Study Group International, a provider of specialist education and training courses for international students, will deploy Pegasystems technology to streamline the management of its global admissions system in the second half of 2014.
Currently in the project development stage, the roll out of Pegasystems’ BPM cloud solution will support Study Group’s overarching objective of refocusing the business on its most important asset – the student. The solution will first be deployed in Study Group’s Australian Admissions centre, before being extended to its UK and US operations.
As a global business that operates around the clock, Study Group cannot afford to be unavailable when a student, agent or parent has a question. This increasing challenge and a drive to become a more responsive, student centric organisation cannot be understated. The company offers a diverse range of pre-enrolment courses, and also manages the complexities involved in working with the admissions process of numerous prestigious education facilities around the world. As a result, Study Group required a more agile solution that would enable the business to respond to increased demand and changes in enrolment procedures in near real-time.
Pega’s agile cloud platform was selected to handle the myriad of variables involved with visa and course qualification eligibility, as well as the availability of placement within courses in an extremely complicated network of 50,000 students from 145 countries and 48 university campuses in dozens of countries.
Pega’s solution is said to be flexible enough to adapt to the changing laws and regulations in the education sector of the countries that the Study Group operates in. It is also expected to provide Study Group with valuable insights for ensuring students are matched to the right course for their individual needs based on the admission requirements of their chosen education facility and qualification. It should also allow for a higher degree of personal counselling by freeing the admissions staff to focus on the required outcomes of students, rather than the admission process itself.
It is hoped that the Pega-developed, cloud-based BPM solution will enable all interactions with students to be efficient, effective, error free, and above all consistent across the many countries that Study Group operates in. Additionally, as the platform is cloud based, Study Group anticipates the deployment will be completed within three days.
Dave Reeve, chief information and technology officer at Study Group, said: "In the education industry, the student experience with any technology they use is absolutely critical. With Pegasystems, we are confident that the technology will improve the experience for our users today as well as for future students, as we look to expand the business globally. In addition, through automating traditionally manual functions our team can focus their time and energy on what’s most important – providing students with an intuitive, user friendly tool that will ease them through the complexities of enrolling in the education experience that will take them to their personal goals."
Luke McCormack, VP and MD, Asia Pacific Region, Pegasystems, said: "International university admissions is an extremely complex industry. Companies in the space are tasked with wading through the intricacies of visa eligibility requirements and the entry requirements of individual universities, all the while satisfying students and agents. Study Group has established itself as an industry leader, largely due to its passion for putting the goals of each student at the forefront of everything they do.
"Pega BPM in the cloud will enable Study Group to manage the complex processes involved in placing international students into tertiary education in the Western world, whilst enabling Study Group staff to maintain strong relationships with agents and students."
