Digitalization of the administrative services of the faculties
Initiator:
Problem description
In the impossibility of quick adaptation and modernization of our society in every sphere, even in education, part of the challenges faced by all participants in the educational academic process are high administrative costs, lack of modern electronic payment methods, unfinished digitalization, long wait and queues in student affairs rooms, especially taking into account the KOVID pandemic, non-modernized infrastructure, non-adapted distance learning platforms, etc. Some of the problems faced by our students, but also the administrative services and the teaching staff, which were revealed to us during a number of interviews with them in the period November - December 2020 are: registration for exams, semesters, enrollment for years - only on the counters of the faculties; reports only in paper form and available only in bookstores where long queues are made during the short application deadlines; at some of the faculties, despite the possibility to complete the application electronically, the document is still necessary to be physically taken to student services; constant filling in of the same personal data in the applications (mother, father, data where they live, etc.), for all study years, for all exams; payments are made only in a bank, and payment slips in paper form, signed and stamped by the bank, are submitted in support of the applications; no possibility for payment on the spot (no POS installed), no possibility to submit a copy of electronic payment; students, although at the beginning of the year they pay 1,300 denars for registration and administration, still the applications for each exam, for semester verification, enrollment per year are paid 50 MKD; for lost application, a re-payment is made. There are also problems with the organization of the faculties - ie. there are no information - digital boards, no waiting system with numbers, everything goes in order, there is a mess and nervousness, there are no spatial possibilities for filling in documents / applications - the same is done on stairs, on walls, in front of Student Affairs; electronic file, although it exists, still the grades are entered in several places several times, even in the student index. At the same time, in addition to the challenges faced by students, administrative services also face overcrowding, low staffing, and inability to complete all obligations due to short student application deadlines, where mistakes are often made and duplicated. delays work. On the other hand, the teaching staff also faces challenges due to the unfinished digitalization and modernization of the faculties in terms of administrative procedures, filling in grades and data of students in many different places, which takes a lot of time. Although the iKnow platform is well conceived as a system, it is still not used to the maximum, improvements and improvements are still needed for its full use with all the advantages it offers. Additionally, the need to improve the working and learning conditions, the lack of electronic tools for organizing modern teaching and lectures, as well as the need for modern aids, equipment, digital boards in order to organize distance learning, especially in pandemic conditions, was pointed out. .
Proposed solution
Improving the quality of administrative services: - Appointment of students - mentors, advisors, assistants. Students from 3-4 academic years, who already have experience with the way the faculty works, would be appointed as assistants / mentors to students enrolled in the first academic year. They would be responsible for a group of novice students to whom they would present the rules and procedures prescribed to the faculties immediately at the beginning of the school year. - To introduce more deadlines and longer deadlines for completion of administrative obligations in order to reduce queues and workload. This would at the same time avoid making technical errors and repeating procedures; - Placement of info-electronic boards where all the rules and procedures, schedules of lectures, exams and events at the faculties would be clearly and precisely stated; - Access to books from libraries in electronic form for the purpose of simpler and easier access to them and at the same time will help in the process of reducing printing and destruction of the environment; Digitization of administrative services: - Electronic applications for exams, semesters, enrollment for years - which can be filled in and submitted electronically, in order to avoid paper applications, as well as their submission to student services and making queues and crowds. - Installing POS for card payment in the premises of the faculties, which will avoid wrong payments, payments of wrong amounts, will save time and stress to which the administrative staff and students are subject; - Completion and improvement of the iKnow platform, in the second phase by expanding the services in the direction of development and connection with a mobile application. Development and introduction of the possibility for electronic and mobile payment. The platform should enable all necessary documents and certificates to be printed electronically to serve as evidence. - Mobile applications with information and orientation for first year students with access to all necessary data, academic year, directions, with notifications for payments, exams, lecture schedule, faculty orientation program (maps of faculty premises, procedures for behavior), etc. - Determining the legal framework for digitalization of the administrative work of the faculties. - Access to the books from the libraries of the faculties, in digital form.
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