New mobility software and new opportunities
At UCPH, we have a mission of bringing our students to the centre of our administration. A noble mission – but also one that must be balanced against mass processing, equal treatment, a shared understanding of students’ perspectives and administrative considerations.
A new view on internal operations
Purchasing the software system, MobilityOnline, has given UCPH an opportunity to think differently and to reflect on how we handle our administrative student mobility operations.
Through workshops with students and colleagues at our six faculties, we have mapped the existing student and administrative flows, and used these to learn from and alter the mobility application process.
There is no doubt that all university administrative staff share one common goal, which is that the administrative processes affecting students’ academic life should work in the students’ best interests. When redesigning the application processes, did we always agree on what exactly is in the best interest of students? - No. Also, not all students are alike, and what suits one student may not be the preference of the next student you ask.
For UCPH, rethinking our processes continues to invite the arts of dialogue, compromise and testing it out.
Application paradise?
Regardless of how our redesigned processes end up looking, students’ thirst for relevant information and easy-to-follow process steps appears unquenchable.
Our students have emphasised that the new software system should allow them to follow the flow from the initial information about potential host universities, through their application process, to information about what to do upon their return to UCPH. Step by step and tailor-made - no longer lost in what to do and when to do it.
Will we succeed in creating the ultimate application paradise? Probably not – but UCPH are making an effort and getting ahead by collaborating across our university and remembering our joint mission to focus on the administrative student experience and support them toward an international exchange in a seamless, timely and simple way.
Timeline
UCPH are currently working on setting up our new processes. If all goes as planned, we will be ready to run application pilot tests in MobilityOnline by autumn 2020. During 2021, the system will be up and running in all mobility areas at UCPH.
By Mie Morthorst & Simone Hauskov
Mobility numbers
Over the past fifteen years the number of outbound UCPH students has increased from 800 to 2,000 per year. Inbound numbers have reached around 1,700 students per year.