Albus for course enrollment: more efficiency and a better experience in less time
Universidad Católica de Colombia (#UCatólicaCol) wanted to give its students a better experience and make course enrollment and schedule changes more efficient. To do so, it implemented Albus, our AI-based smart enrollment tool, which offers each student personalized schedule proposals and section suggestions based on their needs, profile, curricular progress, and the university's business rules.
Before Albus, #UCatólicaCol ran enrollment in its academic system on a time-slot model: each student got a 45-minute slot, plus several additional chances to complete the process. The model took into account other processes running at the university at the same time and the system's capacity to handle simultaneous demand. With this approach, course enrollment took about 3 weeks to complete, and it required a great deal of time and administrative staff to support the process and help students finish it.
For the 2023-3 term, #UCatólicaCol and Foris set out to make the most of Albus's native features, so the institution could serve more students per enrollment window, in less time and with a better enrollment experience.
The results:
Enrollment open to everyone
The system's capacity made it possible to switch to an open enrollment model. Unlike the previous one, it was organized into just three enrollment windows of two business days each, and more than 6,569 students completed the process in only 7 days.
Fast, efficient enrollment
Thanks to the personalized schedule proposal students receive when they enroll, the average time needed to complete the whole process dropped to 15 minutes, in which students enrolled in about 6 courses.
Mobile use
Since students can enroll on their mobile devices, the university promoted this option to give them a more convenient, modern experience. During this term, 43% of students chose to enroll on their phones, taking advantage of the convenience and flexibility it offers.
Wherever the student is
The tool let the university's students enroll in their courses wherever they happened to be, not only in Colombia but in other countries and on other continents.
Efficiency in the first hours of enrollment
In all three scheduled windows, more than 70% of students completed the process within the first two hours after enrollment opened. In other words, they logged in to the system at the same time, and in just two hours the vast majority had finished.
Below is how demand behaved under the new enrollment model during one of the enrollment windows. The chart shows that once enrollment opens at 9 a.m. Chile time (8 a.m. Colombia time), students log in to the system simultaneously and demand climbs steadily for about an hour, then drops quickly.
Proposals accepted without changes
Albus's recommendation engines recommended the right courses for each student's curricular progress: students accepted 87% of the required courses in the initial proposal. In addition, a large majority of students accepted 70% or more of the recommended required sections without making any changes, which let them wrap up enrollment quickly and with a high level of satisfaction.
Automation for new students
Albus also significantly eased the administrative workload of building schedules for new students. The system automatically built schedules for all new and incoming students, offering options that complied with the rules set by the university.
Implementing Albus at Universidad Católica de Colombia marks a significant improvement in course enrollment: the university can serve more students in less time, making administration more efficient. Albus also made it possible to adopt a fair, personalized enrollment model, in which students log in to the system at the same time and have an equal chance of getting seats in the courses they want. This has raised student satisfaction with a process that is fast, fair, and tailored to their individual needs.