Regardless of the outcome, receiving A-level results is a nerve-wracking moment for most students. For the thousands each year were unable to secure a place at university through the regular application process, however, these results are just the first step on a critical and high-pressure journey through university clearing. These students are faced with inserting themselves into an unfamiliar system and operating on a tight timeframe \u2013 contacting their universities of choice, all the while knowing that hundreds of others are doing the same in order to secure a limited number of places.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Naturally, this high-pressure environment doesn\u2019t only exist on the student side of things. When the lines open on the first Thursday of the clearing period, it\u2019s not unusual for record numbers of calls to be made to universities \u2013 and if they aren\u2019t able to handle this influx, they face losing out on prospective students while suffering increased pressures and stress on both callers and staff. This is old news for institutions that tackle the clearing period every year, but with new trends in both technology and behaviour becoming apparent, we\u2019re also seeing the emergence of new challenges and opportunities. Through proactive collaboration with technology partners, and the smart leveraging of the technologies available, universities can ensure they\u2019re prepared for the traditional rush of phone calls, while also catering to those who might otherwise be overlooked or slip through the cracks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Each new generation of students brings with it an evolving attitude to communication \u2013 something that has perhaps never been more apparent than over the last decade. We live in a world where practically every young person has a smartphone<\/strong><\/a>, but where nearly two-thirds of them would rather avoid phone calls in favour of other methods<\/strong><\/a>. For clearing, where voice calls have been the primary method of communication for decades, serious consideration is needed to avoid missing students who simply don\u2019t communicate in the ways their predecessors did. One approach to tackling this issue is to employ the digital channel capabilities of solutions such as Webex Contact Center (WxCC); by allowing prospective students to contact them through apps like WhatsApp, universities can offer a method of communication that\u2019s low-pressure and more familiar to users that may not be comfortable making a phone call.<\/p>\n\n\n\n