This sudden growth in international students, along with how complex immigration regulations have gotten, means more work for the small international student and scholar staff at universities. The manual method used in previous years was now too time-consuming for the staff to handle efficiently. Which is why many universities are looking for software, like sunapsis, to help manage their universities international student population.
sunapsis is a case management software that connects to the SEVIS database to help manage international students. However, implementing sunapsis into a university system can be very difficult, especially if you do understand many of the steps necessary.
This is where International Office Consulting comes into play. Jodi Barnhill, the CEO, started International Office Consulting last year (2017). It is comprised of a team of “veteran international case management software experts who have been in higher education for, combined, over 25 years…” They have expertise “working with international cases management software. Homeland Security Sevis systems, student information systems, and HR systems on campuses.”
International Office Consulting “helps international students and scholars offices leverage the power of technology and join the 21st century.” They help universities, ones without any software and those with older case management software, implement sunapsis into their campuses systems.
Jodi is also a strong supporter of eShipGlobal and our UEMS system. UEMS helps international student advisors in several ways: by enabling students to pay for shipping labels, helping to ensure accurate shipping addresses, bulk label printing and more. UEMS can also be integrated with synapsis, allowing advisors to see which students’ shipping documentation is ready. If a university uses UEMS or if they are interested in integrating UEMS with synapsis, Jodi and her company would be able to help.
International Office Consulting has helped several universities, such as Rutgers and University of Texas at Dallas. Their clients often call their help a “blessing” and that they feel “safe and comfortable” knowing that International Office Consulting will be there for them.
With more and more international students coming to the US to study, universities are having to adopt new techniques and technology to handle the influx. This trend does not seem to be slowing down anytime soon either. So, the question many universities now face is how efficient is their international student and scholars office and department running and how can they improve it.
By Ashleigh Cue
