Technology is helping colleges to recruit students at the time of COVID-19
Traditionally, the universities organize fairs, open their campuses for tours, and invite the potential students to open days in order to present themselves, the courses and attract the students to enroll. This year has changed how the students learn about their dream school due to the coronavirus pandemic. Many students are now connecting with admissions representatives online and going on virtual tours.
With the use of the right technology, colleges can re-create most of the live aspects that students expect to get from a campus visit. The advantages of these online experiences are that students can easily explore the options and facilities without needing to travel, while colleges are able to expand their reach.
As in-person tours and sessions are, for the moment, a thing of the past, colleges and high schools have to be innovative. Here are some options for how the technology can be used to provide students with information about the courses and universities they are interested in.
One of the options is interactive campus tours. With the use of 360-degree cameras, college advisors can take prospective students on interactive campus tours without the need to leave the safety of their homes. These cameras enable users to walk around a room or place and capture their surroundings. The students can watch the videos with virtual reality headsets to make the experience more immersive, which will help them feel as if they were actually walking across campus or seeing a classroom inside.
Another alternative can be videoconferencing Sessions and Online Q&As.
Many HE institutions also use videoconferencing platforms to welcome prospective students. For example, Zoom is used by Davidson College in North Carolina to offer 60-minute live information sessions and guided campus tours led by two current students. They also held live Q&A sessions during which the interested students can ask any questions to find out how a student’s life looks like at this college.
Virtual College Fairs and Events are also becoming popular as they can be easily organized on a virtual event hosting platform.
The Bristol University organised such an event earlier in September. During the virtual open week, potential students could see the facilities on tour, get their questions answered in live sessions, and find out about courses in on-demand, videos and resources. The students who missed the week can still access webinar recordings and presentations from the open week on the uni’s website at any time.
Some colleges try even further by using mobile connections, which many students use daily. College advisors can also introduce students to mobile applications that help connect students with recruiters. For example, the California College Fair used an app called Ping to match students with colleges based on their qualifications and interests.The students were asked to take a short quiz on their school preferences before, during or after the virtual event. Similarly, the institutions completed a questionnaire which the app uses to match them with students. Afterward, students can contact the college to get more information about the application process.
By offering online options, colleges and universities can enable the students searching for the course, even if students cannot attend in-person campus visits.
