Category: Product News

From Application to Offer

From Application to Offer: How long is your university’s conversion time?

According to a study carried out by Net Natives, the second highest priority right now for HE’s in the UK is conversion between potential applicant and student. Did you know what 76% of applicants expect to receive an offer within 4 weeks of submitting their application and that 28% expect to hear the result of their application within 1 week? Compare this with the average turnaround time of 3 moths reported by universities. It’s important to remember that admissions is a competitive business. 83% of students have chosen their subjects before they consider the location or culture of the university. A postgrad student, particularly an international student, is likely applying to a number of universities and time to offer is an important consideration for them. A student is more likely to accept the first place offered to them.

So why this discrepancy between student expectation and reality? There are lots of reasons: missing documents, missing information, students not responding to emails, applications getting lost in the mix, assessors not knowing when they should be assessing to name a few.

There can be no denying that admissions teams are overworked as postgraduate application rates continue to rise across Ireland and the UK. The solution offered by PAC Apply is automation. Our system of checks and triggers ensures that work is carried out at the correct step by the correct assessor. By automating your workflow your admissions team can have confidence that PAC is working behind the scenes to ensure that all work is being carried out and that your applications are being processed efficiently and in a timely manner, ensuring shorter conversion times and increasing student retention.

For more information or to book a demo with us email info@pac.ie

Admissions Applications

5 Reasons why PAC Apply offers the perfect solution for your student application needs

The ideal admissions and applications platform for small to medium-sized colleges and universities that helps save time, money and resources.

Processing student applications can be a time consuming and complex business. At PAC, previously the Postgraduate Application Centre, we have over twenty years of experience doing just that; offering a user-friendly system for both applicants, and the staff members who assess these applications. PAC Apply is our new updated platform, a modular, cloud-based system which makes the process cleaner and even more efficient. If your higher education institution requires a form-based data gathering system or an applications and admissions platform, then PAC is your perfect business partner.

Cloud computing:

Cloud computing trends show year-over-year growth. More and more, companies are moving on to the cloud and it’s easy to see why. There are multiple advantages to such a move, the most beneficial being that administrative and admissions staff can access the platform remotely. This next-generation solution also enables students to experience a fast and smooth applications process that can be accessed from any device. The cloud removes the need for underlying administration costs and maintenance, cutting down on your colleges energy use not to mention paper waste and so on.

Data protection and adherence to GDPR guidelines is important to us at PAC and the cloud has proven to be as secure as traditional servers and security issues are becoming less of a concern to cloud users.

Third party integration:

Your organisation doesn’t need to start from scratch when deciding to partner with PAC. The PAC Apply platform runs a RESTful API designed to seamlessly integrate with any third-party student record system or financial software you may already have running. We offer the flexibility to work around your already existing systems.

Lowers administrative costs and saves you time:

PAC offers a dedicated and professional team to support the student applicants via phone or email, answering any and all of their queries. We provide this support so your team can be freed up while being assured that your users are being offered the highest level of support. Your team will have more time to devote to growing your institution and attracting new students.

Streamlined workflows designed to suit your organisation’s needs:

At PAC we understand that every education institution has different requirement when it comes to data gathering. No matter how complex your applications needs, we can streamline a workflow tailored specifically for your organisation, be it scholarship programmes or postgraduate courses. Our BPM solution (Business Process Management) allows for the design of multiple workflows to suit your needs. From the workflow design we generate a form using a ‘drop and drag’ system. You also have the option to personalise your interface experience – designing notifications and alerts for your specific process.

Total support for your team:

PAC offers full training on our platform through one to one sessions, video tutorials and a fully comprehensive and bespoke user guide. We help you install and set-up the platform, build your workflow and design your form. Out team provides in-person training before handing the system over to you, at various levels depending on your in-house IT skills. Our assistance doesn’t end there. PAC continues to offer support to your institution after you go live on our platform, ensuring that your applications processing continues to run smoothly.

PAC can help your education institution reach its full potential by taking the stress and work out of dealing with data gathering and applications processing.

Learn more about PAC Apply and request a call back to discuss your specified challenges and needs.

