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UK University Clearing Chaos: Students on Hold for More Than Three Hours - Unless the University Used 8x8
LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- As A-level results dropped last Thursday, students across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland scrambled to secure university
About this update from 8x8 Inc
[{"type":"text","content":" LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--\nAs A-level results dropped last Thursday, students across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland scrambled to secure university places through Clearing — and many were forced to wait more than three hours on hold to do so, according to new data from 8x8, Inc. (NASDAQ: EGHT), the industry's most integrated customer experience (CX) platform provider.\n\n\nIn the UK, Clearing is a process where students who do not have a university place or have changed their mind on which course they wish to attend call universities directly after exam results are published to see if they can claim one of the remaining spots.\n\n\nWith more than 22,000 undergraduate courses still open, phone lines across the UK were quickly overwhelmed. And while Clearing technically runs until October, the first few days are critical – with places awarded on a first-come, first-served basis.\n\n\nBut for students calling 8x8-powered universities, the experience looked very different. Average wait times dropped to just six seconds, and most calls were resolved end-to-end in under eight minutes.\n\n\nAfter the first weekend of Clearing since the exam results dropped, data shared with 8x8 from a number of university bodies revealed:\n\n\n\nAcross the UK, some applicants were on hold for more than three hours before reaching the relevant university employees.\n\n\n\n80% of call volume took place on the Thursday of exam results being received.\n\n\n\n8x8-supported universities recorded wait times of less than eight seconds for a call to be answered - while some (non-8x8 supported) universities had average wait times of above 16 minutes.\n\n\n\nAt 8x8-supported universities, total call handling times were around eight minutes - and in some cases under two minutes.\n\n\n\nRemoving stress from the process\n\n\n“Clearing is high-stakes for students and universities alike as every second on hold adds stress and the risk of losing a place or funding,” said Maxine Eunson, Head of Public Sector and Universities at 8x8, Inc. “I hear that, at non-8x8 supported universities, average handling time on Clearing has been more than ten minutes and it’s great our tools are helping universities be quicker and better than that as we help them move from chaos to clarity.”\n\n\n8x8 and Education\n\n\nMore information about how 8x8 helps universities and other edu...