How smart is your enrolment

Friday, 08 September, 2017

As students prepare to leave home and begin their university life, university staff are preparing for enrolment, one of the busiest times of the academic year and the beginning of the student experience.

When the University of Birmingham were developing its new state-of-the-art student accommodation, Chamberlain, an essential requirement was an integrated access control system in order to reduce the need for keys.

Aperio® wireless locking technology by ASSA ABLOY Access Control, together with Gallagher Command Centre was the chosen system, which together unlocked a number of benefits that not only removed the need for keys but also smartened up their enrolment process.

Previously the accommodation arrival process required students to arrive at the university with their contracts and queue up so that a member of staff could sign them in manually and hand them the keys to their accommodation. From there students could head to their room.

Now, the simple act of swiping an access card at their allocated accommodation automatically checks the student in and a report can be generated to show who has and hasn’t arrived, allowing staff to follow up accordingly. If the room is no longer required it can be quickly and easily re-allocated to another student, resulting in improved occupancy rates.

Timothy Owen, General Manager of Student Accommodation at the University, says: “Arrivals is always a busy time but with the help of the Aperio and Gallagher solution we’ve not only improved the student experience but also the administration process. Now the student ID and accommodation key is encoded on to one card so it can be posted out in advance and access to the room automatically granted via the accommodation management system. Students no longer need to queue for keys, can get to their rooms instantly, and spend more time enjoying their arrival experience.”

University staff are also seeing positive improvements since the installation of the new system – particularly at the start of the year. The arrivals process is now less congested and more relaxed. The team have far fewer issues than with physical keys, enabling them to spend more time on the overall student experience.

Click here to find out how to smarten up your enrolment.