Universities worldwide streamline document management with paperless systems

Monday, July 8, 2013

As the benefits of paperless systems become more well-known, universities around the globe continue to use conversion services for everything from the admissions process to administering grades. Connecticut's Wesleyan University and India's Bharathiar University are just two of the schools to switch to electronic document management in the past week.

Wesleyan University recently elected to take its admissions department paperless, and the school plans to roll out a new system which allows prospective students to apply, submit references and transcripts, and set up appointments for interviews, all without using a single piece of paper. In an entry in the university's online newsletter, Dean of Admission and Financial Aid Nancy Hargrave Meislahn said she was excited to begin using the new program. She also stated that – in order to make the transition as easy as possible – physical copies of applications will be available to students who prefer them.

"We'll keep some version of paper around for the next several years," Meislahn said. "But there will be much less of it. We might consider a yard sale for our file cabinets."

India's Bharathiar University (BU) is another organization that recently embraced the benefits of going paperless, becoming the first university in its state of Tamil Nadu to do so. According to India's Business Standard, school officials launched the new system after several forged documents lowered the credibility of institutions around the school. In addition, BU elected to go paperless because it will make their grading system faster and more cost-effective.

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