Special Assessment is one of the important tools that students can use to mitigate the impact of life challenges on their study. Application volumes have increased year on year, particularly during the Covid pandemic and a range of natural disasters over the last two years. Students seeking these services are often stressed and at risk of failing and discontinuing their studies with UNE, but current processes only contribute to that stress as they are cumbersome, inconsistent, and confusing for the student to access and navigate. All applications are processed manually and passed from team to team for recording and assessment, creating delays. Addressing these challenges has been an identified priority for the university for several years.
Last year, DigEd and Education Futures initiated a major project to redesign and uplift the Special Assessment systems and processes, engaging a business analyst to develop a business case and a technical solution, and engaging staff in co-design of business process changes. After seeing these workstreams progress well over the first half of 2022, we are pleased to announce the project is now supported by HEPPP funding, that will allow us to develop and implement the technical solution and streamlined processes over the remainder of the year, with a planned launch for T1 2023.
The project consists of two key workstreams, which will deliver the following anticipated outcomes through working in a team-based model across Education Futures, Integrated Services, TDS, Schools and Faculties and external partners:
Technical workstream
A central student enquiry, entry, and triage point – a ‘smart’ application form in AskUNE with associated system integrations to enable:
- A simplified and streamlined student application process
- A single application for all provision types and impacted assessments
- Data and analytics dashboards
Business process workstream
Process changes to application workflows and decision-making that enable:
- Significantly reduced staff workload and processing time
- Increased consistency for students
- Increased compliance
- Risk reduction
Look out for more updates here and in other reporting and consultation forums as the project progresses.