Optimising enrolments has and continues to be a major challenge for most schools. The MMG Education Enrolment Best Practice review assesses the performance of your school’s enrolment processes, protocols, resources and collateral from initial contact to commencement.
In Australia, a number of enrolment challenges exist for schools:
- Enrolments are often linked to the strength of the economy and reliant on major industries employment of middle and executive staff.
- Parents applying and ‘enrolling’ their child at a number of schools resulting in late withdrawal.
- Ineffective school contact maintenance.
Enrolment staff are faced with the challenge of late confirmation of enrolments causing unplanned enrolment gaps and the task of attracting the highest calibre students available.
The enrolment office therefore represents a most important resource in schools today and many school leaders have recognised the importance of enrolment effectiveness and expertise.
Why engage in an Enrolment Best Practice review?
The Enrolment Best Practice review focuses on all aspects of the enrolment process in search of achieving ‘best practice’. For Principals, the review answers these critical questions:
- How effective are the school’s enrolment processes?
- Is the school effective in converting enrolment enquiries to offers/acceptances?
- Is the school collecting the appropriate information from prospective/future parents?
- What is the quality of the school’s prospective parent/future list?
- What is the conversion experience (and metrics) from prospective parent interest and enquiry, to application, to enrolment?
- How effective and proactive are a school’s processes relating to contact maintenance and to engagement with prospective parents?
- Is communication to prospective parents regular, tailored and personal?
- What is the quality of the school’s enrolment collateral?
- How responsive is the enrolment office to enquiries and how effective are enquiries logged and followed up?
- Are the skillsets (competencies and experience) of the enrolment staff appropriate?
- Does the school adequately engage teaching staff in the enrolment process?
- Does the school obtain details and use feedback from ‘decliners’?
- Are ‘Exit’ interviews/discussions in place with parents withdrawing their child from the school
Major benefits
The Enrolment Best Practice review provides a ‘one stop’ blueprint of best practice enrolment processes and protocols.
At the completion of the review, your school will have solutions and assessment for:
- Optimum enrolment structure and resources.
- The Prospective Parent database.
- Processes employed by the School from initial enquiry to confirmed start up.
- Initiatives employed in tracking and maintaining tailored communication with prospective parents.
- Conversion metrics – enquiry, application, offer, commencement.
- Methods employed by the School with regard to optimising enrolments i.e. Principal’s receptions, exhibitions, open days, tours etc.
- Relationship and strategy with primary ‘feeder schools’.
- Mapping current enrolment processes to identify key elements, alignment with strengths and strategy, issues and gaps, documentation, communication, records, etc.
- Understanding views, needs and perceptions from a sample of parents including ‘acceptors’ and ‘decliners’.
- Plan, conduct and evaluate ‘mystery enrolment enquiries’ at the School and with other relevant schools.
- Reviewing enrolment collateral, application, needs.
- Modelling the enrolment processes using MMG Education’s ‘enrolment funnel’, highlighting where in the enrolment process ‘blockages’ exist.
- Benchmarking the enrolment processes to best practice.
- Reviewing enrolment team competencies and characteristics.
- Benchmarking enrolment enquiries, applications, offers, acceptances, tour numbers, attrition, retention and scholarships.
- Develop views on enrolment KPIs and reports