Between August 1 and September 16 we handled 6,660 calls. 1,274 of them were for Finance, Student Affairs, Housing, Transport, IT and other offices. By mid-September, other offices' calls had tripled their share, from 9% to 29% of the calls on our line.
Every call was sorted by the caller's main need, using the call summary our phone system writes from the Arabic recording. Switch between call counts and talk time.
In the first week of August, 1 in 11 calls on our line belonged to another office. By the week of September 13 it was more than 1 in 4, as accepted students moved on to payments, housing, buses and induction.
Share of admissions + other-office calls
Sunday to Thursday. Hover or tap a day for details.
Sunday, August 30 was the busiest day, almost twice the median day of 185 calls. That week brought 1,568 calls, 318 of them for other offices.
Two out of three of these callers were already accepted or enrolled students. We couldn't solve 63% of their calls on the spot, because the answer sits with another office.
callers told us they had tried another office and got no answer. These are only the calls where the caller said so.
A parent paid the fees through a payment company two days earlier. The payment still wasn't showing, the deadline was that day, and repeated calls to Finance went unanswered.
Finance
A caller had waited more than two weeks for a refund. The accounts team wasn't answering by phone or on WhatsApp, and he asked to speak to the accounts manager.
Finance, refunds
A student paid an instalment three days earlier, but it wasn't in the system, so he couldn't book the bus. His emails got no reply.
Finance and transport
A mother paid for the bus more than a month ago. The bus number is always busy, and she still doesn't know where her daughter will be picked up.
Transport
A parent drove in from Alexandria and still couldn't get the housing officer on the phone.
Housing
A caller wanted to join an English course. Both numbers she was given were switched off, and we had no other contact to offer.
Continuing education
264 hours of talk time with prospective students and parents, who made up 94% of these callers.
Calls by weekday and hour across the seven weeks. The line stays busy from 10:00 to 16:00, and Sunday and Monday are the heaviest days.
Talk time only. Looking up other offices' numbers, writing follow-ups, and the admissions callers left waiting in the queue meanwhile all come on top.
| Office the call belonged to | Calls | Hours | Working days* |
|---|
* 7-hour working days of talk time
217 of the 956 people who called about another office's work called us more than once.
Across the whole line, 1,218 callers made 3,716 calls between them, and 168 called five times or more.
Finance alone sent us 591 calls (31 hours), and 48 callers said Finance didn't answer. Most were payments not showing in the system, deadlines and refunds. A staffed Finance line during Aug–Sep, or a direct transfer route, would remove the largest single block.
180 calls, and 35 callers who couldn't get through, mostly about bus pickup points, bus booking and housing numbers. A published schedule and a number that answers would clear most of these.
For example: new applications; fees and payments; current students; housing and transport. 1,274 calls in seven weeks could have gone straight to the right team.
65% of other-office callers were already accepted or enrolled. Put every office's number, WhatsApp and email in the offer email and the induction pack.
The week of August 30 had 2.5 times the calls of the first week of August, with the heaviest load on Sundays and Mondays between 10:00 and 16:00.
51% of calls have no outcome logged. A required "call reason" field would make this review automatic next season.