In remarkable achievement for her personal and professional excellence, Dr Saloschini Pillay, Student Support Services manager in the College of Health Sciences (CHS) at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), has been honoured with a coveted global award from Hyland UK.
The award is for her groundbreaking development and implementation of the automated system that engages first-time students from their entry into university for their overall well-being.
The UKZN’s Student Wellness and Academic Transformation (Swat) assessment and intervention system helps identify factors affecting student success.
Pillay said that the system looks at what affects the students outside the classroom. “This model taps into all facets of a student’s life, not just the academics ... we are not tracking pass and fail mark, we are looking at the whole student,” she said.
“The system engages with the student to enhance motivation and keeps reminding students of their well-being for conducive teaching and learning.”
The automated system identifies at-risk students based on their general well-being and provides automated referrals for timely interventions.
Developed in 2005 as a paper-based system with manual administration at lectures, the model has evolved into a hybrid tool. “The evolution included moving from paper-based, contact sessions to name changes, guided by students’ perceptions, and transitioning to online platforms and tools to track and monitor student wellness.
In 2022 we piloted the Swat solution using OnBase,” said Pillay.
The accolade celebrates the best implementation of a digital solution for student support and wellness. Hyland UK is the creator of the OnBase Platform that is driving the Swat Solution.
The system has garnered international acclaim, with many higher education institutions recognising its significant benefits for their own student success programmes.
Pillay has presented this model to higher education institutions in Germany and South Korea and has been invited to give a presentation in Malta and New Orleans
The Mercury