Durham University leads the way with online enrolment

15,000 Durham University students have been able to enrol online before their university courses started, thanks to the implementation of a new on-line student enrolment system project managed by Waterstons.  The new system has streamlined the enrolment process, improving efficiency and making it easier for students to sign up with the university.

One of Waterstons’ PRINCE2 Practitioners, Lesley Renteurs, project managed the process.  This involved liaising with over 270 staff, the university’s IT Services department, ITS, and Banner software developers, Unisys.  Working closely with staff from the University’s administration, Waterstons successfully steered the process from specification approval through development, testing and training, to the final implementation, on time and to budget.

As well as automatically capturing vital information on students such as emergency contact information, their term time address and who is going to be paying their fees, the system allows students to upload a photograph so that university staff can prepare their campus card for collection when they arrive at their college; saving time which would have otherwise been spent queuing when they arrived at university.  Furthermore, access to the university’s IT systems and library is now granted in advance of the students’ arrival – a process that previously took several days to complete.

Waterstons’ Lesley Renteurs said: “Durham University is demonstrating that they understand the mindset of their students. Today’s intake [of students] have been brought up with technology and a large proportion use tools such as Facebook, MySpace and MSN Messenger to keep in touch.  Giving students the ability to start their student life online is a natural progression which saves valuable time for staff and students alike.”

Durham University’s Acting Registrar, Carolyn Fowler, said: “The online enrolment project is part of a wider university initiative to enhance the already first-class experience we offer our students”. 

The next phase of the project is to add the registration of course modules to the online system which is due to be completed in time for the 2010 intake of students.