The University of Roehampton simplifies admin processes and improves student wellbeing

Ranked the #1 modern university in London and one of the top 10 universities in the UK for post-graduate student satisfaction, UoR has a reputation for high-quality teaching and research and is a popular study destination for international students.

The university was an early adopter of SEAtS Software’s student success solutions, harnessing attendance and engagement analytics since 2016. In 2023, UoR added the SEAtS Software Mitigating Circumstances Solution to their framework for student success and academic excellence. 

The Challenge

Staff at the University of Roehampton in London were processing thousands of student requests for mitigating circumstances, every month. The existing system had many limitations and required great manual effort and intervention from staff.

At the University of Roehampton, the major pain points with their existing process was:

• • Students could not attach evidence as part of application and had to do so separately.
  • Students could not apply for multiple items as part of single-reason application.
  • Large amounts of human errors associated with applications that needed manual intervention.

After reviewing the market, UoR discovered there were no ‘out-of-the-box’ solutions or stand-alone platforms for the purposes of student’s self-submitting mitigating circumstances applications at university.

As an existing customer of SEAtS’ Attendance and Engagement Analytics, the university were keen to expand their use of SEAtS products and came to us looking for a solution to their challenges in 2021. We were delighted to design a solution for mitigating circumstances to address the issues experienced by the University of Roehampton and the wider higher education industry as a whole.

SEAtS Software’s Mitigating Circumstances Solution

We worked very closely with UoR to understand their main pain points and core requirements for a mitigating circumstances solution.

The requirement was a system that would seamlessly deliver an efficient and transparent decision-making process that clearly communicated application progression and outcomes. It was crucial that the new system would simplify the process for students, allowing them to easily submit applications for multiple assessments and attach relevant evidence. It was also important they could track the status of their application for full transparency.

The system had to record data and monitor the service delivery to allow for accurate reporting, as well as remove the administrative burden associated with reviewing and approving the applications.

The implemented solution provides UoR with:

• An efficient approval workflow with smart task assignment and automatic application notifications.
• An approvals dashboard with a comprehensive overview of all applications for staff.
• A powerful reporting module with valuable insights and analytics on mitigating circumstances.
• A reliable compliance module that ensures adherence to institutional policies and data protection regulations.

The Impact

The impact of utilising SEAtS Software’s mitigating circumstances solution includes:

• Giving students a better experience by applying a fair, consistent, and empathetic approach to their special circumstances applications.
• Streamlining administrative processes by eliminating the manual tasks and errors that slow down these applications.
• Saving time and money across your administrative departments with reduced workloads.
• Providing faster and more personalised support to your students who face challenges in their academic journey.