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The education sector has undergone a major transformation in the last year. The health crisis has forced many schools and universities to provide entirely remote teaching or to adopt hybrid models in some cases. As in any other sector, education is also immersed in the transformation processes driven by technology in an increasingly digital world.
Many specialists in this sector believe that this transformation has permanently altered the landscape for students and teachers, which will remain mainly digital even in a post-pandemic world. For this, an electronic signature is an indispensable tool in the digitization of educational processes.
For schools and universities, adopting the electronic signature as a tool not only implies an improvement in the experience for students and employees, but it also means a great improvement in administrative processes.
This is especially important now that centers have to process thousands of documents per day, and the volume is expected to continue to increase each year. On the other hand, digital processes significantly help attract more students in circumstances that do not allow for open houses or other methods of student recruitment. The electronic signature is a useful tool not only in the area of registrations but also, among others, in human resources, purchases, finances.
In addition, today's students are digital natives: most only know life with smartphones in hand. For a student, printing, scanning, faxing, and mailing documents such as the registration form or a scholarship application is an unnecessary and annoying effort.
Meanwhile, teachers are improving their digital literacy while increasing their favorable attitude towards using new technologies in the classroom and outside. For teachers, reducing paper processes (such as signing their employment contracts, even student permits signed by parents) translates into more time that can be devoted to teaching and improved communication with parents and tutors.
Traditionally, the management of contracting processes has been the gateway to electronic signatures, integrated by the school's technological partner. We have examples managed by some of our partners such as RIC.DOC, Avacco, Toshiba, Educaria, Peakway, Clickedu, DocTech, DocuWare or Despapeliza Chile deployed for La Salle Catalunya, Cor de María, the UOC, Escolapios or Blanquerna, the University of Vic, Finis Terrae University, Comillas Pontifical University, Alfonso X El Sabio University, and Strathallan School, among others. In recent years, however, there has been an increasing tendency to extend signings to other areas of school management, such as enrolment management, cooperation agreements, or grants, and permits, for example.
Advantages of the electronic signature in the education sector
- Legal guarantee of documents.
- Security when collecting consents from any device.
- Lower costs and risks compared to documents signed on paper.
- More agile processes adapted to digital transformation.
Here are some examples of use in the field of education
The wave of disintegration is now fully affecting the education sector, and companies and institutions will have to adapt to the realities of the digital world. Now more than ever is the time to implement electronic signatures in schools and universities.
