Utveckling på Universityadmissions.se Hur går processen till? Marleen Whiteley, Engelsk kommunikationsansvarig Marica Sundberg, Produktägare

Universityadmissions.se •Website launched in September, 2012 •Website was custom-made for a specific target group - international students. •The introduction of application and tuition fees has led to a shift in focus – we’ve gone from too many applicants to too few •Role in recruitment •Website is always under development •Inform students, support in the actual admissions process

Universityadmissions.se in numbers Google analytics, 12 September 2011 to 12 September 2012 •Visitors: 2,254,256 •Unique visitors: 886,012 •Approximately 200,000 visitors each month •Pages per visit: 7.68 •Average time of visit: 8:22 •Mobile visits: 5% • Countries visiting, in order: Sweden, Germany, Greece, Pakistan, USA, India, China, Ethiopia

Questionnaire, March 2012 Questionnaire to 30,000 international applicants, 7,800 responded •89% thought fee information was helpful and easy to understand (2011, 86%) •76% of fee-paying students found it easy to submit their application fee •88% found the overall application process easy to follow (2011, 85%)

Where does our feedback come from? •Personnel at VHS •Universities and University Colleges •Contact Center (most often student feedback) •Other agencies (in particular Swedish Institute) •Embassies •Social Media (limited at this time) •Questionnaire to international students •User tests

Applicant information Many suggestions do not require actual system development or updating Updating of information goes into an applicant information process comprised of: •VHS Redaktion (editorial staff) •English Team at VHS •English reference group

Examples - applicant information suggestions Students don’t understand what EU/EEA means (Swedish Embassy in Zambia) •Solution, add a puff with information Students don’t understand what ”HE institution” means (from user tests) •Solution – change to ”University” Difficult to find information on where to go on the website to pay the application fee (from Stockholm University) •Reviewed information on paying the fee, made it more clear where students go to pay the fee or get information on paying via a bank – links to the right page.

EU/EEA Country

Higher education institution

Where do I pay the fee?

What is the process? Suggestions that come in are discussed in the Redaktion •Head of English communication •Master’s coordinator •Bachelor’s coordinator •Contact Center coordinator •Admission process coordinator

Content managers At VHS, we have experts that are responsible for certain content areas on Antagning.se and Universityadmissions.se •Admission process •Rules and regulations •Foreign qualifications •Application and tuition fees •Master’s •Bachelor’s

More specific issues relating to international students English Team at VHS •Master’s coordinator •Bachelor’s coordinator •Admission process coordinator •Others as necessary Recent projects: •Writing guidelines for specific entry requirements •Working with Notification of Selection Results

English on Universityadmissions.se English Reference Group •Editor of Studyinsweden.se at the Swedish Institute •Representatives from universities Recent projects •Went through all the vocabulary to be used on Universityadmissions.se •Created a Swedish-English dictionary •What suggestions from our questionnaire should we work on? •How do we communicate that students can find courses in both the international and Swedish admission rounds?

Suggestions that require system development Sometimes we need to convey something to international students that needs more than a text change. •Application fee process confusing (From all sources) •Students don’t know what they need to do after submitting the electronic application – what documents must be sent in, what do I need to do now? (User tests, communication with Contact Center, questionnaire) •No place in the search results to provide support information (Redaktionen, English Reference Group) •Students in third world countries have limited access to slow internet connections. How can we help them? (Swedish Institute, Embassies, contacts to Contact Center)

Working with website development issues •Discuss in Redaktionen, and with English Reference Group if necessary •Prioritize these suggestions – what is most critical? •We do not consider cost or the system – strictly from a user perspective •Present the list to our Product Owner, Marica Sundberg

Utveckling av Universityadmissions.se •Kan det ingå i något av våra projekt som finns under året? •Är det en ändringsbegäran av systemet? •Finns förslaget redan i backlog/utvecklingslistan? •Vad är viktigast att göra? Formulera förslaget. •Vad kan vi göra på kort- och långsikt? •Ta fram projektförslag inför kommande år.

Exempel på förslag som blir utveckling •Avgiftssidan Enkätundersökning, användningstester, frågor till Contact Center, synpunkter från lärosäten, andra myndigheter t.ex SI, ambassader och handläggare på VHS. Förslag på lösning: Bygga två olika ”spår”; ett för att betala avgift och ett för att styrka avgiftsfrihet. I dag finns allt blandat och det är svårt att förstå vad man ska och behöver göra. Dela upp webbplatsen i EU och utanför EU. Projektförslag till 2013

Exempel på förslag som blir utveckling •Komplettering av anmälan; speciellt dokument, intyg och betyg. Användningstest, enkätundersökning, frågor till Contact Center, synpunkter från lärosäten, handläggare på VHS. Diskussioner i redaktionen på VHS och i engelsk referensgrupp. Förslag på lösning: interaktiv checklista, bättre information i anmälningstjänsten, visa upp internationella meriter/ skannande dokument på Universityadmissions.se, ladda upp meriter direkt på universityadmissions.se. Projektförslag 2013

Exempel på förslag som blir utveckling •Problem med internetuppkoppling i länder utan för EU/EES, tredjeland. Svenska institutet, Marleens resa till Indien hösten 2011, enkätundersökningen, Ambassader t.ex Zambia. Förslag på lösning: mobilsajt. Kan vara en enklare version av Universityadmissions.se utan bilder eller liknande. Projektförslag 2013

Kontakt gärna oss!