Have you ever wondered how your admissions process compares to that of leading international and independent schools? Could regular check ups against best practice benchmarks benefit your school in achieving their wider admissions, marketing and advancement objectives?

In the context of school admissions, benchmarking refers to the process of comparing and evaluating a school’s admissions process with other schools, particularly those that have a highly efficient and streamlined process. This can include comparing various aspects of the admissions process, such as applicant data, remote parent engagement, data reporting and analytics, human error mitigation, workflow automation, marketing and student recruitment.

With this in mind, we will explore why and how international and independent schools can benchmark their admissions process.

Identify Best Practices

Benchmarking allows schools to compare their admissions process with that of other schools and identify best practices that they can adopt. By benchmarking, schools can gain insight into the methods and strategies that are being used by other leading schools and determine which of these may be appropriate for their own admissions process. This can lead to more efficient and effective processes, which can save time and resources, make the process less stressful for applicants, increase trust and confidence while also increasing the number of qualified applicants and improving the diversity of the school’s student body.

Identify Areas for Improvement

Benchmarking can also help schools identify areas where they are falling behind and need improvement. This includes identifying any inefficiencies in their admissions process as well as enhancing the student and family experience so that it becomes increasingly frictionless. By identifying these areas, schools can address them and boost the overall admissions experience for families, leading to improved outcomes throughout their admissions process in terms of recruitment, retention and revenue.

Stay Competitive

With the rapidly growing number of international and independent schools, it’s becoming increasingly crucial for schools to stay competitive. Benchmarking against best practice schools can help schools not only remain current with the latest trends and best practices in admissions, but also inspire and drive innovation and advancement.

Attract the Right Students

Benchmarking can also help schools identify best practices in marketing and recruitment, which enables them to attract the right students for their programmes. This boost in lead generation, coupled with diligent alignment of mission, vision and ethos, would also foster a growing community of passionate and loyal alumni, that would further perpetuate a robust recruitment strategy through donations, referrals and networking.

Quality Assurance

Finally, benchmarking provides schools with an opportunity to reflect and evaluate their own admissions process and make sure they are meeting expectations and standards, while providing a quality service to their families.

It is hard to ignore how potent benchmarking against best practice schools can be, for international and independent schools looking to stay competitive, attract the right students, improve their admissions process and ensure they are providing a quality service to their families.

If you would like to instantly find out where your school’s admissions process ranks, and receive free recommendations on any areas for improvement, we highly recommend that you try our free admissions benchmarking tool:

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