The problem
The admissions period concentrates most of the year's enquiries into ten weeks. Outside that window the necessary team is underused; inside it, the available team saturates and replies take days.
International students add a layer: their enquiries arrive in several languages and across time zones, and a slow reply during the enrolment decision means a student who enrols somewhere else.
What we did
The onshore core in Spain holds knowledge of the admissions process all year. The peak is covered from the Latin America corridor, which also brings natural time overlap with Latin American students, this university's largest international group.
The team handles admissions enquiries, application status and scholarship documentation, referring only academic decisions to the university.
Portuguese was added specifically for Brazilian students, a group that had grown without support adapting to it.
Team shape
A core of four onshore, scaling to sixteen during the admissions period, covering Spanish, English and Portuguese.
Timeline
A 30-day pilot outside peak, then a full admissions period covered the following year with training started eight weeks ahead.
Data handling and compliance
Admissions files contain applicants' personal data, some of them minors. Processing outside the European Economic Area rests on standard contractual clauses, with minimisation: the team accesses application status and administrative documentation, not the full academic record.
Results
- -68 %
- Response time during admissions
- 92 %
- Enquiries handled in the applicant's language
- +9 %
- Application to enrolment conversion
- -30 %
- Cost of the admissions peak
From an average of three days to under one working day.
Against 61 % in the previous period.
Among international students, measured over the same period.
Against hiring and training temporary reinforcement each year.
Figures relate to the period stated in each case and depend on each client's starting point.
In admissions, taking three days to reply means losing the student. Not because the answer is bad, but because by then they have enrolled elsewhere.