Online Registration at the University of Sussex

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Online Registration at the University of Sussex

• Tim May Head of Student Systems

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Online Registration at the University of Sussex

• How we got to online registration
• What we actually do
• System Demo hopefully live
• Questions/discussion

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Registration at Sussex University

• Traditionally a large in-person event in the
  refectory building 2 weeks of mayhem
• Variety of tasks which students must do in order
  to complete registration including
• Sign off personal details (new students only)
• Give an up to date Term-time Address
• Pay or Arrange to pay fees and/or rent
• Collect ID card /Library card (new students only)
• Collect IT Services account username and password
  (new students only)

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How the process has changed over time

• 2000 Fast Track registration introduced for
  returning undergraduate Students
• 2002 Fast Track registration introduced for new
  undergraduate students
• PLUS Online checking facility introduced
  allowing undergraduate students to check if they
  had successfully fast tracked
• 2003 Sussex Direct Online Registration introduced
  for undergraduate Students from the UK or EU
• 2004 Sussex Direct Online Registration expanded
  to include all Sussex students

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Fully Registered?

• Both the Fast Track scheme and the online
  registration system allow students to be fully
  registered if they complete all required tasks.
• The system does not try to give provisional
  registration to those students who cannot
  complete everything online we prefer to see
  those people in person and can usually offer some
  form of provisional registration if its not
  possible to fully register them.
• Provisional registration has the same status as
  full registration but is for a limited time
  usually up to 1st or 2nd week in Novemeber

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Developing the System

• Sussex Direct Online registration was developed
  over a very short period of time.
• This was possible as it was based on the existing
  fast track model but delivering it to students
  via the existing Sussex Direct portal
• The Student Record System at Sussex is and
  in-house developed system operating on and Oracle
  9i database (was originally developed as part of
  the MAC initiative)
• Sussex Direct Portal is also developed in house
  using php

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Enabling Developments

• Some processes in IT Services were changed to
  enable the username/password collection part of
  the process to operate.
• Staffing in ITS is boosted with student helpers
  over the registration period to assist student
  who are at the University but need to register
  online they dedicate approx 40 PCs to online
  registration and can answer questions on most of
  the system
• Student Accounts staffing is also boosted from
  late August through registration to operate the
  Hotline where students can make payments with
  Debit/Credit cards and set up Direct Debits over
  the phone all of these processes can be done
  online (except instalments on Credit cards) but
  we need to offer an alternative to people who do
  not want to use the internet to make payments

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Preparation for online registration

• NEW STUDENTS
• Preparation for online registration takes place
  over the Summer
• Student records created in late August following
  confirmation
• Creation of student records also triggers the
  creation of computing, library and debtor
  accounts
• We then create Fee and/or rent records for all
• Use BACS First fee data (from SSAR files where
  the notification is Final) to automatically set
  up the correct fee split (SLC/Student) and show
  the student how much will be paid by SLC and how
  much they must pay

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Preparation for online registration (cont)

• A Registration mailing is sent out following
  confirmation and includes
• Registration Instructions
• An ID card form this is the key form which
  contains a cut off slip containing the students
  registration number (they will need this to
  access the online system) the top part of the
  form they are asked to attach a Photograph and
  return it to US so that we can produce their ID
  card prior to their arrival

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ID Card Form
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Registration Instructions

• A simple one page set of instructions is sent to
  students informing them that they should register
  online and giving them relevant urls, the date
  when the system will be Open (Usually 1st
  September) and instructions on the first steps
• Obtaining Username and Password
• Login to the system
• Students should then send back their Photo and
  register online prior to arrival weekend.

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Registration Instructions
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Arrival at Sussex University

• Arrivals weekend takes place on the weekend
  before freshers week
• Students who complete registration online are
  informed by the system to collect their ID card
  on Sunday or Monday (by 3.30pm) of freshers week
• On Monday of freshers week we send the SSAC file
  to the Student Loan Company including all those
  news students who have registered and collected
  their ID card to authorise payment of their loans
  
• Information is available within the Online
  Registration system telling students where and
  when they can register in-person if they are not
  able to complete the process online.

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Returning Students

• Registering as a returning student is a simpler
  process and the system reflects this.
• Once a student has registered online at the
  beginning of their studies most of the tasks they
  complete during online registration do not need
  to be repeated.
• Tasks which do need to be completed to
  re-register
• Confirm term time address (we reset the term
  time address confirmation to ensure our address
  data quality remains high)
• Pay/arrange to pay any fees, rent or other
  charges due

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How well does it work -

• New Home/EU Undergraduates - c80 fully
  registered prior to arrival
• Returning Home/EU Undergraduates c60
  registered before the start but the figure
  continues to rise as they talk to their friends
  and realise that their student loan payment is
  contingent on registration so we dont register
  many in-person (I think the relatively low
  was in part due to students not having all their
  support arrangements in place on time because of
  the non delivery of the student support direct
  online applications facility)
• Overseas Undergraduates lower success rate in
  part due to difficulty of paying fees/rent. We
  are looking into a possible arrangement to allow
  international bank transfer to be arranged online
  via the registration system

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How well does it work - Postgraduate

• New Postgraduate generally works well but
  experience same difficulty for overseas students
  making fee payments prior to arrival
• Returning Postgraduates works well for Taught
  postgraduate but not so good for returning
  research students

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How much in-person registration

• With the system being new we have continued to
  operate in-person registration days to allow
  students who have not been able to complete
  registration online to get registered.
• We expect to continue to operate some level of
  in-person registration for the foreseeable future
• The in person sessions we have run have been
  reduced and have been very quiet

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Other Issues

• What advantages does it bring?
• Gives a better service to students they have
  been demanding it especially those from North
  America)
• It puts much of the process out to students to
  complete whether theyre at home, at University
  or spending the Summer anywhere else in the world
• It gets a high proportion of student registered
  on your systems by the start of term so assists
  with planning and comparing actual intake with
  expected intake
• It allows you to concentrate your efforts at
  in-person events on those students who have some
  specific difficulty or just need more help
• cont

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Other Issues (cont..)

• The Sussex approach of requiring payment, or an
  arrangement to pay, or evidence of an application
  for funding (LEA/SLC) has some advantages but
  also some disadvantages.
• Pros
• It keeps on top of the student debt situation
• It gets lots of Direct Debits set up (cheapest
  way for us to collect money)
• Cons
• Some student have to be seen in-person because
  they have done everything online except pay fees
  in-person events for Home students could
  potentially disappear completely