The research area of the final thesis was to analyze and explore foreign students' satisfaction with Admission Services at Savonia University of Applied Sciences. A major motivation for the research was to find out the opinion of the other foreign students about the Savonia Admission Services and the communication channels.
Choice of Study
The information was used to prepare recommendations on how to develop Savonia's reception services towards multi-channel and cross-border approaches. Some of the problems that the researcher had to face in this study were that there were no previous studies on cross-border customer services in Savonia Admission Services, so almost all the necessary information was found from the literature and data from external sources.
Research Objective
The personal motivator for this thesis stems from the author's source experience during the application period at Savonia UAS. In addition, the researcher had a great interest in the data obtained and the analysis created during this study process, as they have practical value for the Savonia Admission Services team and are the basis for the suggestion for the multi-channel communication improvement plan.
Research Methodology
Limitation of the Research
One of the main legislative processes in the framework of institutional priorities, which states the strategic demand of the university, which takes into account the admission criteria. Also, the monitoring regulation is responsible for ensuring that the admissions process achieves its objectives and operates within the limits set by the relevant authorities, exists at all levels of university management.
General Admission Process for International Students in Finland
Students should check all exam related details with the university/UAS they plan to apply to. For all questions regarding the application, students must contact the Admissions Office of the university/UAS they are applying to.
Overview of Savonia UAS
Savonia UAS Admission Procedures
Interview Results of Savonia Admission Services
Admission Services, together with departments of study and other representatives of Savonia UAS, is responsible for the admission procedures. Does Savonia Admission Services consider itself as a student service or dean's service because it also helps students solve their problems while applying.
International Students at Finnish Universities
During thirty years, the number of international students in almost every developed country has expanded to a great extent. According to the Strategy for the Internationalization of Higher Education Institutions, released by the Ministry of Education and Culture, Finland already has a truly international higher education community in 2015. As explained in Faktaa (2014), higher education institutions were encouraged to recruit students from abroad, and the number of degrees taken by foreign students was one of the funding criteria of higher education.
For the economic impact, it is important that foreign undergraduates who graduate from a Finnish higher education institution stay in Finland and integrate into society and the labor market. Customers choose customer service on the channel that's most convenient and portable for them to use at the time they have a problem or question - whether it's phone, email, chat, online self-service, social media or some other channel. It is essential that record keeping staff gather information about the progress of the client's interaction with the client.
It is imperative that a company attracts consumers on the customers' terms, otherwise it risks losing them.
Electronic Customer Relationship Management
It's an understandable value of multi-channel integration, but it's also essential to recognize the difference between each channel, and it requires personalized treatment and strategy. While self-service and email support are often enough to resolve customer issues, providing a live channel chat, phone, or even Twitter is critical. It may seem counterintuitive to provide more live support while the company offers self-service options, such as a well-known knowledge base or prosperous customer forums, but the more customers can do themselves on the web, the more live support becomes relevant.
There needs to be a way for customers to reach a human when they can't resolve their issue through self-service or a delayed email interaction. Electronic customer relationship management incorporates online channel adoration into an organization's overall CRM mission with the goal of driving follow-up within all channels, reciprocally with sales, customer service and support (CSS), and marketing initiatives. According to Lee (2009), customer service in organizations can be improved by combining the Internet with CRM activities to create e-CRM processes.
In fact, it is difficult to find a service provider without a website presence, but the level of customer engagement is still insufficient.
Importance of Customer Satisfaction and Experience in Multi-channel Service
The interactive age accelerated the adoption of the Internet resource and thus e-CRM emerged. First, customer satisfaction is broader than service quality, which is the only characteristic of customer satisfaction levels. Second, experience with a product or service must be gained in order to predict a satisfaction rating, but this is not an integral part of the background for developing a quality attitude.
A good customer satisfaction survey is therefore based on the most important customer requirements, so it can provide reliable and effective information for the organization and would help to achieve a greater return on investment in actions or changes to develop customer satisfaction. Knowing customer trends and preferences will help companies easily identify opportunities for improvement in the current channel network. Too often, the call made to the contact office is the result of an unsuccessful self-service experience or an ineffective consideration of service in another channel.
