Year after year, the renowned Vlerick Business School has been attracting more international master students. The school takes great pride in its personal approach: every applicant is screened for their analytical skills, but also for their motivation in a personal assessment. But live evaluations can be cumbersome. The solution? Digital intake assessments with assessmentQ.

International business education on a personal scale

With 600 degree participants each year, Vlerick Business School values small groups. A conscious decision, explains Mounia Bouhlal, Senior Masters Admissions & Recruitment Officer: “We take a lot of pride in our personal approach. Our students work hard. That’s why they receive the best support we can offer. Networking – with fellow students, but also with the faculty – forms an integral part of the Vlerick experience.”

“As the business world internationalises, so does Vlerick. 35 different nationalities follow one of our Master programmes. The international share of Master students is 30% and we are aiming for 50%. We do grow, but rather qualitatively and inclusively. We want to be accessible for everyone with ambition, regardless of nationality.”

“We want to be accessible for everyone with ambition,
regardless of nationality.”

Mounia Bouhlal, Senior Masters Admissions & Recruitment Officer at Vlerick Business School

 

Keeping it personal: the challenges

The personal approach starts right after the application. Mounia is the single point of contact for all aspiring Master students and gives feedback throughout the process.

“It starts with an application form”, Mounia explains. “We don’t ask for much: a CV, information about previous experience and education, scholarships, and the programme they wish to follow. After that, we arrange a motivational assessment, followed by an online analytical test. If both are positively evaluated, the aspiring student is invited to a personal knowledge interview.”

“The motivational evaluation used to take place face-to-face or via an online call. With the increasing number of international students, that became cumbersome. We were struggling with different time zones and candidates had to take time off from school or work for the interview. On top of that, there was a great difference in interview content for each candidate due to the lack of standardisation in the set of questions asked by the different recruiters.

The solution: recorded assessments via assessmentQ

Mounia and her team found a solution in Televic’s asssessmentQ. A year ago, Vlerick transformed the ‘live’ motivational assessment into a motivational recording. In the assessmentQ platform, a video recording of the evaluator is shown, asking the questions. After each question, the candidates record their answers directly in assessmentQ. Introductory videos immerse the candidates in the Vlerick experience.

“We had colleagues who knew Televic, but we didn’t think online assessment software could provide the complete personal approach that we value. We were not aware of the recording capabilities of assessmentQ. But talking to Televic, we quickly realised this was what we needed. And we were operational in less than a month.”

“By turning the evaluation into a recording, candidates are now able to make their recordings whenever it suits their agenda. A lot of applications used to be submitted in June, when the applicants had finished their thesis. Now, we already see them in February. And that’s much better, because we like to see the best candidates early in the selection process.”

“Feedback from students is very positive … There’s a greater sense of fairness, and that’s very important to us.”

Mounia Bouhlal, Senior Masters Admissions & Recruitment Officer at Vlerick Business School

 

Fair for everyone

But there’s also room for quantitative growth. Mounia: “This solution is scalable. Our evaluators don’t have to call thousands of applicants anymore, and they can use the time saved to evaluate additional students. We do want to grow our student pool but we don’t expect to double our student numbers in the coming couple of years. The next phase, the knowledge interview, still happens face-to-face. That’s the only way to keep it personal and to see if there’s a real fit. We can assess the fit of the candidates with the programme they are applying for beforehand.”

Feedback from students is very positive, Mounia concludes. “In addition to the fact that they can take the test when it suits them, they especially appreciate getting standardised questions. There’s a greater sense of fairness, and that’s very important to us. This way, students are getting the best chances, and we’re getting the best students.”

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