process is easier to understand, there are fewer phone calls and fewer emails from the applicants. But the biggest upside of the platform is the marketing toolset it provides. Now we can work with an enormous amount of data regarding recruitment, which helps us to fine-tune our recruitment strategies for each region and each study program.
Fewer phone calls and fewer emails in their experience was indicative not of less applicants, but rather less confused applicants. The clear-cut process and automated communication reduced the need for clarification and processing documents manually, providing more time to focus on devising further student recruitment strategies using the data that the system also provides. The idea behind implementing technology is not simply about following a trend, but to create a more enjoyable work environment, increase staff satisfaction, and of course improve the students’ experience.
See the University of Pécs live: https://apply.pte.hu/
About DreamApply
Founded in 2011 in Estonia, DreamApply is an innovation-driven EdTech organization improving access to education around the globe. DreamApply’s application management software helps more than 300 educational institutions across 40 countries improve admissions, marketing, scholarship management and other internal processes.
DreamApply’s easy-to-use and customizable software increases student enrollment by 30% and reduces application processing time by 40%. With features designed with and for educational institutions, and integrations with commonly used systems, DreamApply empowers teams to get more done with less effort.
Continue exploring by requesting your free, personalized demo.
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