Helping Students Navigate College Administration | Academic Newsletter | Seneca Polytechnic

by Sharon Kinasz, Registrar

in the June 2018 issue

As another academic year comes to a close, I thought it might be a good time to reflect on some of the milestones and system changes we have undertaken over the year to support the student experience and provide a seamless transition between administration and academics.

Our front-line services have moved to a more complete first-stop service model where we attempt to have the majority of a student’s questions answered on their first visit with a staff member at the Registrar’s Office. Our enrolment services representatives can answer general questions related to admissions, registration, and financial aid, so the student only has to speak to one person, not three. We have also changed our phone system within the Registrar’s Office to ensure students have direct access to the areas they need to connect with without going through five other options.

Several new features have also been added to the online student centre to support a more self-serve approach where students are able to access the information they need when it is most convenient for them to do so. Applicants can track their admissions status to Seneca as soon as they receive their application acknowledgement. Applicants can now apply for awards and scholarships prior to being accepted and know before attending the amount of financial support they are likely to receive should they choose to attend. We have also implemented a new process to track a student’s leave of absence and intent to enroll, providing better planning data for enrolment purposes.

At the end of the last semester, students were able to access their academic standing and advising comments as soon as their final grades were released without having to run an advising transcript. A more detailed billing statement will also be available at the end of August to detail how much funding a student is receiving relative to their tuition and program fees.

Plans are currently underway to implement an online enrolment verification letter and a new online registration process that will allow students to confirm their own registration and enrolment for RESPs and third-party scholarships. The Registrar’s Office supports the academic operation of the college and tries to ensure students can focus on their academic responsibilities without being challenged by administrative detail.

If you have suggestions on improvements, we have an operational and academic support group that manages system and processes improvements and works with ITS to implement them. I would be happy to receive your input to add to the list of initiatives we have collected to date. Please forward your suggestions to Sharon.Kinasz@senecacollege.ca.

View the June 2018 issue of the Academic Newsletter.