Process Flow for Academic Operations and Resource Optimization

Abstract

The case company is one of the largest public Universities in Finland. The University offers various programs such as bachelors, masters and diploma in diverse disciplines. The University offers four education fields such as technology, healthcare and social services, culture and business. For the admission of international students, the University prepares and circulates information regarding courses, seats, eligibility and other with partners globally. In many cases, these international students are only able to arrive at the university after the program has started. Often a large portion of the group of students arrive even a semester late. These late arrivals pose a challenge to supporting the students, managing their enrolments and providing each with a tailored path of completing their studies. This often means; that at least some courses must be taught multiple times instead of a single instance, which wastes resources. These delays lead to confusion for both staff and students. This thesis aims to address these challenges by providing the process flow of academic operations and optimised use of resources. The study follows an applied action research method. Based on the current state analysis, literature survey and validation from stakeholders three key recommendations are proposed to improve the academic operations and optimized resources.