Introducing PAC Apply

A smarter way to process and manage applications in the cloud

PAC is excited to announce a complete re-branding and launch of a new and improved student applications platform, PAC Apply. The new brand reflects the company’s mission to offer small to medium-sized colleges and universities a fully automated and cost-effective admissions and applications solution. PAC Apply allows for an increase in the number of applications and conversion rates while delivering real-time insights and customised business intelligence reports to education institutions through a fully automated, easy-to-use cloud platform. Furthermore, PAC’s next-generation platform allows students to experience a fast and smooth applications process that can be accessed from any device.

Previously known as the Postgraduate Applications Centre, PAC has expanded its market positioning to focus beyond the Irish Postgraduate Applications market into the wider HEI market; application processes for graduates, scholarships and international students. This cost-effective and future-proof cloud platform can be easily integrated with any English-speaking education institution, be it in Ireland or abroad.

We have designed the solution by keeping in mind the current and future needs of both higher education institutions, and students. Our comprehensive rebrand elevates PAC’s focus towards providing an intuitive cloud-based solution that is tailor-made to streamline application management processes for third level institutions and supplying their applicants with a quick, efficient and user-friendly service. The new brand slogan “Processing Applications in the Cloud” is a reflection of the company’s values and mission.

Our new platform is feature-rich, fully automated, and can be customised to suit the needs of various departments within educational institutions. It is an ideal solution for any college or university that requires an easy to use, yet powerful and standalone admissions and applications platform, without having to heavily invest in a complete end-to-end student management system. PAC Apply has a restful API ensuring seamless integration with third-party applications that allows the solution to work either independently and/or connect with existing technology such as financial software, student management systems and website.

History of PAC

PAC is an Irish company founded in 1998, with a purpose of accepting, processing andassessing applications centrally, for the Professional Master of Education (P.M.E.) Diploma in the four major universities in Ireland.

In 2005, PAC launched a postgraduate applications platform for several other third-level institutions who are now our most valued customers. The primary focus was to manage applications for postgraduate courses in Irish third-level institutions by providing administrative data-flow services for the education sector.

The decision to re-brand the company in 2020 has been taken with the goal to offer a modular cloud-based solution that enables our new and existing customers to enjoy lower administration costs, obtain higher applicant numbers/conversions and benefit from better insights through business intelligence tools. With more than twenty years’ experience working with Irish higher education institutions of all sizes, PAC has processed 214,129 applications for 4,235 courses.

Features & Benefits

PAC Apply’s unique next-generation interface offers a wide range of solutions and features that have been designed to lower administration costs, increase applicant numbers and conversion rates:

Intuitive workflow designer:
Our intuitive Business Process Management (BPM) solution allows you to design an unlimited number of workflows. Having the right workflows enables applications to flow smoothly according to your specific business processes.
Simple Form Builder:
Our easy-to-use form builder has a unique drag-and-drop feature that allows you to seamlessly gather data from different applicants. You can customise your form using the different field options available. Once you create the form, you can simply publish it with the click of a button.
Personalised user-interface:
Every team has its own unique needs. PAC Apply allows you and your team to fully customise your assessment screen, deliver decisions to the right people through triggers and alerts and programme automated notifications to the applicant.
Seamless Integration (RESTful API):
The PAC Apply platform is entirely based on a standard RESTful API. This allows for seamless integration with all your necessary third-party applications and existing software which makes accessing data so much easier.
Comprehensive reporting & analytics:
Our advanced Microsoft Reporting Service allows you to effortlessly build accurate, customisable and dynamic reports that can help grow your business.

Our highly skilled and trained customer service team is dedicated to providing quick and efficient support to all our customers in a timely manner. We are committed to delivering the highest level of training and support that you need through every step of your journey with PAC. Below is an outline of our various support offerings:

Customer Support:
Before implementing PAC Apply within your university, our project management team will meet with you to discuss your applications needs and goals. Each PAC customer will work closely with a dedicated project manager to ensure that you are provided with end-to-end training on the platform that is customised to your requirements. In additional to our online support resources, our customer service team is available through phone and email to help you through every step of your PAC Journey.
Applicant Support:
We understand that supporting applicants with their questions and queries can be a time-consuming process. Our dedicated customer service team provide timely and user-friendly support to applicants through every step of their application journey. We ensure that your student application support is taken care of so your departments can fully focus on the admissions process.

Why work with PAC?

Founded in 1998, PAC has more than two decades of experience in processing complex online student applications for Irish higher education institutions of all sizes. PAC has processed 214,129 applications for 4,235 courses to date. Our intuitive cloud platform enables our customers to process and access applications online efficiently and effectively.