Dive Brief:
- PDF transcripts, XML transcripts, and innovations in degree audits are among the innovations conceived in the registrar's office, yet on some campuses, this office is stuck in the past.
- Rodney L. Parks, registrar of Elon University, writes for University Business some registrars are still using typewriters and paper class rolls, but those with deep expertise should instead be leveraging their knowledge to "guide higher education in the future."
- Registrar alignment with admissions has helped marketing efforts reach new students and the office has figured out how to create new credentials on some campuses, though at least two have eliminated the registrar entirely and others have hired people with no prior experience who seem to be doing fine.
Dive Insight:
While students rarely have to visit the registrar's office on many campuses, instead handling business online, offices on campuses that have innovative registrars are bustling.
It is not uncommon today for registrars to team up with admissions and enrollment offices. Student life cycle management, easing the experiences of students from first contact through their alumni status, is a focus across the country as colleges and universities turn to new technologies and products from corporate America.
The rise of alternative credentialing only increases the need for innovation. Colleges are already serving a generation of students raised on the internet. Offices of the registrar are already being forced to speed up. Those who don't will inevitably be replaced or erased.