The results of the survey questionnaire and interview are examined to determine the aspects that influence customer satisfaction with the reception office service.
Qualitative and Quantitative Methods
A questionnaire survey for foreign students was created and administered as part of this study. Based on meaning derived from numbers Based on expressed meaning The collection results in numerical and standardized. Aggregation results in non-standardized data that require classification into categories. Analysis performed through the use of diagrams.
Survey Design and Implementation
The response pattern was initially chosen for each question based on the type of question. As previously mentioned, both qualitative and quantitative analysis methods are used as a special research for Savonia's Admission Services. Only one interview was conducted to gather information from the admissions staff at the university about their opinion of the service and communication channels.
Data Analysis
- The Programme of the Study
- The Year of Applying to Savonia UAS
- The Location of the Campus
- The Application Method
- Response Time of Admission Office
- The Admissions Policies and Procedures
- The Notice of Acceptance
- General Evaluation of Savonia Admission Services
- General Communication of the Admission Services
- The Communication Channels
- Availability of the Admission Personnel
- Feedback from International Students
- The Students’ Level of Satisfaction
- Feedback from International Students
The collected data shows that 58% of the recipients identified the admissions office's response rate as "good" and 30% of the students agreed as "excellent". Only 8% of respondents determined that the admissions staff response time was "satisfactory" and another 4% were not sure how to answer, simply did not understand the content of the question or did not even contact the admissions office directly not. As seen in FIGURE 8, the admissions policies and procedures were quite clear for 50% of respondents who answered "good" and 27% identified as "excellent".
It turns out that 15% of students were somewhat satisfied with the admissions procedures, and 4% were not at all satisfied and labeled as “needs improvement”. According to the respondents' answers, most students, 38%, indicate "good" and 35% of students match as "excellent". The second rating was "Communication" with the admissions office, and 50% of international students reported having "good" communication experience and 35%.
Providing an excellent overseas student experience is one of the university's main goals. Only two (8%) of the students used the website to contact the admissions office and no one chose the telephone as a communication channel. The purpose of this question was to inquire about admissions office accessibility for international students.
Electronic Communication Channels
- Website
- Voice Chat and Skype
According to a survey conducted, only a minority of students used the Savonia web page to contact the admissions office and yet there was a suggestion to improve this particular communication channel.
Face-to-face Communication (office visit)
It is a convenient channel, especially for the admission staff, it enables them to coordinate and consult foreign students with a better understanding of the problem. Building rapport between an admissions person and an applicant can lead to a more productive problem-solving process. There is a perception of community because people are better able to socialize and interact with each other.
Phone
One of the main arguments was to identify the overseas students' satisfaction level with admissions office service and overall experience while applying to the programs at Savonia UAS. Nevertheless, Admissions Services team faces some difficulties in practicing more multi-channel approaches that most of the international recipients want to receive from the service. Date of retrieval Available at: https://www.zendesk.com/resources/a-guide-to-multi-channel- customer-support/.
Cisco Internet Business Solutions Group (IBSG). http://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en_us/about/ac79/docs/innov/Multichannel-Customer-Experience_IBSG_0519.pdf. Available at: http://www.cimo.fi/instancedata/prime_product_julkaisu/cimo/embeds/cimowwwstructure/78242_Faktaa_1B_2015.pdf Finnish National Board of Education. Available at: http://www.helsinkitimes.fi/columns/columns/viewpoint/9048-the-role-that-finnish-universities-have-in-a-globalising-economy-2.html.
Available at: http://portal.savonia.fi/amk/en/applying/bachelors-degree-programmes/discretionary-admission.
INTERNET SURVEY
When you first enrolled at Savonia UAS as a graduate student in this program. Admissions staff communicated with you in a way that resolved your issue or allowed you to understand next steps. When you contacted the Office of Admissions, did you find the staff readily available by phone, e-mail, or in person?
SAVONIA ADMISSION SERVICES INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
SAVONIA ADMISSION SERVICES CLOSING PERIOD
