On April 16, Liaison hosted a webinar — “Enrollment in the Time of Coronavirus: Managing Global Crises on Your Campus” — in which admissions leaders from three schools shared ideas and answered questions about how recruitment has changed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Among other topics, they discussed yield predictions, international enrollment, maintaining business continuity and what it’s like to run an admissions office remotely.
Juggling priorities
“The challenge is two-fold,” said Algerian Hart, Ph.D., associate dean of Missouri State University’s Graduate College and professor of kinesiology. “On one hand, you’re dealing with the pandemic. On the other hand, you’re trying to maintain communications and maintain what a collegiate environment and the matriculation experience look like. Ultimately, we’re trying to find some level of balance.”
“Communicating to the students, faculty and staff is key,” said Toby McChesney, Ph.D., senior assistant dean of graduate business programs at Santa Clara University’s Leavey School of Business and chair of Liaison’s BusinessCAS™ Advisory Board. “Our students are feeling anxiety just as much as we are.”
During the webinar, panelists also talked about how they’re planning for a future clouded by uncertainty.
“All of our predictive capability has been based on historical performance,” said Erin K. O’Brien, Ph.D., assistant dean and chief enrollment marketing officer at University at Buffalo’s School of Management. “But we don’t have any precedent for what’s happening right now. Since we’re blind to what our yield percentages might be, I think the only thing we can do is to engage in one-on-one relationships with as many students as possible.”
To hear the entire conversation, listen to “Enrollment in the Time of Coronavirus: Managing Global Crises on Your Campus” here.