Registered training organisations (RTOs) help students obtain the qualifications they need to pursue their chosen careers, but accomplishing this goal isn’t always as straightforward as it seems. After all, you have to make sure students are continuously engaged and supported and do not quit midway through their studies. This is where student support proves extremely helpful.
What is student support?
Student support refers to job roles that are aimed specifically at helping your students complete their studies. These roles entail a wide array of responsibilities, including:
- Responding to students’ enquiries
- Setting up reminders for assignments and document submissions
- Scheduling face-to-face sessions and other activities
- Assisting with theory and coursework
- Troubleshooting issues with lesson-related tools
Student support officers also engage with students and keep them motivated. In these ways, student support is vital to ensuring student retention and course completion.
The more students your RTO has, the more student support personnel should be on your team. Unfortunately, hiring local talent for these jobs can be expensive. One of the best ways in which you can resolve this issue is by outsourcing student support roles to professionals in countries like the Philippines.
How can outsourcing student support roles benefit your RTO?
Student support is just one of several roles that Australian RTOs are outsourcing to the Philippines today. By partnering with outsourced staff for student support roles, you can enhance retention and completion in the following ways:
1. Hire more officers for less
The most commonly discussed benefit of outsourcing is how it can help your business save money, in particular, by lowering labour costs. Queensland-based RTO, Redmako Learning, for instance, was able to reduce labour costs by up to 70% by outsourcing some of its operational processes, including student support to the Philippines.
Outsourcing helps you save money because it costs much less to hire a Filipino professional than a local talent with the same set of skills. You also don’t have to spend on recruitment; offshore staffing companies like PeoplePartners BPO will do this for you. Additionally, because the outsourced staff does not work in your office, you don’t have to pay for the power, space, and equipment they use to do their job.
With the money you save, you can easily build a team of student support officers who are dedicated to assisting your students. Having such a team will definitely help a lot in ensuring that students are engaged and motivated until they finish their courses.
2. Get access to more talent
Student support officers must possess a specific set of skills in order to be effective in their role. They must have good communication and time-manmagement skills. They must also know how to talk and motivate students and have adequate experience in education and training. Ideally, they must also have some knowledge of the qualifications that your RTO delivers.
If you can’t find candidates with the right experience in Australia, then outsourcing will let you tap talent from other countries. Because Australian companies have been outsourcing to the Philippines for years, it isn’t difficult to find Filipino professionals who possess the skills you need in your student support staff.
3. Provide tailored service to each student
No two students have the exact same circumstances or motivations, and you have to take their uniqueness and differences into account if you want to engage them properly. Otherwise, some students may feel left out or some of their needs may end up unaddressed, resulting in them abandoning their courses.
Having enough personnel means fewer students are assigned to a single student support officer. This allows your student support staff to provide service that is tailored to each student’s unique requirements. The low student-to-student-support ratio also means officers are not overloaded with tasks and information, making them less likely to commit errors.
4. Reduce the burden on your on-site staff
Without a dedicated student support team, your on-site staff will be forced to take on these roles themselves. This may result in them neglecting their other duties, leading to errors, longer turnaround times, and low-quality service delivered to both clients and students. Offloading student support to Filipino professionals allows your on-site employees to concentrate on tasks that provide greater value to your company and stakeholders.
How can you outsource RTO student support roles to the Philippines?
PeoplePartners BPO has you covered. When you partner with us, we will help you build a dedicated and high-performing team of student support professionals with years of experience in both training and education. Just tell us your requirements; we will handle everything else, from recruitment to getting your new team ready to deliver results.
Help your students complete their studies and earn the qualifications they need for a successful career by providing them with effective and high-quality student support. Start outsourcing student support roles to the Philippines by contacting us today.