How RB College defeated Covid-19
RB College
Many risk management department working within institutions are responsible for predicting the crisis that may induce these institutions and then developing some scenarios in advance that enable them to survive with the least losses, but these departments was not taken into account as a crisis like Covid-19 crisis, even when it started no one expected that the whole world would stop completely for months, a complete closure of some companies, an accumulation of debts and a loss of billions of pounds.
RB College is an international business college focusing on spreading the excellence of UK education system by providing the UK qualification, university placement, undergraduate and post-graduate program, student recruitment and many other educational services with the cooperation of many different education providers in UK, we provide our services and programs worldwide with main focus on MENA region and Africa. But RB College is one of these institutions who were exposed to Corona crisis and logically should be affected by it, but this was not the case as we choose innovation strategy - over risk management - in all aspects of our institution which distinguished us from others as we deal with any ordeal as a grant.
We all know that the most effective marketing channels is Social Media, so to support our students to get through their education journey peacefully and maintaining the continuity of work within the institution during Covid-19, we adopted new marketing approach by posting stories about students on social media platforms as part of marketing campaigns, whereby each student presents his biography, his educational experience during his study and how the college helped them to gain the knowledge and skills needed to get promotions, increase revenue or expand the business. The campaign slogan is 'I am RBC'. Our aim from these campaigns is to hit many birds with one stone, while we market RB College programs, we gain the loyalty of our student and generates more leads as we spread in the market rapidly and massively thanks to our students.
Other aspect we work on is our staff, RB College management cherish its staff so we care more about the psychological side of individuals (Business Development Team -BDs). The principle of leadership within the organization is based on obtaining the best results, achieving the desired goals and targets by motivating employees and creating a positive and competitive work environment. So college management came up with the idea of "The Santa Bell" where the person (BD) who registered a student in one of the education programs have the right to ring "Santa Bell", this idea ignites the competition among staff and add a positive atmosphere at work place.
On Financial level and due to the shortage of liquidity as a result Covid-19 and students' inability to pay tuition fees as a single payment or even in large instalments. RB College created (One To One Finance - OTOF) where the student pay the tuition fees in instalments through local Finance companies. The Finance company then pays the full amount to the college. Additionally, to encourage students to pay their fees without struggling and not wasting their time or effort, RB College outsourced an electronic payment companies to fit and match student’s status wherever they are so no need to visit the campus for any payment or even refund.
We also change our refund policy so student who registered in one of our programs but did not start the courses are entitled to refund the whole fees, and for other students who ask for refund for different reasons (e.g.; he started the courses but the due to Covid-19 we stopped the class-based sessions and the student did not want to join the online session for personal reasons) we handle them case by case to satisfy their needs. This decision was a great risk on our financial status, but it was necessary to take such a decision to reassure students, gain their trust and because the possibility of them being register in our programs when the crisis ends is great, and this is what actually happened as most students returned to register again when the lockdown was eased which extending the bonds of trust between them and the college.
In teaching, the world’s shift to work electronically, including remote study, it became clear that the online is neither efficient nor attractive, and RB College was the first to anticipate such a problem, so they thought of using the same tool (the online communication) but in an innovative way to cope with lockdowns and meets the needs of the students, so the college switch the curriculums to simulation, and Augmented Reality to facilitates understanding and remembering the presented education material. In the same context the college create "Coding Technique" which facilitate the assimilation of a large amount of information in a short period, help students to memorize and retrieve any data when needed, especially in taking exams and tests. In addition to that, RB college create "Trivia app" to make the lectures interactive and engage more students, the idea is to transfer all the study questions into learning activity so student can practice for the exams in an enthusiastic and competitive manner.
All our innovative ideas that were previously mentioned contributed greatly to maintaining the continuity of work. Both college staff and students became very confident in the performance of their institution and the strategy adopted by the management team to create more opportunities from the heart of the Corona crisis.
Thanks to this innovation strategy, the number of students ’nominations for registration increased by 6 out 10 (It was 2 out of 10 in the past) and the percentage of students’ satisfaction with the college’s performance increased, especially after the expansion that took place, whether in the classes, new staff hiring during the lockdown, or the internship programs for fresh graduate students. And because we appreciate and cherish our students, the college continues to provide the same educational services, programs and innovation and will continue to add more in the future. RB College was able to stand from the crowds thanks to its proactive and professional ideas in dealing with the repercussions of the crisis.
RB College is committed to provide high quality education services to help its students to reach a prestigious position within their communities.
Richard Morgan
RBC Director