With Classter’s Admission module, you have the option of requiring the applicants to submit certain kinds of previously acquired qualifications. In the applicants’ portal, there is a specific tab that you can activate, dedicated to this process. (Figure 1)
Figure 1
As you can see in Figure 1, there are two types of qualifications: Free Entries and List Based.
Free Entries
The Free Entries Type is simple and doesn’t need any configuration. When enabled, the applicant can fill in the name of the subject/certification he has, the exam board/certifying authority, the date/year of the acquirement and the mark.
List Based
The list-based qualifications require configuration, since the applicant gets to choose from a specific range of levels, subjects, exam boards and marks. If the qualifications required from the applicants are from a specific range, and you want to avoid invalid entries from the applicants, this is the way to go.
The process is depicted in Figure 2.
Figure 2
First, the applicant selects the Level. Based on what he selects, he gets the lists of the subjects and exam boards associated with this level. When those two are selected, the applicant must fill in the Date or Year and the Mark. The Marks available for selection will be those associated with the exam board he selected before so you can have different certifying authorities with different marking systems and the applicants will only see the marks of that specific authority they selected.
The following guide will help you configure this setup:
Step 1: Create the Levels
The first thing that needs to be configured is the different levels of qualifications. They can be found in CONFIGURATION > Main Settings > Dropdown lists. There you must select the “Students” Type in the Type field and in the Dropdown lists the “Certification Categories/Qualification Levels” option. (Figure 3)
Figure 3
When clicking on the Add New button, the following pop-up window appears, where you need to add a description for the level and switch the Qualification radio button ON. (Figure 4)
Figure 4
Repeat the process described above to create all the required Qualification levels.
Step 2: Create Subject Categories
It is necessary to create subject Categories, as they are the link between the Subjects that will be available in the Subject list in the qualifications tab and the Qualification levels created in Step 1. To create Subject Categories, navigate to CONFIGURATION > Main Settings > Dropdown lists. There you must select the “System” Type in the Type field and in the Dropdown lists the “Subject Category” option. (Figure 5)
Note: the name might differ from organization to organization, since the Subject literal can change from terminology.
Figure 5
When creating a new Subject Category, you must add a description and in the Certification Categories/Qualification Levels list, select the Qualification level associated with this Category.
Note that each Subject Category can relate to only one Qualification level, so we need to create a subject category for each qualification level created in Step 1. (Figure 6)
Figure 6
Step 3: Create the Subjects
As you probably already know, subjects are created in CONFIGURATION > Main Settings > Subjects > List of Subjects.
Tip: For an in-depth view on subject creation, check out our Create the List of Subjects (or Units/Modules) | Onboarding Manual.
In the subjects create/edit window, what you need to configure for the Admission’s qualification process is the Category and Type fields. In the Type field, select the Qualification option. In the Category list, select the appropriate Subject Category that was created in Step 2. (Figure 7)
Figure 7
Step 4: Create the Qualification Marks
Now, the Qualification Marks need to be created into the System. That is achieved in CONFIGURATION > Main Settings > Dropdown lists. There you must select the “Students” Type in the Type field and in the Dropdown lists the “Certification Units/Qualification Marks” option. (Figure 8)
Note that if multiple certification authorities or exam boards are using the same marking system, the marks don’t need to be created multiple times, but each unique mark needs to be created at least once to be available in the Qualifications Tab.
Figure 8
When clicking on the Add New button, the following popup window will appear, where you will fill in a description and turn ON the Qualification radio button. (Figure 9)
Figure 9
Step 5: Create the Exam Boards
The last field of those shown above that is left now to configure is the Exam Boards. That is completed in CONFIGURATION > Main Settings > Dropdown lists. There you must select the “Students” Type in the Type field and in the Dropdown lists the “Certification Levels/Qualification Exam Boards” option. (Figure 10)
Figure 10
When creating them, you need to fill in a Description, switch ON the Unit and Qualification radio buttons, select the associated Qualification Level and the Qualification Mark(s) that the Exam Board might give. (Figure 11)
Figure 11
Step 6: Qualification Statuses
The qualification statuses are used from the organization for the qualification entries of the applicants. They can be found to be configured in CONFIGURATION > Main Settings > Dropdown lists. There you must select the “Students” Type in the Type field and in the Dropdown lists the “Qualification/ Certification Status” option. (Figure 12)
Figure 12
When creating a status, all you need to do is add a Description and select a Certification Status Type. There are three types, “Awaiting Confirmation”, ” Confirmed ”, and ” Awaiting Final Result from Candidate ”. (Figure 13)
Figure 13
Having one status of each type should be enough but depending on your needs you can create multiple.
Workflow for Back-office Employees
When the application is submitted, the back-office employees can see the qualification entries that the applicant has inserted, either by clicking on Edit application from the application management menu or in the Student’s profile in the Admission Data tab (Figures 15 & 16). In the application management, there is an All qualifications verified checkbox, notifying the employee whether the qualifications are in a confirmed status or not. (Figure 14)
Figure 14
Figure 15
Figure 16
In the Student’s profile, the employees can verify the validity of the qualifications and change their status. To change the status, the user must simply select the qualifications and from the Bulk Actions menu click on Change Status. (Figure 17)
Figure 17
In the window that pops up, the employee must select the next status. (Figure 18)
Figure 18
When all the qualifications of an applicant are set in a confirmed type of status, the “All qualifications verified” box will be checked. (Figure 19)
Figure 19
Qualification Settings
The qualification settings can be found in CONFIGURATION > Admission > Admission Settings > Qualification Settings. (Figure 20)
Figure 20
In the Type of Qualification Entries setting you must select, whether we want our Admission process to use the List based qualifications, the free entries or both.
In the Connect Qualifications With Courses setting, you must select the Qualification Type Subject option, for the setup described above to work.
In the Qualifications Date Format setting, you can choose whether you want a date field or not and if that should be a full date field or just the year.
Find more or post your questions on our Facebook Community Page. Also, watch our how-to videos on our YouTube channel.