How BKI is transforming the student journey with JR Plus
Bendigo Kangan Institute (BKI) is a leading Victorian TAFE. Bringing together Bendigo TAFE and Kangan Institute since 2014, its vision is to be recognised as a leading educator and trainer that empowers both people and industry with the skills to create a brighter future.
The challenge
BKI implemented a new Student Management System when Bendigo TAFE merged with Kangan Institute. After a few years, BKI found it only had a semi-automated process requiring a lot of manual intervention, and a disconnected journey for student data from commencement to reporting. This was also due to processes and the way BKI approached its people and operating model. Student experience was a concern, at a time when student expectations were shifting towards demanding a more dynamic, online, digital system. Likewise, employers were finding it difficult to understand the progress of students and apprentices that could assist their productivity, and staff were having to navigate multiple systems day-to-day as part of their work processes.
The solution
BKI launched a comprehensive Student Journey Transformation Program. This encompassed the search for a new Student Management System, as well as significant internal reorganisation of people and processes to bring about a new level of student journey management and student experience. BKI chose to consider technology partners that could offer Australian VET-specific technology and experience, and ReadyTech’s JR Plus was selected. BKI was impressed by ReadyTech’s VET experience, derived from servicing over 1000 private RTO clients. ReadyTech also demonstrated that it was a customer-focused company that was invested in moving into TAFE.
The result
Together, BKI and ReadyTech have now partnered through over three years of a four-year program. As well as discovery and development, this has included a number of staged system implementations, which have in particular advanced BKI’s enrolment process and experience to date. With a number of successful implementation stages behind it, the new system is due to be fully rolled out in further stages and adopted across BKI in January 2023. BKI expects this to result in a significant elevation of the student experience going forward, which it expects will be a ‘game-changer’ for both the present and future of the institution in a changing, more digital world.
What Bendigo Kangan Institute says
“We see our Student Journey Transformation Program and the implementation of JR Plus as a game-changer for our institution. The ongoing challenge for us is to stay relevant – to stay connected to industry, to our students, to our major shareholders. This will help facilitate that. The reality is, today, you need to be more outward facing in a digital sense. In our view, this will make us more competitive in the marketplace, which we see as not just other TAFEs. When complete, we’ll have transformed our operations from a semi-automated, highly manual process, to a contemporary one, leaving behind those old approaches that sometimes bedevil people’s view of TAFE.”
Phillip Murphy, Executive Director – Student Journey Transformation, Bendigo Kangan Institute
Interested in learning more about how we help TAFE with next generation student management technology? Learn more about JR Plus for TAFE here.