Warwick is developing a new admissions system, which will allow us to simplify processes and make life easier for applicants, referees and staff involved in admissions.

As preparations gather pace for rolling out the new system for some courses from September, Jenny Garner, Admissions Officer, shares what’s happening.

Why are we updating our admissions systems?

We currently have a number of separate admissions platforms, including the BPM system for postgraduate courses, the Paperless system for UCAS courses and other paper based systems.

By making admissions processes to different courses/levels of study as consistent as they can be, we will:

• improve applicant experience,
• enable central and local admissions services to support each other more easily,
• comply with the many external regulations and frameworks which impact admissions.

In future, one single Universal Admissions system will receive and process all types of applications to the University, regardless of level (undergraduate, postgraduate, professional development) or route of entry (direct, UCAS, partner, or other).

How is the system being trialled?

IT Services and the Student Recruitment, Outreach and Admissions Service have been working closely together, and we are currently running pilots with Philosophy, Engineering and the Centre for Lifelong Learning.

Their feedback is helping us to refine Universal Admissions so that we will be able to deliver a better quality service to applicants, referees and colleagues from across the University.

What are the next steps?

We’re planning to roll out the new system at the start of the new admissions cycle (September 2019), for courses that receive direct applications (i.e. not via UCAS).

This will include all courses currently on the BPM system - postgraduate taught, postgraduate research, and the international foundation programme, as well as other courses such as professional development courses.

How will departments be involved?

To support this change we will be contacting departments to confirm the courses being offered and the colleagues who will require access to Universal Admissions.

Training will be available over the summer period prior to roll out, and there will be support and any further training as staff start to use the new system.

We are also intending to start a pilot of some of our UCAS courses in September 2019, ready for the main roll out for UCAS courses in September 2020.

Jenny Garner, Admissions Officer

Example of the staff view of the new Universal Admissions system